Schnauzer

My 6 year old gets tics on and off, right now it's a blinking tic. They do seem to coincide with begining of Spring and Fall. He had been 6 months without any, and he's a picky eater so his diet doesn't vary so it can't be the food. His sitter mentioned this morning that she thinks it coincides with growth spurts. Has any noticed this in their children? He does have a genetic predisposition for TS, my brother has it.

My 4 year old son was ticcing(blinking non stop) alot this past Saturday and so I started giving him on the Bontech supplement. It greatly reduced his tics so I figured we must be onto something, well, today when I picked him up at the babysitter, she said he ticced non stop today. I know I need to stay positive, but when she told me this, it was like a kick in the stomach, seriously I felt nauseous. Why is TS so perplexing? He is a very picky eater so his diet doesn't vary much and I know he probably didn't eat anything new. My brother has TS so I'm not new to this, have seen it all or most of it. I just find TS really odd, how it suddenly starts, then goes through wax and wane periods, gets worse during teen years and then the ticks can actually go away when you get older. I mean what other disorder behaves like this. Anyone else feel this way?

My 4 year old has started some face tics, there seems to be a pattern, it seems to happen whenever he has an ear infection and then once the infection clears up, so does the tics. Have anyone else noticed this happen to their children?

Hi Nola, When my oldest son was 10 years old(now 17), he started ticcing badly and at the time I didn't know about the natural alternative. He also suffered from ADHD. We put him on a low dose of Tenex and I have to say that he didn't have any side effects and it got rid of his tics. He stayed on Tenex for about year and then we took him off for the summer and he never went on it again and he also never got tics again. In his case, the tics may have just been transient, but my brother has TS so there is a genetic background. My youngest(4 years old) has also started some tics, I am trying to stick with the natural way, but really when he gets older and if I need to go to the medication route, I will certainly not rule it out. Remember not everyone reacts badly to medication and in some cases it can be a good thing to get a child through those very tough adolescent years when the tics exacerbate. Oh and my brother who had TS really bad doesn't have much tics now. He is 43 now.

http://www.testyourintoleranceusa.com. I don't know if this is worth trying? Ever heard if hair testing for intolerance any good? Thanks

Hi, My 4 year old has started some eye ticcing again. He has started ticcing at 3 years old, but they last sometimes a month and then they go away for 3-4 months. I do have a genetic background, my brother had severe TS, he does't have the tics anymore, but he does have the OCD that accompanied it. I am concerned that my sons tics are starting at such a young age. My oldest son who is now 17 had tics at 9, lasted about a year and they went away, thankfully. I'm just concerned that it is starting so young with my little one. Does this mean that he is more likely to have a severe form of TS? I'm doing the epson salts every day, natural calm and going to start on a multi, just ordered the progressive one. Also, my sons tics always start when he gets a cold. I dread it when he catches a cold because I know it is the start of tics.

I want to start my son on a good multi-vitamin. He is 4 years old and hasn't learned how to swallow pills. Can you recommend a multi that he could chew? He takes magnesium glutamate daily and I give him epsom salt baths. Thanks

Never mind, gosh found it under the ingredient list. Thanks

I want to start my 35 lbs 3 1/2 year old son on Bonnie's supplements and I can't find any dosage chart on her website.

I'm wondering if any of you had success with homeopathy in treating TS? I do know that much depends on finding a good homeopath. I guess I am afraid of making things worse by trying homeopathy. Can anyone post their experiences?

What type of test should I ask for? I know that the last time he had a cold they did a throat swap for strep and it was negative. Are there more specialized tests?

My 3 1/2 year old who has some facial tics that come and go tend to always flare up when he gets ill. His latest tic, frowning of the eye brows and scrunching his nose came with this latest cold that he caught. What I typically do is increase his magnesium and the tic eventually goes away when he starts feeling better. Gosh, I hope this particular tic goes away because this one does look odd compared to the eye blinking that he had before. I guess the advantage that I have is that given my brother has TS, I knew immediately that these were tics. My oldest son(16) had a brief episode of tics when he was around 9 years old and they went away. He does have a tic where he flicks his wrist, but nobody has ever noticed, except of course me. I always cringe when my youngest comes down with a cold because I know some type of tic will surface.

