KateH

Hi Tiger, Sounds very similar to our experience of the NHS. They only did a blood test because I pushed for it and then told me to buy a blood sugar monitor and to get her school to refer us to the Junction for councilling. We decided against this and I have been trying to look at alternative solutions myself since September. I do think we are making progress but I'm not sure if this is just a natural waning...... Might try the clams next !! 😜

Hi, My daughter also tics and her main one was also nose scrunching, she also clears throat, coughs, gulps, and sometimes flicks her head back. The nose scrunch though was the very obvious one and she was doing it very often, up to 10 times per minute at worse point. She is currently doing it mildly and fairly infrequently and this is since I have cut out dairy, reduced salicyclates, colourings, preservatives and additives. I also give magnesium citrate, B6, omega 3 and just started zinc. I noticed steady improvements over about 3 weeks but a real difference when I cut out dairy and added omega 3 (within a few days) I'm learning it is all trial and error, which when its your own child can be worrying! Kate

Hi Tiger, I get the natural calm off Amazon, it's shipped from the US though I think. It is pretty pricey but so is the floridex and I think it works better for my daughter. Interesting that you mention scarlett fever because my son had it about 1.5 years ago and I wondered if my daughter had had it but not shown the rash. Seems like a long delay though before she's shown tics etc? Has your son been diagnosed with PANDAS? I think the doctors here are fairly useless with all this stuff......... Thanks Chris for your advice. Kate

Thanks, I had considered PANDAS because she had had a cough beforehand that lasted a while, but now looking back am not sure if this wasn't a tic. I feel that it is more likely TS because of the family history, it turns out my husband's mother also has mild tics, I don't know what she was like as a child. When I look back there were also previous incidents when my daughter showed short lived but pretty irrational behaviour and moments of anxiety,again brief, a few years beforehand. She is also a very active child and has always struggled with her attention, I wouldn't say she has ADHD but she is right on the edge of it. All these point more to TS I feel, although this is all my own assumptions as the doctors here have been fairly unhelpful. I have introduced zinc as a supplement today as well as the other things I'm giving her and will see how we go, she is ticcing fairly mildly at the moment and fairly relaxed. I was wondering how much natural calm ( mag only) people give, I really notice a difference when I don't give her this both in mood and ticcing. I am currently giving two rounded teaspoons a day (one in morning and one in evening) I'm not sure if this is equal to 2g or if that would be a flat teaspoon, there are no proper instructions! Do you think it is safe to give more than this to see if it makes any difference? Thanks Kate

I'm from the UK and am pretty certain my 9 year old daughter has TS but has not been diagnosed officially. More than 6 months ago now she had what I can only describe as a complete meltdown. She had huge anxiety, couldn't be separated from us, didn't go to school for 3 weeks, had rages, complete moments of irrationality and at the worst point was so exhausted she would fall asleep in the day. We had her at the doctors more than once, thought she was hypoglyceamic etc etc. at the same time she developed a blinking tic and I realised she had a throat clearing and sort of gulping tic for a while. We managed to get her back to school and things calmed down a little and I started to research..... I discovered my husband who also has mild tics ( I didn't notice for 20 years!) also probably has TS and had more obvious symptoms when he was a child. My daughters tics have started to get worse and she has developed a very obvious, prolonged nose scrunch, flicking of her wrists and still blinks, gulps etc. I am currently giving her natural calm magnesium ( 2 teaspoons per day), omega 3 1000mg, and 10 mg B6. I have cut out preservatives, additives, colourings as much as possible and she is currently dairy free and low salicyclates. I thought I was seeing an improvement as the frequency of her nose scrunching has reduced significantly but I i noticed in the last 2 days she has developed a flicking back of her head. It's not that often but I'm now worried this is just the start and it is going to get really frequent and the reason the nose tic is decreasing is because this new one is starting. I'm finding this whole thing really tough and tonight just feel like crying. Do people have experience of how tics wax, wane and change? Is this a normal pattern? Do you think what I've done has made any difference? Has any one got other suggestions? Sorry for all the questions, I am so terrified everything is going to get worse..... Kate