mom2a

Hi Bonnie, Yes, our products are fish oil based but we are researching an alternative formulation right now to add to our product line for children who have fish sensitivities or allergies (many requests). We would love feed back from you or other parents with suggestions or thoughts on this future product. The signature line of supplements we offer was inspired by our son who is for the most part symptom free all the time. We now want to branch out with more options because as we all know, "what works for one doesn't always work for all". Erin

yes, I did a post on this topic not too long ago!!! Absolutely, chlorine is a big tic trigger!!!! We finally switched to a salt water chlorinator for our above ground pool....it cost around $180.00 at walmart.....best investment ever!!! My son swims every day now and has had no reactions to it!!! Last year....he had a small vocal tic every day from swimming in the chlorine pool we had......It seemed like it took about 3-5 days after swimming for the tic to start disipating!!! We just encourage the swim days at our home with his friends vs. a public pool. Good luck!!!

Hi Char....I'm soo sorry for my delayed response! I never received this message, by accident I stumbled across it! To answer your question.....Before we knew for sure I would say he started displaying tics at around age 2 1/2 (small things) and then at age 5 is when we knew for sure! He had OCD really bad along with intrusive thoughts and of course tics! My son is now 8 years old and has been symptoms free since we did the food elimination diet 3 years ago (food triggers are salicylates, dairy, too much sugar, and pasta). The only time he shows symptoms is when he eats too much of his sensitivities or environmental factors such as allergies...but even that has been better this year as we always give him local honey to build up his tolerances. We give him Children's Love my Brain and Omega 3-6-9 and when he has very busy days we include Cal/Mag 2:1 ratio to him relax him. Every day is like clockwork now...we just know.....He does fantastic!!!! I'm fortunate because my son cares a great deal about being healthy....so he has made it easy on me...how did I luck out??? Sorry again for my tardiness!!! Erin

Our Family keeps dairy out of the house as this is a big OCD trigger in our family and we also find GREAT benefit with Omega 3-6-9.

My husbands tics increase while driving too. He has told me that the sensitivity to Light (even with sunglasses on) effects him along with the vibration of the car. He has always said his senses are hightened because of TS which effects tics.

My son's OCD is triggered by Dairy big time! Have you tried eliminating dairy for a couple of days to notice if any changes take place?

If there is an egg sensitivity I would also test for chicken too! Every client I work with that tests weak to eggs also tests weak to chicken products. I'd keep them both out of the diet!!

For my son....we usually saw improvement after an offender was taken out of his diet within 24 hours! With supplements it can take anywhere in my opinion from 24 hours to 3 months...everyone is a little different.

Hi there tryinmybest!!! I just posted on this topic not to long ago because I was very excited with our results on our salt water filtration system for our pool. Last year we did the chlorine chemicals and my son also had a flare up of tics after swimming. This year we are going salt water and so far no tics and he is swimming atleast 4 days a week!!! Totally worth looking into!!!

Hi Kathy!! Really look into Food triggers and chemical sensitivities!! They played a huge part in my son's Tics and OCD. The top offenders would be: Dairy, Corn, Eggs, Wheat, salicylates, peanuts and of course sugar. I would start with this list...take items out one at a time and wait for a couple of days and see if you see improvement! Don't do it all at once or you won't know the culprits! My son has been symptom free for 3 years now...the only time I see flare ups is during allergy season, too much swimming in chlorine pools (we now have a salt water chlorinator, and no tics so far) or if he eats too much of one of his sensitivity foods. Otherwise he is fantastic!!! On another note....this may help some people out there with seasonal allergies. We feed our son local honey to help build up his allergy defenses. It is actually working....every year since we have been doing this his allergies get better and better! (been 3 years). Good Luck Kathy!!!

Hello! Everyone is different and will re-act differently to most supplements. My husband tried L-Tryp. for a month and we both noticed his tics increasing! It was a costly lesson and as we all know L-Tryp. is NOT cheap! You will have to experiment with supplements unfortunately. What works for my husband does not work for my son...the only thing they have in common is they both respond great to calcium/magnesium 2:1 ratio. Good Luck with your detective work!

I would certainly try to ease him off the meds, try a food elimination program to find sensitivities and put him on some key supplements. I agree with Chemar....some meds actually create tics and makes situations much worse. I have worked with many families detecting food triggers and the parents are always amazed that within 1-3 days how much of a GREAT change they have seen! Learning about foods is hard, but worth every minute of effort when you start seeing the changes taking place!! Hang in there!!

