ml_gwi

hi faith, yes, my son uses taurine, glycine and occassionally gaba. taurine and glycine definitely works for him in reducing tics but i notice that he is very sensitive to gaba ( a little too much or too little gaba affects his snorting tics dramatically ). too much taurine causes weight loss and too much glycine makes him sleepy and lose appetitte so you gotta be careful. hope this helps. ml_gwi

hi everyone, i put my son a higher dose ( 2500 mg / day ) of glycine after he started losing weight on taurine, however, i found out ( please correct me if i am wrong ) that glycine raises one's blood sugar ( ? ) and it made him lethargic and sleepy, it also made him have a feeling fullness so that his appetite was affected. so i pulled back on glycine and is now using a more balanced dose of taurine ( 1500 mg. ) and glycine ( 1000 mg. ) for his daily regimen. he seemed to immediately become more active after i made the switch but we are still living day-to-day and making adjustments to his supplements/minerals by trial and error. by the way, would anybody know if selenium helps ? and if so , at what dose ? he is 13 and 78 lbs. and if anyone knows anything else that could be of help to control his tics, it would really be appreciated. thanks and am very glad that i found latitudes.org ml_gwi

Hi. I've been reading about the strep infection link to TS. My son had a Klebsiella Pneumoniae infection before. Does anyone know if it is the same as a strep infection? If not, has there been any indication that it can be an underlying cause of TS?

Hi ! we are in asia and would appreciate it if anybody knows where in asia we can have these 3 tests done. ml_gwi

hi everyone ! do you think its a good idea to add the following to my son's daily regiment of vitamins, minerals and amino acid supplements ( he has TS ) ? 1) CHLORELLA - i understand that it is supposed to mop up toxins and other heavy metals from his system ; and , 2) MANGANESE - which is supposedly to help in the normal functioning of the nerve transmitter system ? anybody here has any experience with these supplements ? would appreciate a reply. HAPPY NEW YEAR ! ml_gwi

hi faith ! lemme give you s rundown his medical history to the best of my recollection: He was a perfectly healthy baby until he reached 2.5 yrs. old when he was diagnosed with primary complex. He was given rifampicin and isoniazid for 6 months. A few months after his primary complex treatment, he had his first asthma attack during a bout of colds. But because his asthma attacks were triggered only when he had a cold (only 4 or 5 times a year, usually during the “ber” months), he was not put on prophylactic treatment. He was usually given oral prednisone for 3 days when needed. We were diligent with all his vaccines and booster shots until he was around 9 yrs. old when we read about the ill effects of vaccines. His last vaccination was at 8 yrs. old when his blood test shows nonreactivity to hepa. He already had hepa shots when he was a baby but the doctor told us that this can happen sometimes, so he was re-shot with the hepa vaccine again and this time around test result showed reactive. When he was 10 yrs. old, because he still had not outgrown his asthma, we went to a pediatric pulmonologist who recommended he be put on prophylactic treatment for a year with Sereide, then Flixotide. Ten months into his asthma medications, he started to make small funny whimpering sounds. His doctor diagnosed it as GERD and prescribed Motilium for it but the sounds did not go away. After the one year prophylaxis, his asthma seemed to be cured since he hasn’t had an attack since, but his lungs seemed a lot weaker. In Feb. 2006, he contracted atypical pneumonia which was treated with antibiotics. In Aug., 2006, he had a fever that ran up to 40 °C . His stool sample indicated Klebciella Pneumoniae and was treated with antibiotics again. In Dec. 2006, during a routine checkup, his doctor felt enlarged lymph node and ordered x-rays which showed his primary TB had reactivated (Is this possible?) This time, he was given RIMACTAZID ( INH 400mg + rifampicin 450). By Dec. 2006, the vocal sounds he was making had intensified in frequency although still not very loud and discernible. In Feb. 2007, he had atypical pneumonia again and was given clarithromycin. Late April 2007, we suddenly noticed his body making funny twitches but his vocal tics went away. We noticed that he was very emotionally sensitive at this time, too. We went to a neurologist who ordered EEG & MRI but my son was afraid of MRI. He insisted he can make it go away and it did for a couple of weeks. But it came back with a vengeance. Early May, the involuntary body movements had minimized to head jerks but he started making loud yelping, barking sounds and shouting “ta ta”. The sounds were really loud and can be heard throughout the house. We went to neurologists and psychiatrists, but they offered no useful help. That’s when we started to do research on our own and realized he most probably has Tourette’s. At this time, after conferring with his pediatrician , we decided to stop his TB medications (on his fourth month) since we read that INH caused involuntary movements in some people , although rare.( and i read that it also flushes taurine out of one's system ? ) We also transferred him to a new school with a more relaxed environment. The new school, teachers and schoolmates were all very supportive, kind and understanding. Despite his loud shoutings, he was never teased or bullied at school, so he was not emotionally stressed by his condition. Early June, we brought him to see a doctor who practiced traditional chinese medicine who prescribed herbal medicines for him. With a strict diet and the herbs, his tics were diminished by almost 40%. Then we read about Bonnie Grimaldi’s supplement recommendations, among others. We started giving him the supplements in August. A week after he started the supplements, the tics was down to maybe 10%. Lately , with sustained mineral, amino acid and vitamin supplements his tics are down to approximately 1 to 2 % of what it was at its worst. ml_gwi

