LuluGirl

Hi Cheri, Thank you for sharing your opinion that tics aren't caused by boys wanting attention. When I read that first statement about it my heart just broke and the guilt was flooding over me. My son is the one who unfortunately gets attention the negative way sometimes and to think that I'M the cause of those tics is enough to send a mother off the edge. So thank you for your quick rebuttal! Lulu

Thanks, Claire! Let me know what you think about these two specifics: One of the reasons I give my son the zinc is that I read that it helps with concentration so of course I like to give it in the morning before school. (It is also wonderful for your skin!) I also give him cal/mag taurate which I believe helps with the tics so I also want to give him this in the morning before school. If I gave either one of these later in the day, he wouldn't be getting the benefit at the right time, right? I don't care if he doesn't concentrate or tic after school! (He's not ticcing, (well, not that anyone would notice except me) in the late afternoon/evening so maybe that conflicts with what I just said......). He also takes a multi, B and C. Secondly, I want to give him cal/mag in the 2:1 ratio. However, doing this doesn't give him enough calcium (since I have a limit to the mag - about 400 - he's 11 - right???) and he's not really getting it elsewhere so he does need it. If I give him the cal/mag in the 2:1 ratio during the day and give extra cal at night do you think that would throw things off? Things are going smoothly now and I don't want to mess with it but I have to look into the future and make sure he's getting enough cal for his growing bones. There's SO MUCH for a mom to think about, isn't there?1 Lulu

One of my friends told me that with supplements, they are only effective while they're in your body as opposed to medicine which keeps working. I'm giving my son the "usual" supplements but I always give them to him in the morning so they are "working" while he's in school. Does this make sense and is it true? Lulu

Thank you, Claire, for the encouraging words! Once he accepted the idea that I would be working with him and reviewing his work, it's ended up to be some nice time that we spend together. Kaleb's mom, there is an excellent book by Tamar Chansky called Freeing Your Child From Obessive Compulsive Disorder. I highly recommend it. It seems to me, from what I've read here, that the TS is the original issue and that the OCD and ADD are co-morbids. So, if you can change diet, behavior (like TV screens) and supplement to help the TS, the others might fall by the wayside. I think that's what happening here although everything is still hanging around to some degree. Lulu

Just something to consider about Bonnie's vitamins. Apparently they are very good but according to others who have posted, they are expensive and many, many are needed per day. Seems like most people see what she has to say, but buy their own vitamins. If you read through the previous posts you'll find lots of info about what works for many people here and brand names to look for. For the blood tests, we went to a chiropractor who practices "functional medicine". It cost about $300 for us and tested maybe 75 foods. Very, very helpful. For my son, who's 11 and has the same issues, we put him on a good multi-vitamin, a b-complex, vit C, zinc and magnesium-taurate. Has been working like a charm for him, in addition to avoiding known food allergies. As an aside for the ADD, he had/has that too and what I realized was all that he needed was a tutor (which was me) to explain things a bit more slowly to him. Once he caught on, he did very well. And it makes a lot of sense that once he didn't understand something or follow the concept, he wasn't too attentive. Also, I eliminated a sugary drink at lunch and replaced it with a bottle of water and limited the sweets in his lunch too. That helped. Maybe your son is different but that's what our situation was. And yes, we medicated him too for it initially which I'll never, ever do again! I do encourage to take some time and read back over all the posts if you can. There's just a wealth of information here and it's all in one place! Lulu

Thanks, Claire. Is the pillow cover instead of the pillowcase or under it?? Any type of pillow better than the next? I hate to be dense but why are we doubling the bottom sheet? Are the dustmites in the mattress?? The mattress pad?? This is grossing me out!!! And, to make matters worse, he insists on sleeping with 2 comfortors on his bed. One has a duvet and one doesn't. Makes for a lot of washing..... Lulu

If I wanted to address the dust mite problem but couldn't afford to get all the stuff at once, would you think it was most important to get an air purifier or bedding protectors first? There's also wall-to-wall carpeting in the room that my husband is in no hurry to remove. Although, come to think of it, I think there is a hardwood floor underneath.......Would you put an area rug in instead? We live in the midwest and the winters are cold.... Lulu

