guy123

Tourettic OCD. Google it. There's not much info, and most results will take you to medical journals that want you to pay for the article. Don't pay for it. Find the author, go to his homepage, and you can download it for free. That's what I did. I would tell you his name but honestly I forgot. But it's easy to find.

I've read reports from people who say it helps their tics. Personally I don't really notice a difference either way when I drink.

I drink occasionally while on Clonidine. If anything the alcohol maybe makes me a little bit more drowsy than usual. I take my Clonidine every night at 11:30 pm, and sometimes I drink around that time. I'm only on .05mg once a day, however. I haven't noticed any adverse effects. Alcohol has never made my tics worse. Just don't get wasted.

I've been reading that exposure to mercury can cause neurological damage and movement disorder side effects. It seems there's a lot of "holistic" mercury detox pages out there selling lots of detox products, but I found this page saying that most testing methods are scams and most products are scams. http://www.chelationwatch.org/ Can anyone here points me in the right direction? Thanks.

fever of 105 = go to hospital. thats approaching shock/system shutdown/permanent damage levels. especially if you're under 18. personally i start to get concerned if i get above 103, especially if im medicated.

footballguy: .1mg twice a day is a big first dose! Im on .05 mg once a day. I weight 160-170 for reference. What are your tic symptoms? i forgot. Everyone: where can i learn more about mercury detox? Also, i got my flu shot yesterday but it was a mercury free variety

About 7-10 days. Do a search for posts by me with keyword "clonidine." i'd link for you but i'm browsing on my phone and i cant copy paste. how much do you weigh and what dose are you on? what time of day are you taking it? clonidine is subtle. one day you will just notice "whoa, i havent ticced in the last 20 min!" At least thats how it worked for me. I used to blink hard at least once or twice per minute, every minute of every day.

Does the book have a happy ending? Did they cure/alleviate his symptoms in the end?

There's a vegan in your son's KINDERGARTEN CLASS? That's child abuse. Little kids are growing machines! They need protein like crazy!!! I mean real protein, not soy protein (especially if they are male), not incomplete pasta protein (which doesn't even count because your body doesn't use it unless you mix the right foods together), not low bioavailability peanut protein, but real, actual animal flesh protein and milk (unless they're lactose intolerant). And eggs. It's one thing if adults want to be vegan, but there is no way a child, much less a kindergartener should be. btw I've never met a healthy vegan. A lot of them think they're healthy, but they're not. They're all slowly starving themselves to death as they atrophy and waste away.

I've used melatonin. I don't know if it worsens tics or not. I didn't notice it. Melatonin can be wonderful. I have talked to people online who had chronic sleep problems that benzos and Ambien couldn't fix, yet melatonin gave them a full night's sleep on their first usage. Basically melatonin is produced by your brain when it's time to go to sleep, so it's naturally occuring. As such, you want to start with the lowest possible dosage. I've seen capsules in the store that are 5mg. I think that's ridiculously high. When I used it (occasional use, years ago) I got 3mg pills that were scored with a "+" so they could be broken in half and then in half again. I usually took 1/4 of a pill, so that would be .75mg. I am a 160-170lb male for reference. Always start with a tiny dose, and I've even heard anecdotal evidence that smaller doses can be more effective than higher doses. You take it about an hour before you want to go to bed. I seem to recall something about it being more effective in a dark environment (perhaps that's a cue to your body that it's night time and time to go to sleep). It doesn't produce a chemical tiredness like benzos or diphenhydramine HCl (benadryl), and it doesn't say "ok, you're going to fall asleep NOW" like Ambien. It's a natural sleep. You turn down/off the lights, lay in bed, and fall asleep. In the morning you may be a bit groggy until you actually get out of bed and start moving around. I think this has something to do with reuptake. I never had a "hangover" feeling the following day. Usually by the time I was out of the shower in the morning I was feeling as awake as any other time. I like to compare sleeping pills like this: Benadryl - makes you drowsy whether you want it or not (which is why I can't take benadryl for allergies), wake up with a hangover Nyquil - you fall asleep comfortably but wake up in the middle of the night with a racing heart (not anymore now that they're taken the pseudo-ephedrine out of the formula). Possible hangover. Benzos - a super comfy, relaxed feeling that doesn't make you tired per se, but relaxes you to the point that falling asleep is easy. Easily addictive and easy to build a dependence on (ie. "omg, I can't fall asleep! I haven't had my Ativan! What am I gonna do? I have to be at work in 8 hours! I'm not even sleepy! oh geez this sucks!") Ambien - chemically puts you to sleep. You don't have a choice. It's not "oh, I feel tired, I should think about going to bed." It's "what the ######? I just woke up on the couch and it's 7am! I remember taking the pill and then sitting down on the couch thinking that I should go get ready for bed when the next commercial comes on... wow I must have fallen asleep!" Melatonin - lets you fall asleep naturally. It never really made me feel tired or drowsy... it just let me fall asleep. I don't know how else to explain it. I've heard you're not supposed to use melatonin long term but I can't remember why. Oh, here's an interesting fact: supposedly there are certain dosing schedules that let you prevent/avoid jet lag (I haven't tried this but I've seen the protocol).