hi chemar ! thank you for pointing that out and sorry if i caused any confusion. by the way, is there any other mineral , vitamin , amino acid or neurotransmitter that you think might be helpful ? ml_gwi

hi all ! i have a 12 year old who have had severe tics incl. body jerking and barking about half a year ago until i gave him the following vitamins , minerals and INHIBITORY amino acid supplements. his tics are down very considerably and now its reduced to a very little bit of sniffing and not much more. please note that taking away artificial coloring, sweeteners, soy and eggs ( among others ) from the diet is very important. vitamins and minerals : vitamin B-50 omega 3 with vit E vitamin C cod liver oil ( vit A + D ) calcium-magnesium- zinc lecithin grape seed extract INHIBITORY amino acids ; 5 HTP GABA TAURINE GLYCINE most if not all of these items can be found at your local health food shop and they are relatively inexpensive. please note that each case is different so it may or may not work with your child. I AM NOT A DOCTOR, just a concerned parent like most of you in this forum and came up with this formula by trial and error after doing some research on the internet. this is NOT a recommendation , just wanted to let everyone know what worked for us.

hi all ! i have a 12 year old who have had severe tics incl. body jerking and barking about half a year ago until i gave him the following vitamins , minerals and INHIBITORY amino acid supplements. his tics are down very considerably and now its reduced to a very little bit of sniffing and not much more. please note that taking away artificial coloring, sweeteners, soy and eggs ( among others ) from the diet is very important. vitamins and minerals : vitamin B-50 omega 3 with vit E vitamin C cod liver oil ( vit A + D ) calcium-magnesium- zinc lecithin grape seed extract INHIBITORY amino acids ; 5 HTP GABA TAURINE GLYCINE most if not all of these items can be found at your local health food shop and they are relatively inexpensive. please note that each case is different so it may or may not work with your child. I AM NOT A DOCTOR, just a concerned parent like most of you in this forum and came up with this formula by trial and error after doing some research on the internet. this is NOT a recommendation , just wanted to let everyone know what worked for us.

Hello everyone, I am very glad to have found this site. I have an 11 year old son who started having tics about a few months ago. however, we thought that it was just bad habits i.e. making sounds, barking, eye darting, throat clearing, shouting etc. as it comes and goes and moves from one tic to another and sometimes completely disappears, until we realized that it is in all probability signs of TS. He is taking vitamin B complex and as i have been reading the other posts in this forum I realize that food is a very important factor . is there anyone who can furnish or post a list of the FOODS TO AVOID and FOODS THAT HELP LESSEN THE TICS ? any help would be deeply appreciated. thanks in advance. ml_gwi