Thank you all for your help! What kinds of reactions would these cause? If I eliminate, what would I look for? Due to his allergies he mostly only eats apples, carrots and pineapple so elimination will be easy. However, he's a picky eater and these are about the mainstay of hus fruit and veggie intake..... Lulu

In the Apple Thread it was mentioned that in some people salycilates have an impact on tics. Other than apples, grapes and strawberries, can you give me a list of commonly eaten food that contain them? It's certainly worth a try! Lulu

Here's our brief, traumatic history with prescription drugs. My 10 year old son was put on Lexapro to "slow down the adreneline in his brain" which was "causing his ADD issues". I put that all in quotes because other than our doctor (a "specialist" in that area) I have yet to meet **anyone** who's ever heard of this correlation. Anyway he was reacting beautifully to the drug for 6 months (grades way up, very compliant) and then suddenly, he got tics and a horrible case of OCD. Our doctor, unbelievably, said to increase his dose, and unbelievably, we did. Everything just went worse from there. It was literally painful for me to watch him. We weaned him off the drug and for the most part, the OCD subsided. Now, 8 months later, he still has tics but they are minimal due to supplements, diet, etc. In the Lexapro insert, it said that less than 2% of the people taking the drug would experience tics. As far as his ADD, guess what? All he needed was a **tutor**. Makes me completely sick that I did that to him out of ignorance. However, on the bright side, we have really learned alot about his body and what affects it. I'll never do that to him again. Lulu

Hi, Was reading a response and Claire brought up dust mite allergies. My son has them and I know what I should be doing but I don't know what happens as a result of them. Does it cause congestion?? Affect tics?? This may be coincidental, but in the last few months we took away 4 large area rugs in our home for cleaning and haven't gotten them back yet AND my son's tics are much better (although we also did tweak his vitamin regime, eliminated allergic foods, reduced TV/Gamecube...). Could the two be related????? If so, I am pulling up his bedroom carpeting tomorrow!! Lulu

Hi Denise, I just wanted to encourage you and let you know that we all have been where you are right now. It's all new and scary and your heart breaks for you daughter. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel! You just need to spend some time (a few weeks? months?) studying Lauren, trying to figure out what triggered her latest tic. What did she eat? Drink? Watch on TV? Then little by little (and I do mean little!) the pieces will start to come together. A vitamin regime is very helpful because most of us are deficient. Chemar has an extensive list that works but in case you're looking for a "starter" plan, this is what I give my 11 year old son. We are in the same boat as you and not sure if it's transient or TS - either way it's treated the same. I give him a good multi, b-complex, vit. C, zinc, magnesium taurate (Read all you can about this on this site!) and fish oil. This, along with eliminating the foods he's allergic to (only about 75% of the time) and watching what he drinks (nothing red, try not to have blue or yellow) has seemed to keep his tics at bay for a few months now. So there is hope! You have ventured down a road that you probably don't want to be on but help is HERE for you among other places. This is such a warm community of people and I know you'll get the support you need. Hang in there! Lulu

Hi Layne, Just wondering if your husband drinks anything with caffeine in it. I used to be a caffeine junkie and would have 2 - 3 Cokes a day and was very edgy, stressed out and ill-tempered. My doctor said something like he needs to change my sympathetic nervous system through diet (not eating things I was allergic to) and getting off the caffeine. Without a doubt, becoming caffeine free has been the one thing that has changed me the most dramatically. If he's a "user" (!) you might want to suggest he stop and see if he feels better. ( I sure did and I slept better than I had in years, which also affected my ability during the day to handle simple stressors. Just a thought, Lulu

Scott, Regarding your sleep problems, do you drink any caffeine during the day? I, too, had trouble falling asleep, woke up in the middle of the night and had trouble falling back to sleep. Once I totally cut out caffeine, I felt SO much better overall as well as got a great night's sleep each and every night. Made a big difference just being well rested. Just a thought! Lulu

