Toms_Mom

Caryn, Are you sure the Coromega has corn? I called the company last week and they told me there was no corn in it! Thanks, Mary

Giselle, I was reading your post about reducing your child's food allergies, which is very encouraging to hear. I was wondering if you could give me some ideas on where to find recipes for dinner, snacks etc.? My son is allergic to milk, corn and cane sugar and I am finding there is very little he can eat. Almost everything needs to be made from scratch and if I look up corn free recipes they usually contain dairy or sugar and vise versa. I really would like to find some kind of sweet treats to make him once in a while. He is such a good boy and eats whatever I make him and I feel guilty and would like to be able to make some desserts for him. How do you make a cookie without sugar, corn or dairy? The Namaste brownies are corn and dairy free, but have organic cane juice which I believe is cane sugar? Also since he cannot have butter we have been using earth balance or smart balance organic and I just realized they both contain corn. What do you use in place of butter? If anyone has any ideas I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much!

Moneta, I have been meaning to get back to you-sorry it took so long. As far as supplements the only thing I give my son right now is the kids calm(magnesium supplement). You can find it at Whole Foods or online. Whole Foods also has good multi-vitamins that we use. We also are on the Feingold diet and they give you a long list of brands they recommend for supplements. I also bought an air cleaner for my sons room and we eat mainly organic foods and clean with organic cleaners. I had my son tested at a regular allergist without good results. After my insistance that he was showing reactions to milk, he finally gave him the RAST blood test and it confirmed he is allergic to milk. We then went to see an environmental MD and he tested him through intradermal injections and we found out he was allergic to corn and cane sugar as well. We are now giving him allergy extract injections to reduce his sensitivity to his allergens. You could also do the IgG test for allergies which is a lot less time consuming and just avoid all of the foods he is allergic to. Starting next week the environmental doctor has recommended we start probiotics( Multi-Flora Spectrum) to build up his immune system and heal the gut- hopefully this will prevent him from developing other allergies. He also has recommended drops of 6 minerals to enhance the immune system- Zinc, Manganese, copper, Chromium, Selenium and Cobalt. Our doctor also recommended Butyric acid. He says Butyric acid feeds the cells of the intestinal lining and is essential in maintaining the integrity of the gastro- intestinal wall . It helps L. acidophilus and B. bifidum adhere to gut epithelial tissue. It helps to increase the natural healing mechanism of the gut tissue. Butyric acid has a normalizing effect upon the production of 'on site' enzymes and has a supportive role upon intestinal immune resistance. Has anyone here used this before and was it beneficial for you? We will start each supplement separately to watch for any reactions. Hope this helps you a bit. Mary

My son will tic for up to 3 days after he has had any dairy product! Mary

Brenda, I don't know if it's possible for your situation, but have you ever considered homeschooling your son? I homeschooled my children for a few years and they were remarkably healthy during those years. When I put them back in school all of the stomach viruses, strep, sinus problems etc. started circulating through our family again. Maybe if your son had some time to build up his immune system while not being exposed to all the viruses going around the school it would be helpful. Also, are you giving him any supplements to build up his immune system? Mary

Kim, I thought the themerisol was taken out after the year 2000. My son was born in 2000 and I read somewhere that all vaccines contained themerisol through the year 2000. Just wondering.

My allergist told us to try Activia yogurt - he highly recommended it. However, we are trying to avoid dairy so I am looking for help choosing a probiotics supplement as well.

Kim, Thanks for your reply. I totally understand the need to stay off the computer for a while! I am lucky that my son will eat almost anything you put in front of him and doesn't complain about the rice milk or the fruits and veggies in place of sweets- it makes me wonder why I fed him all of that junk food before! However, I am worried about him developing other food sensitivities so I would like to try probiotics. He still suffers from constipation so I'm wondering if that is a symptom of gut problems. Thanks again, Mary

1. He just turned 7. 2. He wet the bed until we cut out dairy- about 2 months ago. He is also less stuffy and his tics are very mild if at all. 3. Tics started around 3.

