airbucket

Hello Chemar, nice to see you! I guess I ws just trying to get a feel/tally of how many here have kids that exhibit the "plus" part of tourettes in trying to decide in my own son which symptoms belong to which disorders. Thanks for the response!

Hello I havent been to this forum in ages!! My son is now 12, his diagnoses are tourettes, pdd nos, and mood disorder nos. He has suffered with tics since about 5 years old to present. I am posting today because of what my sons issues have transfomed into over the years and I am not sure if I ever discussed wha I want to describe today in the past on these forums. There are doctors who believe that tourettes is a disorder just of tics, vocal and motor, and there are doctors who think that tourettes encompasses so much more. So I am here to ask, does your child have tics plus other related issues like anxiety, OCD, compulsions, impulsivity, trich, anger, moods etc? i am trying to decide what I think is what with my son. My son definitely has pdd nos: random social impairments and lack of ability to understand others but not to the extent as autism. Anyhow, there is anger, agitation, and explosiveness. There is definite depression and some hypomania. And then there is the tics (vocal and motor), brain tics like thoughts he gets stuck on, OCD, very high anxiety, compulsive behaviors with impulsivity....I think all that is one beast - tourettes, or at least is all in the same universe. Do you see any things with your child's tourettes other than just the actual vocal and motor tics?

thank you Chemar!! I will look into that test, would be worth the $.

thanks Chemar, I am doing epsoms for him. I do notice an increase in OCD symptoms when he has tics. I dont think its pandas though, we went to tanya murphy who said she doesnt think he looks like a pandas case and she throat swabbed, although Ive read that strep and others can live in other parts of the body. With my sons extreme gut issues (soft/discolored stools, frequent vomiting, dizzy) I have to think that either he has yeast issues (had an igg test that was through the roof for yeast but I think that indicates old reaction to yeast, not current) or pathogen/virus issues in his gut (among of course other issues he may have in the gut). Being that we dont have an alternative or integrative doc, I dont know how to find out about the strep or other virus possibilities. Thanks for the info Chemar. At least some of this ticcing is making more sense.

I just started my son on Candida Clear. Im giving him one cap twice a day (half the adult dosage). The evening of the day I started him on it I saw an increase in tics. Since that evening his tics has been pretty bad, again. Could this be part of die off? I think I remember when we went to see Dr Robbins who put him on a yeast free diet, he said that tics can get worse during die off. But does the Candida clear work that quickly? In one day it would start killing off yeast?

hi Chemar: Thanks for your reply. I have been thinking about it and although there was a long remission, during that time I am pretty sure there were still some vocals, which I guess means that the tics were not all gone. Sometimes I tend to think of the tics as only physical because my son has been making noises since he was tiny and i always said it seemed related to his sensory issues. The vocals continue since the day I posted here. The breathing tic is mostly gone thank goodness. I promptly took him off all artificials, fast food, eating at home now only with natural and whole foods. I would love to say that this is why the tics are reduced since the day I first posted on this, however as Ive said before there have been times over the years when we have been on all natural diet and there have been tics and vice versa, I cant find a pattern. Thank you for your posts!

Thanks for your replies everyone, I need to look into allergies, although he has no sniffling or runny nose, I wonder if the puffy eyes are a food allergy. And yes he has a huge overbite and we are going to get an orthodontic consult in the near future. My son is 10 and a half. His first vocal tics, at the time we thought they were sensory issues - appeared around age 5, then body tics at 6, pretty bad through end of age 7, then they all dissapeared, appeared again mildly at age 9 for a few months and now again just for the past few days.

Hi Faith! How are you doing?? Yes it is an abdominal, but its with his breathing. I dont know why his tics are so rare, I thought with Tourette's the tics were present more than not. He was sick a month or so ago with an unidentified rash on his face, we tested for 5th disease but came out negative. his issues are up and down - over the summer and fall he became so agitated and violent that we called the police and he was hospitalized for 3 days. As someone here mentioned, I too am wondering about hormones.... how is your son??