Hi Scott, There is a really good book that I bought about OCD that you may find helpful. It's called "Freeing Your Child From Obessive Compulsive Disorder" by Tamar Chansky. It was very enlightening to me. The book cover says: Step by step guidelines to: Break the cycle of debilitating rituals Empower your child (you) to take back control Maximize your child's (your) recovery, whether on or off medication Make sense of confusing symptoms There's chapters on treatments as well as contamination fears, checking/repeating/redoing, just right: evenness/ordering/symmetry/numbers and hoarding, intrusive thought and imagined impulses and managing your OCD. One quick thing that I got from it was to stress to my son that "it's OCD, not you compelling you to do something and YOU can fight back". It's almost as if you have to re-wire the paths in your brain. For example, when you turn off the light once (or ten times) and want to do it again, fight back - just that once! - don't do it - just that once!. Little by little you will make a new path in your brain. Softcover book is $14.95 and I think you'll get a lot out of it. Good Luck! There are also some supplements which are helpful that I think Chemar wrote about. Lulu

Count me in too! Just this morning I put two and two together. Due to poor grades, my son's TV was removed from his room about a month ago. Coincidentally he also stopped played GameCube due to lack of time. We do watch TV occasionally at night as a family though. Just yesterday I said, "Honey! I think your tics are gone - I haven't seen them is so long!" (Big mistake by the way, he started ticcing in the car on the way to school - never, ever bring that up!!). Glad I was able to try your experiment even though I didn't know we were doing it at the time. Very enlightening! Lulu

I wouldn't consider this a "healthy" alternative but it's one I bet will work for my kids. We pass a Burger King on the way home from school which they want to stop at everyday (the answer is always the same!). However, I bet if we stopped before they went trick or treating and let them get the whole shebang, they would be very full children! Hard to gorge yourselves on candy when you're already stuffed! Just a thought! Lulu

Claire, I don't know if you were looking for specific info on the adrenal test but I happened to have one at home so I thought I'd pass along the info in case it's what you're looking for. Ours is from Diagnos-Techs, Inc. PO Box 389662, Tukwila, WA, 98138-0062. You give three saliva samples and mail it in. I think my doctor said the test cost @ $100. I got it for my hubby but have yet to send it in. Lulu

Hi Diane, Just wondering if you have your son on a good vitamin regime. Since I put mine on one they have very rarely been sick. About the recurring ear infections, have you tried to eliminate dairy from his diet? Many, many people are allergic to dairy and it is thought to contribute to ear infections due to all the extra mucous that it creates. Just a thought - off track of the flu vaccine but thought I'd throw it out anyway just in case! Lulu

Has anyone ever heard of Mag Taurate worsening tics? For the last two days I have given my son 125 mg twice a day and it appears to me that they're even worse. I did also stop giving him the Shaklee B Complex at the same time which I probably shouldn't have done....... Lulu

Well, we've had some first hand bad experience with Lexapro and tics. The literature says that fewer than 2% of the population will get tics from Lexapro. My 10 year old son was put on it to help with his adrelaline levels (add issues originally). He had no negative reactions to it at all until 5 months into it. Then the tics started (and OCD began to really increase). Of course we weaned him off it but the tics have stayed. I wish we never went that route, that's for sure. LuluGirl

By the way, which would be better - adding Taurine to our Shaklee cal-mag (1200 mg calcium and 200 mg magnesium) or trying something new. I saw at the VitaminShoppe they had a Mag - Taurate from Cardiovascular Health. Anyone recognize that brand and is it as reputable as Shaklee? I did notice that Shaklee doesn't have the cal - mag ratio of 2:1.....Looking for reputable brand names and amounts!!! Thanks again, LuluGirl

Hi, I'm new here and have an 11 year old son who, in my opinion, has TS but it has hasn't been diagnosed since he's only had tics since March. I noticed a response from Chemar that to decrease tics you need to combine calcium, zinc & tourine. We do supplement with a multi, cal-mag. zinc, b-complex, c and fish oil. What is the appropriate level of cal, zinc and tourine that a 100 lb. boy would need? I am truly enjoying this website! LuluGirl