Kids Calm is magnesium, zinc and Vitamin C. It comes in a powder formula that you mix with hot water to drink like tea. It did calm my sons eye tics within the first 4 or 5 days of using it. I was hoping the eye tics would never reappear, but they did. If the reduction in tics was actually due to the introduction of Kid Calm, then the only thing I can think of would be to taper off and see if there's a rebound exacerbation of symptoms (if so, then the Kid Calm most likely had an effect but tolerance developed), and then reintroduce Kid Calm after a certain amount of time and see if there's another decrease in tics. The Vitamin C and zinc, whatever, but the magnesium may have had something to do with it. I've heard anecdotal evidence of magnesium helping eye tics on this forum. I don't know if tolerance is known to build to that substance or not. Actually I don't know anything about it at all! Good luck tho, be sure to tell us if coming off and then reintroducing it reduced the tics again.

What is in Kid Calm? Is it possible his body has adapted to the ingredient that was helping? Maybe cycling would help (just a guess as I have no idea what the ingredients are but I got the impression from your post that it helped when he started it).

Interesting about dividing up the doses. I read that the half life of Clonidine is 12-33 hours, so perhaps it varies greatly between individuals. I would assume that a halflife of around 24 hours would mean that taking it once per day would be effective. My neuro said that 0.050mg per day is what he starts people on. At any rate, I'm glad it seems to work well for some people.

How old is he now? I may have misinterpreted your post. on a related note, I love sleeping

Good. I like it here. This is the most active tics/TS forum I've found. I don't always care if I don't get a lot of replies. I know a lot of forums have many lurkers (people who read but never post for whatever reason). Maybe they are getting good info from me. Look at how many views my "list of tic treatments" thread has gotten. Obviously someone is interested. I'm not anti-homeopathic/natural treatments. I've even tried a lot of them! I have a big bottle of Colloidal Silver in my bathroom and a few chapstick-looking containers of Boiron pellets, too. I have practiced TaiChi and qigong on and off for years. It's just that most of them don't work (such as those foot pads that were being discussed a few threads back). I am all about getting results, and if such-and-such alternative treatment works for someone, then that's awesome and they should keep doing it. But being a nerd with a bit of a science background (albeit, one of the most open-minded to new age stuff science nerds you will ever meet), I prefer treatments support by science, such as "the mechanism of action is blah blah blah chemical in the brain acting as an agonist against blah blah blah look here's a balanced equation explaining what is going on and the results are repeatable in lab settings" as opposed to "this water remembers what was in it even tho it's been diluted a billion times and the concentration claimed is physically impossible with regard to the known number of atoms in the universe." So does that make me a hypocrite for having/using homeopathic medicine? Sort of. I hate being sick and try everything possible to cure myself when I do get sick. With regard to Boiron products, I really haven't noticed much effect (other than the physical act of having sugar in my mouth temporarily makes my throat feel better when I'm sick), but I know people who swear by them so they should keep using them. Also I know I am helping people here by the PMs I get, and mainly from telling that one lady not to keep her child on extended doses of Phenibut because the kid will be completely screwed if they ever stop taking it (no clue if she listened to my advice or not, however). Plus I've learned a lot here, too. So unless the mods make a rule saying "discussing science/prescription drugs is banned," I'm planning on staying here