I know that supplementing magnesium can actually cause a depletion in other minerals. Does anyone know how much and which minerals I need to supplement in combination with the magnesium so that I don't cause unwanted depletion in others?

Hi Chemar, Thanks, yes I meant it for the TS forum. My son is 3 1/2 years old and he has facial tics that wax and wane. My brother has Tourettes Syndrome so I know there is a greater chance that he has TS. I need a powdered magnesium, would magnesium glycinate be just as good as the magnesium taurate or is magnesium taurate better for tics? I know Bonnie's supplements have the magnesium taurate.

My son does very well on magnesium to control his transient tics, but the magnesium in Natural Calm gives him very loose stools. Can anyone suggest a brand and type of magnesium that would be as good, but wouldn't cause the loose stools? Thanks

Hi, I can attest to children growing out of TS tics. My brother had severe TS as a child. I so remember the not being able to watch TV in the same room as him because of his noises and he would tic so much that he would get kinks in his neck. His tics were at their worst around 10/11 and then once he went through adolescence, they just went away. My youngest (3 1/2) started blinking, that lasted for about 3 weeks, now he's doing a little hop. I am realistic that this may very well be TS, but at the same time, I also take courage that if my brother is now mostly tic free that there really is hope for anyone. Seriously, he was so bad. Hope this can encourage someone.

Faith and Chemar, Thank you for your responses. It made me feel much better. I did reduce on TV, he seems to be doing the blinking tics more when he's watching TV. Faith, thank you for reminding me that I need to look at the positive, he truly is such a good natured, easy going boy. I was much more worried with my oldest one. My older son was very hyper, obstinate, negative and a head strong child. He is much better now that he is older, but it was rough for a while. It's funny because my mom always said that my oldest son was sometimes more difficult than my TS brother had been. I started giving my little guy some epson salt baths, he seems to be doing better. I'll try and make little changes to his diet. He is so fussy, has always been. He did get a cold a couple of weeks ago, but it seemed to go away pretty quickly. No vaccinations, I've actually been holding off on those, I'm so paranoid about those. If I see that it gets worse, I'll definately have him tested for PANDAS. I live in NH, not sure who knows about any of that stuff. I can travel to Massachusetts. Thank you all.

Hi, I am new to the board and need help as I am feeling quite down. I am the mother of a 16 year old boy and 3 year old boy. I do not have Tourette Syndrome, but my brother has it, he had it quite severely as a child. Unfortunately things didn't turn out so well for him. He was medicated, lived in an emotionally unhealthy environment and is now on disability. I went through a huge scare when my oldest son was around 9 years old and he started rolling his eyes and having some tics. Fortunately he outgrew the tics and was never diagnosed with TS. He does have adhd. My 3 year old is a sweet boy, loving, easy going, great attention, totally different from my oldest and so I thought maybe I don't need to worry about him, but just this week, practically overnight, he started blinking eyes and wrinkling his nose, it's mostly when he is calm/watching TV. My heart sank. He is just so young, my oldest was 9 when his first tics appeared. I'm sorry if I am offending anyone as I know that you may be dealing with much worse than I, but when I think of how my brother's illness disrupted the whole family and back in those days, there wasn't the support and knowledge that there is today. I am so tired. I feel guilty, my husband's family has no genetic history of any tic disorder. I don't know what to do. I know that there are nutritional changes that I need to make, but don't know how I'm going to do it. My son is the pickiest eater that you could find. How am I ever going to do this? How do I explain to a 3 year old that he now needs to eat all of the foods that he has never touched before so that he can get better. I am writing this and tearing up, I don't know if I have the courage to handle this. I guess I need some encouragement and pointers on what to do. Thank you all.