Hang in there! I agree with the other people who have responded...YOU ARE DOING GREAT and ARE AHEAD OF THE GAME!!! My suggestion would be this You have a lot of stuff going on between the vitamins and all the foods eliminated. Sometimes it's worth it to take a step back and introduce things one by one again. Your child may be re-acting to one or more of the supplements. Make sure your supplements are FREE from artificial ingredients and "Natural Flavors"...many people think because it says "natural" it's actually "Natural", it is still chemically made. I know my husband re-acts to Taurine in a negative way. It actually increases his tics. We find a 2:1 ratio of Cal/Mag. usually is best too. Sometimes you just have to step back and re-group....question what you are doing and look at it all again! Us mom's have to be the detectives, how we wish there was a one size fits all solution. Good Luck, don't give up!!

Really good information!!! Thank you for sharing!!

That is GREAT...You'll have to let me know if you have the same results.....what we do is keep the chlorine levels at the low end...the minimum amount....we only run our salt water chlorinator every couple of days....and just so you know on cooler days the chlorine last longer. We had a lot of learning curves with the salt water system but once you have it figured out it's like clockwork! Hope you guys have great results too!!! Erin

Hi, we have an above the ground 9 x18 pool......Is yours in the ground??? We bought our salt water chlorinator through INTEX....it works GREAT! We run it about every 2 days.....just enough to bring the chlorine level to a minimum.....my son hasn't had 1 tic so far!! He even told me how great he was doing!!! LOVE IT! I know pool stores sell them now too...they are becoming so popular!!! Good Luck, totally worth changing it out!!!

May I ask if you do anything naturally to help yourself?? When my son was having intrusive thoughts we had to clean out his foods and figure out what was behind the ocd behavior. Milk was his big trigger, infact even today, if my son has dairy, the thoughts come back within 20 minutes! Yours may not be dairy, but it's worth figuring out so you don't have to live like this! Omega 3-6-9 can also be beneficial. I strongly believe though that the supplements are an added bonus but knowing your triggers are a MUST to feel better! Take care!

I would highly recommend an elimination diet to find out what his trigger's are!! That and supplements were a GREAT help to my son who has TS, OCD and Big time anxiety!!! MILK, sorry to say, is the worst....I tell all my clients...start with that!!!! After we did the elimination diet and found my son's triggers, he has been symptom free for 3 years...unless we do or give him something his body does not want! He takes NO meds, just whole organic chemical free foods, and a couple key supplements. Food chemicals effect our Tourette children and teens greatly!!! Good luck and don't give up, remember to take time for you!!

So last year I noticed that my son had a tic onset after swimming in chlorine pools. When he stopped swimming, they went away!!! Bingo...another trigger!! So this year we decided to try a salt water chlorinator for our pool to see if it would make a difference. Even though salt does turn into chlorine, it does so naturally vs. using the chemicals. We can also decide how strong we want the chlorine from the salt to be....I tend to keep it on the weaker side for my son's sake! We have had the pool up now for 2 weeks and so far....no tics!!!! I'm very excited about this!!! We are a swimming family and It would have been awful to have to keep that to a minimum. So be careful with the chlorine pools at parks and aquatic centers.....BIG TIC TRIGGERS!!! Salt water...so far....so good!!!! woo hoo!!!! we'll keep you posted if anything changes!

Hi Everyone! When my son started to display the symptoms of TS 3 years ago...I searched frantically for alternative approaches! Through many of the postings on this website (thank you by the way for all the support and postings that helped to inspire me and keep me going) and my 14 years experience as a Natural Health Care Consultant I rolled up my sleeves and got to work!!! I knew I didn't want to do the Drug route so I had to be dedicated in my efforts with the alternative route. We did a Food Elimination program along with key supplements and within 3 days I saw a huge improvement!!!! By the end of day 7, all symptoms had vanished! I realized my son was just extra sensitive to many foods and chemicals, so we had to be careful with his diet. It took me 2 years to feel confident in what we were doing and now it's like clockwork! I started http://www.smallchanges.info 2 years ago to help other parents start the program we did.....tons of FREE info on this website. Now our Family has started a supplement line with the help of Food Science of Vermont, supporting key deficiencies in children with Neuro Challenges. My child has been my best teacher and my inspiration behind my work. We are very proud of our signature supplement *Children's "Love My Brain" - DMG Plus*.....we are getting GREAT feed back and kudos to the DMG to Folic Acid ratio! Though this product was designed to help optimize neuro function in many neuro challenges, our largest feed back right now has been for children with Tourettes, OCD, ADHD and Autism. We are really proud to be part of the Alternative Choices that are out there! Please check us out and help us spread the word if you can! Thanks again Latitudes and it's members for being a part of our families GROWTH and INSPIRATION!!!

