Thank you, Sheila for your help. My son is 12 yrs old and started with tics at the age of 3. Started with sniffling as if his nose was stuffy. His pediatrician sent us to an ENT doctor. The ENT could not find anything wrong but our son continued to have issues especially at night so his pediatrician put him on a steroid nasal spray...for 3 years! I questioned if this long use of a steroid spray was okay and was reassured it was. I feel horrible because now looking back I know that was a tic he was having. I took him off the spray still not realizing it was a tic but felt the spray was not helping. He eventually stopped the stuffy nose sniffling and began to blink a lot. My husband and I thought it was due to his vision or something irritating his eyes. Took him to an allergist...no allergies. Took him to have his eyes checked...20/20 vision. Took him to a vision therapist who said he did have 20/20 vision but had underlying problems with his eyes and recommended vision therapy...he took vision therapy for 7 months. I asked over and over again and even changed pediatricians in hopes to get an answer to what we now know were tics. The sniffling has come back once but what really got our attention was when he was 10 he started with eye blinks, face grimacing and then his neck would jerk. I searched and searched the internet and read about tics and tourettes. My husband and I took our son to a neurologist and I felt for once we had an answer and went in with high hopes we would get some answers. I remember that day clearly. I left holding back tears(did not want my son to see me upset) and was frustrated the doctor said yes he has tics but there is not anything we could do about it. I proudly had my list of vitamins I wondered if he could be lacking including Magnesium and was told none of it would work. I could try it but would be wasting my time. The pediatrician we were seeing was not helpful at all. His tics would come and go and we kept hoping they would be gone for good only to have them start back up at some point in the year. I finally found the book I mentioned in the above post and it was like a breath of fresh air. I read it from beginning to end in 2 days taking lots of notes. This was 2 years ago. I have extensive note taking of foods(date/times/brands) he has eaten, vitamins and brands, sleep habits, how much exercise he gets, tv/computer/video game use etc. and I feel I have pinpointed some of the causes. I am not one to change doctors a lot but I changed to a pediatrician my sister knows and she is wonderful. Willing to explore other options etc. I went in with what I felt could be the issue and she recommended Orap...ugh! But I have voiced not wanting to put my son on this type of medicine and it was still offered. Her intentions were meant well but I did not have it filled. He does not have any allergies...had him tested again recently. He did test low sensitivities to wheat, corn and peanuts. But can eat these foods and will not tic at all. (But I do wonder if they build up if he has too many without rotating) He gets 11 hours of sleep a night, he does have mild anxiety that creeps up time to time. His tics are mainly year round but they do stop for awhile and start back. They are more prominent from Oct.-Jan. He stopped with his tics 3 days ago but I noticed when his older cousin came over to see him last night and they played a video game that he started with eye blinks during the video game. I went back to my notes and there is a pattern of when he plays certain video games. I have taking him to a doctor who checked for PANDAS and other tests and he did show low serotonin as well as dopamine levels. But nothing was recommended to help these except the medicine Tenex which we tried for 2 weeks but he was a different child...not himself and lethargic. Took him off Tenex. He showed extremely low B6 as well as Vitamin D which we supplement. He takes cod liver oil, probiotics, magnesium taurate. So, we are trying to find a doctor that is knowledgeable of tics and is willing to sit down with the notes I have taken and help us figure out if I am giving him the correct vitamins/supplements etc. I truly feel there is an imbalance within his body but I cannot quite pinpoint it and would like to find someone who is not wanting to resort to strong medication as the first or second advice. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. I feel I am so close to finding the answer but so far away. Thank you for taking time to ready this long post:)