Kim, Yes you were right - I got the initials confused! My son had the IgE testing - My pediatritian seems very open to helping me so I may see if he will order the IgG test for my son. I will use your tip about the reason for the test though- and my son does have the constipation and stuffiness so we will not mention the tics. Thanks for that tip! One more question though- from reading the articles about food sensitivities it sounds like these allergies are typically outgrown. In your sons case did he outgrow his allergy to milk? Or any of the other foods that he was sensitive to? And can new ones crop up- or once you have the testing done you are aware of the reactive foods and don't have to worry about that anymore? Thank you so much for your responses. Mary

Thanks for the info Kim and Pam! I have been busy with school starting, but want to look into the IgE testing. Thomas had the IgG test, and I'm not sure if his allergist will agree to the IgE testing- Do regular allergists typically believe in/administer this kind of testing? I know environmental and intergrative doctors use this test, but I am trying to work with doctors that are covered by our insurance. What about nutritionists- do they do the IgG testing? I've noticed some tics this week with school starting- I think maybe he had some things with milk in it this week - its harder to monitor now that he's in school! I also wonder about other foods he may be sensitive to and whether or not he could have the soy milk - that would open up a lot more options for him with the soy milk, ice cream, yogurt etc. Thanks for your help. Mary

As I mentioned in earlier posts my son had lots of tics last spring/ early summer and after eliminating dairy from his diet he is tic free. We tested this probably 6 or 7 times and each time he had any dairy we would see tics for about 3 days. He has been without tics for about a month and his bedwetting has stopped as well. (He still stutters) He had the RAST test 2 weeks ago and they tested for whey, caisen and soy. Today I called to see if they had the results in and the nurse said the doctor would be out for the next 2 weeks and I could talk to him at our next appointment in Sept.- and that he had not signed off on the bloodwork yet. She said all she could tell me was that he had a less than 1% allergy to milk and whey and the doctor might want to "peek" at that. Does anyone know what this means? I am so confused. Would this be considered a sensitivity to milk and should he be able to tolerate soy or lactose- free milk? Is he really not allergic to dairy? Please help me if anyone understands these results. Thanks!

Pam, We seem to have a lot in common. My son had problems with constipation when he was younger. When I went to see my pediatritian in June he asked how often did he go and I honestly had no idea- I figured that his problem with constipation had been resolved (he used to scream when he was younger because it hurt and so he would hold it and it became a vicious cycle) Anyway my pediatrician said I should pay attention to how much he is going and to look at it once a week to make sure that they are not hard. Well lo and behold I found out we still have a problem. I realized my son was not going everyday -more like every 3 or 4 days. I don't know if it is a problem of being constipated or just his old habit of holding it. I started telling him he could not have his (sweet) snack everyday until he went to the bathroom (he can still have healthy snacks). He is going more often, but it gets to be a pain to keep track of. I started thinking that this could also be contributing to his tics, bedwetting etc. -- I read somewhere that this could be toxic to your body. What exactly is a colon cleanse and is it appropriate for young children? We have been using the whole food vitamins and I do think they are better. Glad to hear you are feeling better! Mary

Pam, So sorry to hear things didn't go well. Why didn't you get to see the doctor? I cannot believe the nurse said that to you! Since when did seeking good medical care for your child mean you are looking for perfection? Would she do any less for her own child? Did she say ANYTHING about helping to relieve his sore neck? Hopefully there are some people on this board who have experience with your situation, and will be able to offer some advice. Personally, I still have not found a doctor yet, and it just seems to be something that is going to take some time. So don't give up- I feel sure you will find the right doctor eventually. You are in my thoughts and prayers. Mary

Pamela, Thanks for the info on the intergrative doctor. I am glad I misunderstood about the nutritionist, because that is something I would like to look into fpr my son. Good luck with your doctors app. and I hope you get the help for your son that you are looking for. I agree with you 100%- it is very sad that so many of us have to self-diagnose our children. I don't understand why so many doctors are so closeminded to natural and alternative treatments. By the way, I talked to a friend today who said that when her son was younger he was a bedwetter, and she heard somewhere that too much milk could cause this problem and when she cut back on the milk, he stopped wetting the bed. I have also noticed that my son has not wet the bed since we cut out the dairy. So for what its worth...I don't know if milk is the issue for everyone or if you have to deal with your own childs specific allergies- anyway, like you, I think it's all related!

