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.

wow my son has had serious gastro problems since 3 yrs old! and he was endoscoped and they found an ulcer at merely 5 year old! the doc was shocked, i still dont know what that means that he had an ulcer.they found other multiple areas of inflamation and irritation in his stomach. my son was constipated but now he goes regularly, i presume because of the mag.

hi faith! nice to talk with you again! i am trying to put on that thinking cap. the thing is Faith, and this is was has been so frustrating for me, is that there have been MANY times over the year and years that my son has eaten junk and had NO reaction/ensuing symptoms and other times when he has eaten junk and has appeared to have a reaction. So, i dont know how to interpret this. Does it mean that his body has no fodd/additive/color etc sensitivities and the reactions i saw were just a timiing coincidence and were just his brain chemicals going wacky? or was it the case that he reacted to the junk food? but then WHY would his body react sometimes and not other times?? specifically, over the year of being tic free (and i truly mean FREE, no head bobs, no eye rolls, no jerking), he had times of eating junk, like at the county fair, at Xmas plenty of candy and cake, one day at school had ice cream, etc - so over that year he indeed had times of junk and STILL had no tics. The only consistent thing i did during that year was gave the same kind of magnesium supplement everyday. The tics which came back a few weeks ago came back while he was STILL on the magnesium, so what should i think about that? that i gave it to him for too long (one year) and his body had TOO much mag?? that the mag had nothing to do with the tics after all? i dont know. other than that, we havent gone back to a non natural diet, he is still eating pretty much the same foods and no junk except for on easter he did. the only think i can think of is that we were doing a yeast free diet for 2 months during the tic free period, but it wasnt that intensive. This is exactly why i am going to a DAN now, because i need to know what his specific body makeup is, what he may be lacking in, what he may have enough of, what he may be unbalanced in, through the DAN testing that i cant get through our pediatrician and dont know how to get without a DAN. anyhow, i just feel like i dont have enough info about my sons body. All i have known over the years is that he has a ulcer, gastritis, duodenitis, plenty of tummy troubles, and came up with 2 of 7 genetic positives for gluten intolerance in a blood test. so, what he had just prior to the new tics are things he has had over the last year, here and there, maybe a handful of times, and had NO tics after. so why would he have tics after eating candy now at easter and have had none last summer when he ate candy at a birthday partty? this is why i cannot figure out his triggers. but thats where im hiping the DAN comes in for us - exploring things i cannot alone just deduce through trial and error. the DAN i chose specifically because of his experience and openness to everything, and not obssessed with just autism. you know, sometimes i wonder, maybe its just bodily grwoth and changes affecting his neurology and has nothing to do with food? i dont know. so your son has allergies, hence the NAET? how long have you been doing it for? did you get any specific testing done with your DAN? youve pursued the yeast path? thanks faith, always interested in your comments and how your son is doing!

Hi Chemar, he complains of what sounds like acid reflux, ulcer type pains, and nausea. he also has been vomiting once in a while ALL liquid vomit (sorry to be graphic). The stomach complaints are at random times, even when he has not eaten for a while that day. thanks

hello everyone, quick question to any of you who have gone to or see a "DAN" doc - we have chosen one (Dr Bradstreet) and i am wondering if i should have searched for one who specifically was an "expert" in tics, or does it matter? in other words, yes i want my sons whole biology explored and I believe the protocol is great for any kid with neurological issues (my child doesnt have autism PEr SE), but i wonder if i am wasting money not finding someone with a specialty in tics (tho that isnt my son's ONLY issue) or whether the "protocol" is good enough to address any bodily issues going on, be it tics, emotional issues, OCD etc. Anyone who has used a DAN with any opinions? thanks. Also, meant to post here about how after exactly one year of being 99.99999999999999% tic free (2 twirls and maybe a few eye blinks), my son now has tics again, not as severe as a few years ago, but every few days or two to three days ina row now has a breathing tic and some head bobbing, along with lots of twirling. This is about 1 and a half months after the year mark. I have little to no speculations as to why this is....during the year of being tic free he ate some junk here and there as he has recently (at easter) and tics did not re appear.....so not convinced on the food angle though we always continue an all natural diet of mostly whole foods. Hence our new journey beginning in a few weeks with DAN to get some specific info on my sons body and what we have been overlooking as possible contributors to his symptoms as i know that just taking out artificials most of the time is not the end all, be all answer! Just funny how seems like 50% of the time my son will eat a candy bar or a hot dog or some god awful food and have NO resulting symptoms, and the other 50% does APPEAR to have symptoms, or is coincidence? I would be more comfortable with these musings if i could employ a more scientific method beyond this observing and not really knowing what factors are at play. not a coincidence though, im sure, that my sons stomach complaints, whiich he had a few years ago and then improved, are now back on an almost daily basis.

