Dara

Andy, Funny that you mention Dr. James Neubrander. I had had an appointment scheduled with him last summer when the tics first appeared. I spoke to him on the phone and didn't really like the way the conversation went. Maybe we should revisit the idea of seeing him. At this point, I don't know what to do. Dara

Hi Alison, Tomorrow morning (Saturday) starts no TV for a week. I'm so excited that I finally got up enough nerve to go through with it. My husband Karl just detached all the cable connections to the TV's so as of tomorrow morning, the TV's are all 'broken'. As you can tell from my posts, this humming tic has really set me off. I guess it's because, Karl (our son) had been doing fantastic during December and January. Not to say that all of his tics disappeared, but they had improved tremendously. I think deep down inside I was hoping/thinking that we beat this thing. So of course, when a new tic showed itself, I felt very defeated. I've been so emotional I can't tell you. Crying at everything, and it's not like this is brand new to me, we've been dealing with it for almost a year. I think I'm just mentally and physically exhausted, angry & sad. I'm trying to live a normal life when there are abnormal things going on around me. I do believe in my heart, that we're moving in the right direction and at some point we'll figure things out. As a sidenote, it's funny, my husband is down in the basement right now playing guitar and I can hear him. Of course he's also drinking some nice red wine, ha, ha. But what I'm trying to get at is that's his way of escaping and dealing with this situation, my way of dealing is to be posting on this forum. It's so great to talk with others who are going through the same thing. Thank god I found all of you. Anyway, I got the result of Karl's 24 hour urine toxic metals test and it only showed an elevated level for 'cadmium'. I have to be honest, I never heard of 'cadmium'. My doctor didn't seem overly concerned with it and prescribed 25 ml of zinc. I guess the cadmium will bind with the zinc and will be excreted from the urine. After much talking, (I of course was the one who brought a 'huge' list of questions, concerns and additonal tests that I thought would be benefical to my son), our doctor ordered a stool test to be done for parasites, another urine test to be done for Lyme disease (our son was tested for Lyme last May through a blood test and it all was normal except for one band. Since we're seeing a new group of doctors now, they wanted a new test run, with new results). They also wanted to test for an auto-immune disorder. In November when we first started seeing this new doctor(s), they ordered a routine series of bloodwork which was sent to Bio-Reference Labs in Elmwood Park, NJ.. I'm sure you're son had something similar done. Anyway, there was one item under the 'MISC' section that concerned our doctor. Under the 'test description' catagory it is listed as 'hs C-RP' and the result was 9.6 HI. Anything > 3.0 was considered HIGH. He explained it as a marker which indicates a current infection/inflammation somewhere in the body. Of course it doesn't direct you to the exact cause. As a result of this, Dr. Juco, wanted to test for an auto-immune disorder. That's all for now, I plan on documenting my TV removal on this forum as a day by day play. Have a great weekend. Dara

Alison, Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Claire pointed it out to me three months ago and for some reason, I have not gone through with it. I guess deep down inside, I feel like I've taken so much away from him already - all his favorite foods, subjected him to tons of doctors and tests and have made him take supplements and vitamins that he can't stand. The reality of it is that I feel so sorry for him and it kills me to take away the one last enjoyable thing that he has. I've decided that first thing tomorrow morning, the TV will be eliminated. Both my boys already watched an hour this morning before preschool and that's all I usually allow for the day. I'm in such a down mood this morning. Have been crying all last night and started again this morning. Helpless sums it up in one word. I don't know if you read my post last night about how Karl started 'humming' when I put him to bed last night. As you know, he's had other vocal tics on and off like coughing, clearing his throat and doing that mucus clearing sound but never has done this 'humming' sound. What's strange about it is that the other minor tics that he's had during the last two or three weeks, such as playing with his saliva and puckering his lips, in addition to the mucus clearing sound have seem to lessen, and now the humming. Of course I barely slept last night anticipating Karl waking up this morning to see if he was still humming. It started about 1/2 hour after he woke up while watching Hi-5 on TV. I have a doctors appointment for him today, which I'm supposed to be getting back the results of his toxic metals test. The doctor I'm seeing is an environmental phycian who treats neurological disorders (ADD/ADHD, TS, OCD) and many other different conditions through diet, supplements and identifing allergies. He's been pretty good, but of course I feel like I have to do all the leg work and ask questions based on what I read on this forum. I wish there was a doctor out there that had a lot of experience with childhood tic disorders and knew exactly how to treat my son. I'm dreaming huh? Anyway, thanks for listening. One last thing that I want to say about the TV. I guess I haven't taken it way yet because I haven't noticed Karl's tics change that much while watching it. Back during the summer when he was having the severe eye rolling I did think it increased when watching TV, but he doesn't have the eye rolling anymore. He tics seem to be pretty consisent, no matter what he's doing, but definately increase in the car or when he is anxious, mad or sick. Any thoughts on what I can do for this new 'humming' tic???? Dara

Hi Everyone, As I was putting my 5 year old son Karl to bed tonight I noticed that he was 'humming' or almost talking without opening his mouth while I was reading a book to him. I didn't notice it at all during the day today. During the last several months he has had: coughing, clearing the throat, grunting (not really a grunting sound but a noise that sounds like he's trying to clear mucus from his throat). Most of the time it would occur as a cough and then that mucus sound. I've never noticed him do a hum or anything of that nature. I'm terrified that this is another tic and have been crying to myself and my husband for the last two hours. If anyone out there has a child with a similar experience, I would like to hear about the progression of the vocalizations. And does anyone have a suggestion as to a supplement that might help reduce the vocal tics? I've read that B6 and Zinc deficiencies could cause it? Dara