Chemar, Are you saying that the nutritionist might be a waste of time as well? Like Pamela, I was thinking a nutritionist might be of some help, unlike the doctors I have seen so far. I also now plan on checking to see if our insurance will cover any DAN or intergrative doctors within driving distance. We live in South Carolina if anyone has any recommendations. Things seem to be going well with my son right now, but if and when we need to see a doctor again I want to try a nonconventional doctor. Thanks so much for your input and advice!

Hi Pam, I have an about to be 7 year old son as well who started having tics around 5. This summer he started the head jerking thing and numerous other tics- before it was a very mild tic or two that we didn't even recognize as tics or worry about. I had him tested at an allergist and the only allergy that came up on the scratch test was peaches- he also said that he has nonallergic rhinitis. I have kept a food diary all summer and have really found that dairy is a big problem with him. When we elliminated all dairy products all of his tics have disappeared. I also give him the Kids Calm. When we went back to the allergist he was very skeptical and upset that I was eliminating dairy from his diet, but did the RAST blood test for whey, caisin and soy- we are awaiting the results. My son also wets the bed. Do you know how this is a sign of allergies? We just had a much awaited appointment with a pediatric neurologist( 3 months) and were very disappointed. He wanted to know why I was eliminating artificial colors etc. (feingold) and basically told us tics are something you just live with and medicate if it becomes a big problem. He didn't seem interested in the food allergies at all. I really hate going to doctors now and feeling like the "crazy mom". Our insurance does not cover the environmental doctor in our area, so we are trying to make due with the traditional doctors. Is an intergrative doctor different than an environmental doctor? From what I understand, these doctors should be much more open to your observations and ideas than a regular MD. Thanks, Mary

hello everyone- I am so glad I have found this forum! I have a six year old son who started having an outburst of tics during the last week of school. Head shaking followed by hand wringing, grimacing, opening mouth wide and later clicking and making mmm sound. My husband and I were very concerned and afraid because we had never seen anything like this before. No history of TS that we know of and 3 older children who are healthy. We saw our pediatrician who recommended a pediatric neurologist, but we can't get in to see him until late August. We went to see a regular neurologist who diagnosed him as having simple motor tics and said there was nothing we could do, he should outgrow it one day and that we could put him on clonidine if it became a problem in school. I became very depressed and felt so helpless until I found this site and read Sheila Rogers' book. I started using the Feingold program a few weeks ago and have seen a big improvement and the head shaking stopped. I also stopped taking him to the pool because we suspected a problem with the pool chemicals/chlorine - (this all started after we started going to the pool almost daily, and noticed his tics were worse after swimming). I also remembered last year at the same time he had a "breathing habit" that we did not realize was a tic. We asked the neurologist if the chlorine could be causing his tics and he said absolutely not. We saw an allergist and found out he has no allergies except for peaches, but he said my son was very congested and stuffy and has nonallergic rhinitis. He said on his breathing test he did not do as well as he should have and gave us an inhaler for emergency. ( My son has had wheezing in the past with croup and we have used albuterol for that. My pediatrician mentioned that albuterol can cause tics- has anyone heard of this?) He put him on Astelin and Ayr nasal spray. After a couple of days his tics got worse again so I took him off the nasal sprays and started using Simply Saline. Has anyone found that nonallergic rhinitis can contribute to having tics and how do you treat it? Also I have noticed after he has dairy he starts the clicking and vocal mmm noises. Has anyone had this same reaction with dairy and do I need to cut out dairy as well? This is so frustrating because we eat a lot of cheese, milk, and ice cream. Is yogurt tolerated better than other dairy sources? I started using the kids Calm magnesium supplement which seems to help and am worried about his calcium intake. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I really want to treat my son naturally in the most gentle way possible, but the doctors I have seen so far have not been any help at all.