hi everyone! i havent been here posting for a while, though i pop in regularly. I got an email about "truehope" micronutrient supplement, has anyone heard of it? truehope.com, they just had a scientific study published. It seems to be marketed for bi polar, but i am just curious if anyone here has heard of it and if you have opinions? is it just another jam packed multivitamin? thanks for any opinions!

tracey: I know how you feel! First let me say this - of UTMOST importance and bearing is, does your son have an IEP?? i know your post was written a while ago, but is your son in special ed? if not, you are missing out on some protections that the law provides children with ADHD and tourette's, PDD and the like, so that they are not necessarily retained, for example, when they are having a hard time because of their disability, or issue. If you want an IEP, you need to request special education testing from your school district by letter. if you need info or help on this you can contact me. also, the attention thing............is there anything your son pays attention to? can he not sit and attend to even preffered things like TV or a video game?

hi everyone, just got an email about 1 of 3 toys being toxic! here is the website: http://www.healthytoys.org/

char: your post brought tears to my eyes! thank you so much, how kind of you to take your time to write that. every little communication helps that feeling of isolation. i do have hope, i would never give up hope. i think if everyone on this forum was an M.D. we would find the answers we seek because we understand so much, its just we are not doctors and cannot know all about the body. but we know our children like no doctor can thats for sure. i feel like i do so much "complaining" on this forum but sometimes its hard not to! you never know if theres that one person out there who might know something that could help you. thank you char and all the best to you!

myrose: thank you! its so ironic you mention creationsown because thats just who i contacted, Dr Bradtreets office. my only uncertainty is whether he is the right person for what we are dealing with. i thought more like a pyschoneurologist or something, i dont know! what if whats going in with him is NOT related to a biomedical issue? because its not the tics we;re struggling with now, though he is having some. i am still going to talk to their office and explain my situation and see what they think. i have applied for DAN funds from two different sources to go see him, otherwise we cant really afford it, at least not the whole she-bang. i dont feel like giving up, but this frusturation of feeling so alone is nuts! for a child as complex as mine with all his symptoms and issues and every school is a disaster for him etc etc, should we have "someone" to turn to? im afriad im seeing like early bi polar or something, i dont know. myrose thank you so much, just reading your post is comforting and i will call bradstreet and look into what they do further. when are you going there?? do you know what you want to do there? the whole protocol? i also dont remember your sons age, mine is 9.

Hello, I dont belong to other forums or parents groups so i am going to throw this question out here. my son is 9 years old now and only now are we really seeing whats going on with him. his diagnoses over the years have been many and varied, and the latest docs and psychs we have been to have said themselves that his case is particularly complex and confusing and needs to be understood better. Right now, we have been seeing my son deteriorate again since august. This type of down slide happened also last Fall. the worst part is that he will be "ok" for a few days or a week, then will display this just deterioration which presents as almost a kind of crazy acting. its gotten scary lately at times as well. i am understanding it better, though i still dont know the source, i.e., if its caused by neurological problems, if its a developmental disorder issue, a possible psychiatric issue, or what. it truly seems that his melt downs (which are NOt like a tantrum, they are like someone losing their mind) are a time when he has zero awareness of how he feels, who is is, what he thinks. he is just in a fury, but not a fury that makes any sense. its sooo hard to epxlain especially if i am trying to be brief. i have feel literally like the only parent on earth with a situation like this. every parent i meet is at peace to some extent knowing their kid has "X", and this is what you do to treat "X", etc. i mean i know thats an oversimplification, but to be at this stage and not know #1 what is really wrong with my son, and #2 what to do....i keep reading that parents have these great psychologists for their kids who really understand their child and are helpful in treatment or figuring things out or suggestions. Right now, we have a new neurologist who we saw who is going to do a battery of complex blood testing and a new MRI. in the mean time he told me he will see us in 3 months! what i dont understand is how am i supposed to wait 3 months? shouldnt i have someone to go to at times of crisis like this where my son is having these freak outs. Thats the thing, we dont have anyone to go to. I found someone who was supposed ot be a top notch PhD psychologist here where we live and i went several times and spent $1000 hoping this lady would gather all the info i painstakingly compiled and the time she spent with my son and help me out! tell me what she thinks, what we can do, help me get to the bottom of all this complexity that no one can figure out. she did nothing! she agreed that he has ADHD and the tourettes and the OCD work together and he is a little immature yet for CBT and thats it. what about this crisis? where are all these great professionals who dig in and really help you figure out whats going on. my kid doesnt live in a text book. if i was jenny mcarthy would i then get the attention we need to unravel all this? Just looking for some advice, particularly in Florida, if anyone knows of any psychs or therapists or anyne GOOD they know or have used, or any suggestions. its such a wierd feeling to have a child with neurological disorders and be in a crisis and no one does anything, no one is there, its not a big deal to anyone, etc. If this was god forbid a disease people could SEE like cancer or diabetes, wouldnt someoone rush to help him? i know i may not be making much sense here in trying to just describe what this is like when you havent found a good professional in your childs life to turn to for help figuring things out. thanks for listening! clara