Yes I'm still using it. I don't know if it's had any effect on my attention or focus... I never really had attention issues anyway. Well, I joke that I have "adult onset ADD," but in reality I just didn't like my job very much Ok here's my experience with 0.050mg of Clonidine daily. For the first week or two I had some annoying side effects, such as headaches (prior to this I never get headaches, ever, unless I was sick, so I am confident the Clonidine was causing them). I also had eye aches (like a headache, but in my eyes. Feels like someone was squeezing them. Both of these were treated with ibuprofin. I had some sexual side effects that persisted for a few weeks (super annoying), but they seem to be going away. The only side effect was lethargy, which is why I take my dose at night before I go to bed. I didn't really notice too much lethargy during the days, but maybe a little bit more than usual (I'm pretty lazy to begin with). Alright, let's talk about my tic now. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being "tic free" and 10 being "constant", before I started Clonidine, every day was somewhere between a 7 and a 10. After being on Clonidine for about 2 months, every day is now somewhere between a 4 and an 8. I still have days that are pretty bad (the 8s), but I also have days that are wonderful (the 4s)... like literally, I enjoy going outside on these days because I know I can talk to people and hold eye contact and not be concerned about how I look or what they are thinking. It's like this ball of happiness wells up inside of me and I even smile sometimes (lol I'm pretty cynical most of the time so for me to smile randomly is huge, LOL). Actually, the last few days had been really bad and I was starting to get annoyed thinking that maybe it was losing its effectiveness or something, but out of the blue today is a 4!!!! I'm going to start keeping a record of how I feel each day (rather, how intense the tic is) and see if I can figure out a pattern as to why some days are still bad but some days are good. As for the "improving focus" aspect or whatever for some people, it may just be because Clonidine can make you a little tired which may give the illusion of them having more focus because they are being less ADD because they are a little tired. I dunno. Or it could be that Clonidine's action on the brain promotes focus. I have no idea. I didn't notice any change one way or the other. I have been taking naps recently now that I think about it. Finally, the only other thing I've noticed is that my tic seems to be less now when I am walking around or moving. I thought that was strange. I was working on my computer the other day blinking up a storm, and then I walked into the kitchen to get something to eat, and when I got back I was blinking immediately, but I noticed that during my trip to and from the kitchen, it had stopped. Beats me. If you want to medicate, Clonidine is probably your best bet for a first medication because the side effects are mild compared to other tic drugs. Clonidine can make you sleepy and give you headaches and make your erections less hard than they used to be. Other tic medicines can kill you or give you permanent movement disorders as a result. Clonidine is a smart first choice

Oh geez, if I'm reading that right that's a huge dose! I take 0.050mg ONCE a day, and I weigh 160-170lbs. It makes me sleepy sometimes. I can't imagine how bad the sedating effects would be if I took THREE TIMES that much! Just for clarification I live in USA and my Clonidine comes in 0.1mg tablets. I break a table in half (they're scored down the middle so they break easily most of the time) and take 1/2 a tablet nightly. So that's a total daily dose of 0.050mg.

Are you dropping a hint that I shouldn't post this stuff here?

I'm confused. 8.5-10 hours of sleep IS a lot. But you think he requires less sleep than normal? What do you consider normal? Or did I completely misread what you wrote?

Just out of curiosity was it an instant change, or did it take awhile for the short temper to come out? Is he on anything now for his tics?