Hi saw your post, I wanted to mention that almonds have salicylates in them and salicylates can act as a trigger to TS so be careful there. As much as my son loves Blueberries, it's a huge tic trigger because of those darn salicylates. 3 years ago my son started to display the symptoms of TS and through key supplements and a food elimination diet (to find his triggers) he has been symptom free now for 3 years. He inspired me to start http://www.smallchanges.info and now we have evolved into a supplement line that targets key deficiencies http://www.desertwellnessinc.com . I know you were asking about B5....which are supplements do have along with DMG which enhances nuero function. My husband actually takes the children's formula but ups his dose to 3 instead of 1 and it has made a world of difference!! He also had to cut out sodas as the sugar and caffiene were big triggers for him. He is doing GREAT! Good luck on your journey, check us out if you have time!!

Ilovedogs, I know all too well what you are talking about.....my son deals with the same issues with anxiety and travel. Every few minutes he wants to throw up from stomach pains. I posted recently about this very thing and Chemar mentioned that the amino acid l-methionine or sAME helps with anxiety. She mentioned that anxiety is related to seratonin deficiency. I started giving this to my son with his daily vits.....seems to be helping. velarian root might help calm him down too while away. Good luck....I know how hard vacationing can be with worries. Not fun.

Hi Maryann I had to reply because my son, if he eats pasta (I think it's the overload of carbs) also starts to react. I think because the carbs go to sugar in the body, it creates an excess of energy which of course would effects tics. So I have to really limit how much pasta he eats. I know for me.....Pasta effects me too....I do not have TS but I can still feel in my body that I feel slightly agitated after pasta...wierd!

Kim, I do remember being angry about the wording on the state web site.....but the best thing you can do is just bypass it, fill out the form and be done with it!! They want to make you feel guilty and make you feel you are putting other children at risk....which is NOT the case at all!! They want everyone to believe that Vaccinations ARE mandatory when they are not!! I'm always shocked when I hear parents say "you have a choice about vaccines?" They want us to believe we don't have a choice and they are doing a good job at dumbing us down. Dr.'s, I believe, take an oath to uphold the "govt standard", so I believe legally they are protecting themselves by encouraging the vaccines. You never have to justify any decision you make for your child....sign whatever you have to but don't feel you owe a doctor or anyone else an explanation! Our Family Dr. is a Naturopath (medically trained and also trained as a naturopathic physician)......I use medical doctor's for emergency only. I try to align my family with the healthcare providers who support what we believe in. If your Doctor doesn't support your beliefs about vaccinations....I encourage people to find a new Doctor!! They are out there!!!! If you do vaccinate wait until your babies immune systems have developed (I wouldn't do vaccines the first year of life!!) Don't get a lot of vaccines all at once, Make sure the vaccines are thimerasol free, Flu vaccines still have thimerasol (mercury) in them, they are not regulated! A lot of times having very high doses of mercury! I encourage people when making the vaccine decision to just be informed and know your rights. We only hear one side of the story, it is up to parents to educate themselves about vaccines so they can say....."I've read both sides of the issue and this is my decision" and whatever the decision, feel great about it!

Hi bmom - My family chose not to vaccinate!!! The best thing to do is start with your state laws!! know your rights!! States will usually have 1 to 3 of the following rights not to vaccinate * Religious * medical * philisophical I know in the state we live in all we have to do is go online and fill out the vaccination exemption form and send it in to the state. In other states schools will have the exemption form behind the counter and all you have to do is sign it. Be warned though....many people who work at the schools are ignorant to their own laws......they aren't even aware of the exemption form because they want to make sure you vaccinate. Don't let them intimidate you, that's why you should know your rights so they don't try to bully you and use scare tactics. They will probably give you dirty looks and make you feel like an unfit parent but just know in your heart you are doing what is best for your child and that isn't any of their business. You don't have to explain yourself or defend your decisions. I would google vaccine exemption form and the name of your state. You could also check out www.thinktwice.com or 909shot.com and they might have links to your state. I have never regretted not vaccinating!!! My son is soooo healthy with a strong immune system....he was actually around a child who was vaccinated for the measels and she ended up getting the measles (hmmm, how effective was that?), he was around her during that time......and he never got it!!!! Good luck to you!!!