Hello, I used to come to this forum all the time when my son's tics started and for the year or so after that while they persisted. Then his tics stopped completely. We went about one full year with nothing, and then a few tics came back, nothing major, for about 6 months, then faded. Last tics were last May 2009. 3 nights ago i noticed him sitting on the couch and breathing strangely I thought, what seems so familiar about that breathing? Well, its that it is a tic. the next day and today he has a breathing tic that is HORRENDOUS. He cant finish speaking one word because he is doing this hitching breath thing every 2 seconds. Accompanying this have been vocals, which have been his most common tic anyway, a throaty humming or grunting, non stop all day. Amazingly, with these tics come some other symptoms: puffy eyes, he is out of it, spacey, slurred speech, kind of emotional or crying (now he does have diagnoses of everything under the sun so who knows, such as ADD, Tourette's, Anxiety disorder, mood disorder NOS, PDD NOS). My questions is, have other seen this "breathing" tic? Wow its awful. He seems like he is going to convulse or something. My other question would be if anyone has found anything helpful specifically for vocals? I used to have him on a really clean diet and taking all his vitamins including magnesium, but over time we strayed and partly maybe because he woul have tics and other horrible behaviors no matter how clean he diet was. Since last summer he has been eating some junk again, not daily but every other day or so, an ice cream, mcdonalds (cringe), etc. We dont have a naturopathic doctor or a DAN or anything and no real testing done on him so i dont really know what is going on....we did do a pretty thorough set of general blood tests recently with his neuro. but nothing that a specialist would do. He did come back once with an IgG test for candida that was off the charts but his ped. told me that meant nothing because Igg means the reaction took place a long time ago and was nothing recent. Any info on vocals is appreciated. thank you.

I am wondering the following, and dont understand yet....my son, who has been Dx Tourette's, has had many blood tests done and they all come out within normal limits, specifically his amino acids, fatty acids, magnesium and calcium - my question is, if those type of tests are normal, then does that mean that the person wont benefit neurologically from natural treatment (vitamins, supplements)? my sons Tourette's is only one of many things he has neurogically going on. The neurologist we see seemed to be saying that if we could find any problems in the above book tests then that meant that his problem was brain chemicals and only meds would address that. Does anyone know how I would research this? There must be books explaining "brain chemicals" and maybe some of you have had blood testing and its come out normal on your kids? Am i to lose hope in natural treatment? thank you!