I've heard of Willow Bark tea being used before. I haven't tried it myself tho. I believe Willow Bark is where they get aspirin from. Don't give it to kids tho (same reason you're not supposed to give aspirin to children). Cool bath/shower (be careful) Or you could do like me and take a super hot shower. Of course this is stupid and I wouldn't recommend it, but one time I was really pissed off that I had been sick for a week or two and couldn't break my fever, so I said "fine, body. You want to increase your temperature to kill whatever is inside me? Fine, let's do it." I drank a lot of water first (to prevent the dehydration that accompanies hot showers/hot tubs) and then got in the shower and slowly increased the water temp until it was as high as it would go, obviously waiting until I was comfortable at after each increase. Results: nothing, other than being colder than usual when I got out of the shower. I didn't feel better, or worse, but in hindsight it was a really stupid thing to do considering I lived alone at the time and could have passed out/gone into shock. I've heard of using cold water dousing to help a fever, too. Basically you take a bucket of cold water, stand in the shower (with the shower off), and pour it over your head. The shock supposedly instantaneously spikes your body's temp which supposedly helps kill whatever. I know people who SWEAR by this method. They also use it as a preventative every morning after their shower. I tried it as a preventative once and got a cold/sore throat after the second day. Heh. Caution, as this can cause you to go into shock. It definitely wakes you up in the morning, tho. Just to reiterate here, I am definitely NOT endorsing ANY of these. Of course there's also cool packs and ice packs which help physically reduce the body's temperature. There's ibuprofin (NSAIDs). I'm not sure if that's the same as Tylenol or not. Remember to stay hydrated.

Class: Calcium Antagonists Drug 1: Name - Nifedipine Tradename - ProcardiaXL Method - Acts on slow calcium channels invascular smooth muscle and myocardium, producing vasodilation. Notes - decrease in tic symptoms. 10mg 3 times daily for adults Side effects - CNS dizziness, giddiness, headache Autonomic flushing, warmth, sweating, nasal congestion, sore throat GI nausea, constipation, flatulence Other dyspnea, cough, hypotension, wheezing, tachycardia, arrhythmias, fever,heart failure, muscle cramping Drug 2: Name - Verapamil Tradename - Isoptin Method - inhibits calcium transport into myocardialand vascular smooth muscle cells, resulting in inhibition of excitationcontraction coupling and subsequent contraction. Notes - decrease in motor tics, improvement in mood. 20mg 3 times daily. Side effects - CNS dizziness, headache, fatigue GI constipation,abdominal discomfort Other bradycardia, hypotension, edema, heart block, sinus arrest, pulmonary edema Found both of them on this page: http://www.tourette-syndrome.com/medicatio...te-syndrome.htm I'm doing some more research but it's hard to find info about them. Most of the case studies I've found say things like "... was effective in this small trial which suggests further study into Calcium Antagonists to treat Tourettes." One site noted something to the effect of "... because traditional TS drugs have such a severe side effect profile." As per usual I'm still doing research. I was just super excited to find this and wanted to share it with you this forum.

Sounds like it is still effective for them at that dose, correct? That is good news for me!

wow, I did not know they made a .025mg pill!!

How long were you/have you been on it? Did you ever have to increase the dose? I talked to someone on another forum who said he had to increase the dose (once in two years). That kinda got me worried because I don't really ever want to increase the dose. However it's worth mentioning that he said when he was on Haldol he had to increase the dose every few MONTHS. Ick. So my questions to that are: With reference to Haldol, does anyone know why doses must be increased in order for it to stay effective? Does the body adapt? With reference to Clonidine, does the body typically adapt? Is there rebound exacerbation if you stop? If so, will that exacerbation return to baseline eventually (in other words, if you stop and tics become worse than before you started, will they eventually return to the level they were at before you started)? If tolerance develops, can Clonidine be cycled (perhaps 6 months on, 1 month off, or 5 days on, 2 days off, like how some people do with SSRIs)? If adaptation is present, is the method of adaptation understood (ie. does the body produce more dopamine or increase the sensitivity of dopamine receptors in order to return to what it considers "baseline")? I'm obviously going to bring all these questions to my neuro next month when I go, but I figured I'd ask them here, too. I'll post the replies from my neuro if I get any.