familyof4

As far as allergies go, I learned alot from reading "Is This Your Child" by Doris Rapp. Heather

We started using the pediatric Neilmed kit when my son was less than 2 so you should be fine. It does a much better job of actually clearing the sinuses out than just squirting some saline. It is not pleasent and he will probably fight you but once he realizes it makes him feel better he will adjust. When we first started my son would scream bloody murder but we pressed on with it. After he got a sinus infection that was so bad (no symptoms - found on a CT scan) that he had a seizure this is what the doctor suggested. My son learned that the only time he choked was if he screamed through it. Like I said - now he asks for me to do an extra nasel wash when he has a cold so he realizes the benefits. Heather

Betty, If you aren't already doing daily nasel rinses for your son I would highly suggest it. Neilmed makes a pediatric size kit that should be pretty easy to find. My son was getting really bad sinus infections by 18months old. Although he really didn't test strongly for any environmental allergies they put him on Nasonex to help with the swelling and irritation and nasel washes 2x daily. It wasn't easy at first (we had to wrap him in a towel and hold him down) but by the age of 3 he was actually asking for extra nasel washes whenever he ended up congested with a cold. Now we only do the nasel washes once a day and Nasonex only when he has a cold. If he has lots of "snot" the nasel wash will rinse it out. Even if he doens't have the congestion the washes help keep the bacteria levels down. Just my 2 cents as it has been a lifesaver for us! Heather

I am sorry I didn't see this sooner! I am also in the Denver area and we have seen a pediatric neuro that I really liked. In adition to tics my son has cyclic vomiting syndrome which has neuro connections as well as GI. I was impressed with the neuro we saw. He didn't want to run any tests at the time - didn't think they would really tell us anything as it was clear to us and him that it was not seizure related and all the blood test parameters he wanted to review had already been done by my pediatrician. He stated that and MRI would likely be abnormal but would not show us anything that we could treat and once you have had an abnormal MRI you have to keep repeating them every 6m-year to be sure nothing changed. (We ended up going for the MRI at a later date anyway for another reason and he was right - it does show a small lesion of unknown cause that is not uncommon to observe in those with autoimmune disorders - my son has celiacs) He is very against medicating children for tics - in fact told us that unless our son was old enough to ask for medication or it was such a serious impact to learning (ie couldn't hold a pencil) that he wouldn't even entertain the thought of medication as the side effects just weren't worth it. He spent loads of time with us at our appointment and months later even spent over an hour with me on the phone to discuss the results of the MRI my pediatrician had ordered. I haven't been to Jewish Hospital for his tics yet but am entertaining talking with them to see if they might be helpful. They by far have the best traditional allergists in the Denver area. The previous allergist we saw totally missed my daughter's celiacs and told us it was just an allergy to wheat despite blood results that showed contrary. Heather

My son does this. It started within a month of his first tic showing up and comes and goes. For him it was apples and apple juice. He used to eat an entire apple for a snack and then all of the sudden couldn't eat more than a bite. At the same time he quit sucking his thumb cold turkey because it didn't taste good anymore. I was shocked because he was/is a confirmed thumb sucker. I checked and discovered he wasn't even sucking it at night so I know it really must have tasted bad to him. With a week of all of this, major tantrums over nothing started, about one a week, and then the eye blinking tic came on full force. (We thought at the time the tantrums and maybe even the tics were due to the fact that without his thumb he was having trouble comforting himself/calming himself down.) After about a month of really bad tics he gradually started sucking his thumb again and the tics all but disappeared. He still gets these taste aversions periodically to apples, apple juice and his thumb but I haven't observed his tics increasing with it. He had been basically tic free for 6 months until recently and exploded with tics again - still trying to determine the triggers and discussing PANDAS with his pediatrician. Heather

I'll try to keep this as short as possible but give enough details. My son is 5. He has had digestive issues since birth and is currently diagnosed with Pancreatic Insufficiency (must take perscription digestive enzymes - on almost total enzyme replacement), Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome, Celiacs (docs not 100% sure of this but older sister has it so he is on a gluten free diet), frequent sinus infections as a toddler, and has always displayed balance issues but has great gross motor skills and hand eye coordination. Last November he developed a rapid eye blink facial tic. Ped. Neuro said this was not a transitional tic and would not go away, he might get more tics, and would likely worsen during puberty. 3 weeks Prior to developing the tic he quit sucking his thumb cold turkey - said it didn't taste good, this was followed by tantrums that were out of character for him and things that weren't tantrum worthy. The tic was very pronounced to the point I had complete strangers stopping me and asking if he was okay. He also was doing this frequent nose wiping thing that we suspected was a tic. During this time my usually cuddly child was also seemingly always in motion / couldn't sit still or cuddle. Ped. Neuro commented that normally he can see tics in the parents that they didn't know they had but in our case he was not picking up on any. I do believe my Aunt and my Grandmother have tics. We took a trip early in December and by the end of the trip - Disneyland - the tic was all but gone and he was sucking his thumb again. He tics so rarely that we were questioning if it the tic was totally absent although the pediatrician still sees it, no one else would notice. Don't know if the whole thumb thing has anything to do with it. This spring his GI issues have been horrible and he has had to take more of his abortive med - Zofran. He developed an issue with frequent urination only at night and we were able to tie it to the zofran as a known side affect is urinary retention and we only saw the problem within a day of having to take the med. Well, since last friday he has had to urinate every 5 minutes during the day and he seems to be back to the can't stand still/sit still although the eye blink is seen very very infrequently. Unlike the nighttime urination problem he had before - he is not going very much each time he goes but seems to have this overwhelming urge that he has to and can't hold it. He hasn't had zofran for days prior to this developing I have been sick and am taking antibiotics for a sinius infection - I wondered if I might have had strep but couldn't get urgent care to do a strep test on me this weekend - just gave me the meds for the sinus infection that are of the right class to also take care of strep. To my knowledge he has never had strep. I took him to his pediatrician today and his throat is red and he does have a slightly swollen gland but the rapid test was negative, of course his urine was negative for infection as well. He has had tons of labs, tests, and blood work over the last couple months for his other issues - all which came back normal. The pediatrician decided to wait to see if his culture grows anything before drawing blood for a titer test. She has seen one case of PANDAS years ago and isn't dismissing it as a possibility. Since it looks like we will be sticking him can anyone suggest other parameters that should be tested at the same time or anything else I should be pursuing/reading? This poor kid has been through so much I would just like to have some answers / solutions for him. If this urination problem keeps up I don't know how he will attend kindergarten in the fall - He attended pre-school last year and did wonderfully. Thanks for taking the time to read and respond Heather