Jack: I wanted to reply to your post because my son, who is 9, is also moody, gets very upset a lot daily, has a lot of trouble doing things like cleaning up his belongings etc, and used to chew on his mouth. I am not big on diagnoses, but for the record my son is diagnosed with OCD, childhood anxiety disorder, ADHD, and Tourettes. For the mouth, have you ever heard of "Chewy tubes"? they are used by occupational therapists for kids to chew on to strengthen the mouth and provide sensory input. Of course I dont know if your sn being 11 may not want to use these or if he is a chewer, like does he chew his shirts? But if interested you can google chewy tubes. Also, I wonder and I dont remember if you mention in your post, if your son has anxiety issues? I used to chew on my lips when I was little and it was anxiety. Have you researched any natural supplements for anxiety? I am in the process of researching that for my son. Also dont forget about what he is eating - it is so important. If you havent I would consider removing all artificial foods and most processed foods from his diet. My son was addicted to junk and slowly I got him off, it wasnt fun but we did it, now he eats whole foods mostly, like chicken with a vegetable for dinner, a piece of salmon, turkey breast, fruits, rice products like crackers and rice cereal with no other ingredients, and some all natrual potato chips or popcorn. What you eat makes a difference! You mentioned melatonin.....my son takes Biochem 1mg at night and it works great for him, it is free of any preservatives etc. If melatonin didnt seem to work for you son you can consider herbs like KavaKava or Valerian, both natural tranquilizers. I like a web site called alternativementalhealth.com, where I am learning about anxiety. I dont know why you havent seen a difference in some of the things youre trying. To this day sometimes my son does well for a while and then seems to have all his issues again and we dont know why. With the kids calm, one teaspoon MAY be too little (I am no doctor, just speaking based on what ive read because I give my son kids calm). I give my son 3 tsp. once a day and I also give straight magnesium which I have read, more than anything is very very important nutrient in calming the nervous system and muscles. I love Floradix Magnesium, it contains no other vitamins in it and I give it first in the morning before food. Have you tried epsom salt baths? Or detoxing? I am going to be trying some activated charcoal or perhaps bentonite clay, who knows what toxins or metal may be built up in the system. As far as PANDAS i dont know about that, if thats a cause then that would be helpful for you to find out. One thing I will say, when it comes to things like you mentioned that when homework is done your son wont put his things away - I dont know if that only happens after HW because its such an awful experience or if thats something you find in other areas - my son gets very angry and freaks out when its time to clean anything up, put his things in his backpack for school, etc etc - I am to the point where I kind of make him do it, not in a mean way, I am sympathetic to him that its hard to do, but the MORE he does it, the less he freaks out about it. Now he will put up some fight and scream a little, but its a long way from kicking me and spitting at me and throwing things. I just let him know calmly that I will wait for him to do it, I understand how hard it must be, but that nothing else can really happen until he does it. I would put up with whatever tantrums and I have seen that over time he WILL do it when he knows he HAS to, and like I said none if this is in a mean way. I have learned alot from a book called Explosive Child, it may not apply to your son but along with my sons mood problems and anger, he reacts to everything as though you are putting a gun to his head, and this book helped SO much. Just one parent to another. If theres anything more I can tell you about please let me know. My son doesnt chew his mouth any more, though there are other things he does do, but they are not nearly as damaging. I give him lots of things to fiddle with with his hands, I put lip balm on his mouth to make it greasy, etc. Wishing you the best.

hello everyone! I would like to ask all you smart people if you would like to share where you get your info on health? With all the websites and authors out there it is difficult to sort through and choose that which relays honest info with no ulterior motives on the topics of natural or "alternative" health. Do you have a favorite naturopath? Web site? Book? Etc? It would be nice to have a few websites I could consult in my learning about natural eating, detoxing, vitamins, alternative treatments etc, to go to for reliable information. Many websites and docs or nutritionists either want to scare you half to death or sell you a bunch of stuff. I dont mind buying things, but I am curious if you all have particular websites/sources you consult and trust. Chemar, I mention you in the title because I believe you must have some favorites that you have come to trust over time and research and would love to know if you'd be willing to share that What I have found so far that I like is : naturalnews.com dearpharmacist.com holisticmanagement.com Regarding cleansing and detox, I have been made aware of Dr Natura's products ("colonix" etc), and his web site is like a wal mart circular, but the product does seem good, anyone familiar?? I have not done any cleansing or detoxing on my son and am going to pursue something, I was thinking starting slowly with some bentonite clay. His tics are on and off like someone is flippinf a lightswtich! Thank you for any opinions on good sources of info in general, doesnt just have to pertain to children of course.

LOL!!!! i need some humor tonite too, ill go with it! well, if Cheri is, then i KNOW he is worthy of trusting!

Just wondering if anyone knows of him and visits his website?? it seems to have a wealth of great naturopathic info, yet i have heard some negative things about him. I have been trying to find one or two solid and plentiful websites about natural health that i can visit and keep up to date and learn. anyone know of mercola? thanks.

I will ask that Chemar. I know the ulcer is not misdiagnosed, but i believe it is gone now. he was Dx with duodenitis, (SP?) and gastritis. his stomach complaints appeared to cease at the same time that we did a fairly dairy free and yeast free diet. i do believe from what ive read that this gastro probs are resolvable with natural remedy - diet, supplements, enzymes etc. i know in my heart something is at the root of the stomach issues, with the inflammation they found, inflammation is a red flag of a bodily imbalance. thank you, i will ask you more as it comes to me.