airbucket

hi kim! I just saw this thread (?), i wish i had more time to pour over this forum, i am dying for info!!! anyway, i am too excited about the test, but to be honest i dont understand it too well. the pedicatrian had NO idea what it was but said ok anyway. I will call the lab first, excellent suggestion. i do not when the urine should be taken. wonderful point. i do not know what rescue angels is? I still dont know what im going to DO with the results other than search for someone who can interpret them. We are going to labcorp on friday for this, of course i will keep the forum posted! I really appreciate your offer to help, i am running blind but better than not running at all. right now i have to go because my son is sitting on the couch grunting and jerking his head non stop, the newest tic, and its driving me nuts, so more later! And thank you so much! i just came back to edit this to make the point that anything "alternative" that we've done for my son (which so far hasnt been much but will be) has come through pretty much demanding that the forces that be cooperate, just like with the school system, so with the pediatrician. i wont take no for an answer if my request is within reason. Also, on another note, i am interested in researching the connections bewteen gasto problems and tics/TS.

Hi there: I know it is so hard to try and describe something like the stomach thing your son is experiencing - the only thing i can add to the discussion is that my son, who is 8, has a stomach tic like someone else here described, where he sucks his stomach in and then pushes it out and then complains of tummy ache. he also will do hard to see little sucks in rapid succession. Anything like this seem like what your son may be doing? if not, you may want to go to the doctor, maybe something is wrong in the stomach like an ulcer or something? Good luck.

hello everyone - still new here but just would like to comment on the school issues. it is a peronal issue for each of us and i do not think anyone shoud judge another person for their choices. I found for us that getting the school 100% involved was the way to go. I will not be afraid to say Tourrette disorder to anyone. Much less those who are responsible for accomodating my child and seeing to it that he learns, be it dealing with TS, purple skin or 3 ears! They WILL provide for my son and they WILL not treat him poorly based on the lore of TS. Too bad. All children in this country are legally entitled to a free and appropriate public education with any supplemental services they may need to achieve appropriate ed. If my son's principal did not follow through on the IEP or did something to thwart my son's success because she does not like the idea of TS, i would go straight to the superindetent of schools. I do believe in using our public ed t its fullest. My son is now in a fully inclusive classroom with his peers and his accomodation and is doing fine, and the minute that anyone stops respecting his diffeences and stops upholding the legal document which is the IEP, they'll be hearing from me! Good luck to all parents who have their special kids in public school, it can be a battle and a fight but if you stick to what you know is right, that which is the LAW that no one can argue with, you'll be on the right track! On another note, I am taking my 8 yr old this evening for the Lab Corp UPPA "mercury" test, however i do not have a doctor who i am sure can interpret the results. My sons ped didnt know what the test was for and just agreed to it because i insisted he write a script for it. Not sure what to do....have others here done this test? Also have you been given info as i was by a psychiatrst who specializes in TS, about how TS is so widely misunderstood? It is not at all simply tics - thats one manifestation. According to the materials i read, TS can be a complex disordr with not just phsyical tics but emotional and cognitive tics, i.e., not being able to let go of a topic or repeating one idea etc. Just exploring what other parents know, thanks!

hi faith: in answer to your questions, my son has had symptoms since he was 6 yrs old. We went to an independent psychiatrist because any of the ones the school had provided were inadequate and could not have an open mind to the complexity of his symptoms. This was when he was 8, the psychiatrist confirmed that there were no major symptoms of autism or a PDD but all the symtpoms he had added up to Tourette. However, he is also a doctor who believes that Tourette's is much more than a physical problem, it ranges from motor tics to mental tics(not being able to stop thinking about something) to emotional tics and so on. anyhow, the psychologist Dx him at about 2 because he always had this really spacey demeanor, he didnt talk (he still has language disorder) and he had sensory issues, and so on. however the main component that was allways missing is that he was never antisocial. Basically, he didnt talk, got aggressive when upset and had some of the sensory fears children with autism display. As far as Aspergers, im not sure? do they have problems with touching others? Thank you for your response!

thank you both so much for your replies. It is a sense of relief to "meet" people who understand. I have begun to and will as time allows, look through the forum and read as much as i can. I guess the one question I have is how will I ever know if the psychiatrist is wrong? What if brain chemicals do exist? What if all the psychiatric field says is true? I would hate to find out that indeed dopamine is my son's problem. For now I will continue reading and gathering information from all you well informed people! thank you!

wow! This is beyond scary! Good posting. I am new here but would like to reply. My son was misdiagnosed at at 2 (he is now 8) with autism so the whole mercury link was a big issue in our world. had NO idea it is also related to Tourrette's and so on. We checked around and asked our sons doctor and were assured that all the thermerisol was removed from vaccines "long ago" and due to family history of anxiety and ADD, and that my sons "symptoms" seemed to appear as an infant, that there was no way he was affected by mercury. Well now i am thinking twice! I want to get involved with this. I am trying, new to this forum, to follow the threads and links properly. I wonder why i have not heard ONE single thing about mercury and tics!? Is the CDC out of their minds?!?!?! I am in shock. Although in our case it could be Tourette's due to my son pretty much following the DSMV description of the onset and progression, but i remain highly skeptical. I will be following this post and add any info i find and thank you for bringing this up!

This is the first communication I will have with other parents who are dealing with this and i am so grateful i found this forum! I have no idea who to go to for help! Briefly, my son is 8, He was diagnosed with Tourette by a psychiatrist last march 2007 due to the sudden onset of tics. Previously he was diagnosed with autism at 2 years old and has language disorder. The Dx of autism was retracted because he no longer displayed symptoms (misDx) - he has a myriad of issues, from behavior problems, high anxiety, OCD behaviors, hyper, aggressive at time, oppositional, but IQ normal, very bright, likes school etc. Currently Dx with Tourette he has tics ranging from vocal gruntings to shoulder raising tics. they do come and go, when we went to the psychiatrist it was because he was innapropriately touching other kids at school, meaning he wanted to touch their eyes, grab their head, pinch them, hug them too tight. He has ALWAYS had those problems/symptoms. Now the psych said those were tourette tics, complex tics involving touching others. He was prescribed Abilify 2 mg and it worked literally like a miracle for a little while. He was a different child at school, the touching stopped, the tics were almost gone. Slowly over the summer we saw a few things creep back in, increased anxiety, irritability, sleep disturbance and a few tics here and there. A few weeks ago things got bad and he began the old behavior of bothering the other students. The psych increased the abilify to 3 mg but NO improvement. We are ina holding pattern now, i dont know what to do, the psych says we can continue to raise the dosage or add another med. This has me really disturbed. WHY would the med seem to work so well and then literally stop working?? why didnt increasing the dosage help? Woudl this indicate that his problems are not with excess dopamine? Are we on the wrong track? I certaintly dont want to continue to increase and increase the med, i dont even like givng him such a strong med ot begin with but i gave in because of the troubles at school. WHO should we go see? i am afraid of another psychiatrist who only is interested in pushing meds and not looking at the WHOLE child. My child also has some odd problems like a stomach ulcer with no presence of e pilori, terrible gastric problems, moodiness, complains of pains a lot - what if something else altogether is wrong?? I ask this because I am gathering that this disorder is like a puzzle and i have to put all these pieces together - i have read many plces that gastric disorders are related to metabolic disorers related to the immune system and so on and so on. Very confusing. Sorry this post is so long but i am desperate to try and get some answers. Thank you all!