Hello I just wanted to share my story, and maybe it will help others. I'll try keep this focused and straight to the point.
My son started his "noticeable" tics on Christmas eve 2017. Pediatrician said it's command and would go away, just not sure when. I started to get more and more concerned as frequency increased, at times it would be several times a minute. He had motor tics with his arms, then later shoulder shrugs, then neck turning, and facial tic (that we thought were just too much screen time). No vocal tics noticed. He had a bad diet being a bit picky, and would eat lots of candy, he would also get lots of tablet time. I had my share of sleepless nights thinking and worrying about him.
I tipped off about the book "Natural Treatments for Tics and Tourettes..."..and that book, lifted my spirits, inspired me, gave me hope, and energized me to help my son.
Here's what I implemented at home: (mind you, the night before I started making changes, he was sick with a fever and tic'ing restlessly)
Bought magnesium gummies to give him
Bought fish oil
Cut the high fructose out of the diet
started removing artificial flavors and colors
cut down on screen time
When he was sick for about a 8 day stretch, I started the plan above. He already hadn't been eating much since being sick, but we I started giving him magnesium supplement. He probably had magnesium supplement for about 6 days then he got better. We noticed immediate turnaround, for a good few days I didn't see 1 motor tic, which was going from several times a minute to maybe 1 all day. Just seeing it stop for 1 full day, confirmed to me that there is something we can do despite what the dr's say.
We started to be more conciseness about what we feed our kids, and tried to get more nutrients in them. I had to explain to the both kids, that we all need to eat healthier, so we need to stop eating stuff that's bad for us. My son was all in, he always asks now if a certain food is healthy.
About 2 months into being more healthy his motor tics were probably 90% gone, but he still had some facial tics. The crazy thing is even though he made great progress, just seeing a tic here and there could still sink my spirits.
Thinking about his bad diet and him not being regular with his stool, got me thinking he may have leaky gut and that maybe he's not absorbing nutrients well.
I know the battle may not be over yet, but I'm happy to report that he hasn't had a motor tic that i've seen in about 2 weeks, and the last week have not noticed many facial tics. This week he's also been more regular, going #2 every other day (previously it was 1-2 per week).
What we're are currently doing:
Supplements:
Smarty Pants Multi (whch has omega 3)
Smart Calm Magnesium gummies (they loooove, the taste of this one)
Fiber gummy
probiotic gummy
Eating / Food:
No High Fructose
No Artificial Flavors
No Artificial Colors
Fruit / Veg smoothies
Buy Organic when we can
Cut down on fast food - there was a happy meal or 2 in the last 2 months
Candy is not an everyday thing, special occasions and rewards
Other:
Cut down screen
More board games
Playing outside
I still allow them to have candy here and there, but nothing like before. I just still want them to enjoy being a kid, so even at birthday parties, I'll let them splurge.
I hope someone can takeaway something from my post, I know reading posts from others often lifted my spirits while I was going through some hard times with my childs tics.
Feel free to ask me questions.....