Heather, I think I might have asked this one before, but what is a Naturopath??? Is that a homeopathy doctor who prescribes natural remedies???? We're currently seeing an Environmental Phycian who is a board certified doctor that treats neurological disorders through diet and supplements. Anyway, back to the yeast problem, my son was already tested for a yeast/fungus overgrowth using the first morning urine and he tested positive. Our doctor put him on Nystatin. It seems like so many other folks on this forum are using different medications. How do weknow which ones are right for our children or which ones are the most effective? My concern about the Nystatin was that it's full of sugar and artificial flavor and colorings, all of which my son is supposed to stay away from. I asked my doctor about it and he said that positive effects outweigh the negative ones. Dara

Cheri, Did your doctor prescribe the Caprylate? Our son Karl was diagnosed with a yeast/funal overgrowth as a result of a first morning urine sample. The sample was sent to 'Great Plains Laboratory, Inc' for an Organic Acid Test. The compounds, 'citramalic' and 'arabinose' which I believe are metabolites ,came back high which our doctor interpreted as a yeast/fungal overgrowth of the gastrointestinal tract. He prescribed Nystatin to correct the problem. Karl takes it two weeks on and one week off - though, by the looks of his tics today, I don't think it's under control. Dara

Hi Jeff, Thanks for all the info on the Feingold program. Our son is also off all food colorings and preservatives in addition to dairy, eggs, sugar and oranges. It makes shopping and cooking tough. Can you please tell me how to join the Feingold program? Thanks, Dara

Hi Kim, This pyroluria thing is all new to me as of today. It was something that I kept reading about on this forum, but didn't know much about it. I decided to look into it as a possible cause for my sons tics. We've already done a lot of testing (food sensitivities, inhalent allergies, urine tests, etc.) but I'm always looking for other tests out there that I'm not familiar with. Cheri sent me the a post this afternoon which had some good information about what it is and how to obtain a test. You can see her reply to me under the posting called 'New Jersey Mom Needs Encouragement": The website is located at: http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/showth...ead.php?t=10944, I'm technically challanged and don't know how to paste the shortcut for you. Let me know if you still need help. Thanks, Dara

Hi Everyone, I wanted to get some advise. My 5 year old son Karl who had been doing well on a prescribed diet and supplement routine (his tics improved greatly since mid December), has recently started a new tic which consists of playing with his saliva, tightening his lips and making a high pitched sucking sound. I first noticed it back on January 19th while he was watching TV. I assume many kids suck on their lips and play with their tongue and saliva, but I think Karl's has turned into a tic. It also seems like he has a lot of saliva in his mouth. As a younger child, he did drool a lot, but that went away before 4 years of age, and only recently, did I notice what seemed to be an overproduction of saliva and the associated tic. I can hear him making this sound around the house (even if I'm in another room) and he especially does it when driving in the car. Does anyone know of a particular supplement or deficency that could cause an overproduction of saliva????? Karl Henry is on many supplements, but the only new supplement that he started taking during the month of January is 50 ml of Glutathione. This was prescribed by our doctor for an increased level of aconitic in Karl's urine. Any suggestions, thoughts???? Thanks, Dara

Claire, I'm technically challanged so please forgive me. I don't know how to write you a post to your email. How come you're not writing on this website anymore??? You were such a big part of this forum. Anyway, I agree with you about the diet changes. As I told you, we definately saw and have seen an improvement in Karl's tics, but they're still there. As far as metal toxicity is concerned, we get the results of Karl's 24 hour urine test back this Thursday. After posting back and forth to Cheri today, she gave me the phone number to a lab in Kansas that does pyroluria testing. I sent away for my kit around noon. The final item....TV, As you remembered from my post back in November, I was going to take it away then. I don't know why I haven't done so yet. It's not that Karl (the 5 year old) or Graham (the 3 1/2 year old) watches that much. I've limited it to 1 hour a day as I told you in a previous post. They would watch it all day long if I let them. It's been such a permanent part of our morning routine. They wake up and I let them watch TV from 7:30am - 8:30am. I guess I just have to do it. I'll write again soon. Dara

Hi Alison, It's so good to hear from you to. My son was tested for strep last May and it was negative. I have the results of his bloodwork in front of me. Does the strep test show up as 'ASO AB'? under the test name category????? I'm having trouble finding it on my paperwork. As far as being under the weather, Karl and my younger son Graham both have runny noses and don't look great. Karl has especially been grumpy these last two days. I thought it might be because of his increased tics and the cold. As far as Karl's diet is concerned, he's been such a champ. Even before this started, he always ate tons of fruits and vegetables. Not that he's a big eater, but a good eater. He's 43 inches tall and 42 pounds. Always has been in the 50% percentile. We've always liked good food. When Dr. Ali put Karl on an all organic, no sugar, no dairy, no eggs and no oranges, the hardest one was the sugar. Can you imagine a 5 year old with a cane sugar intolerance???? It's so tough. He didn't test positive for wheat, but I try to keep him away from it if possible. Actually I think I'll been a little relaxed on this one lately so I think I'll try to keep all wheat/gluten away from him. I also keep him away from soy products and of course food coloring and preservatives. Did you ever join the feingold group? I might have the names mixed up. It's a group that will send you a listing of brand name foods to buy. It might be the 'feed up with food preservaties' people/web site. I really need to do this. I was speaking to Cheri earlier who told me about the pyroluria test. Did you do this for your son??? She sent me a link and I was able to call the lab (I believe it was in Kansas) and order the test. I'm really anxious to do this one. So far since November of 2004 we've changed his diet, started supplement and sublingual drops, cut down on TV, put air purifiers in our home, started using all natural cleaning products and covered both boys mattresses with 100% cotton allergy free covers. He's been tested for food sensitivities, inhalent allergies, had a first morning urine test and a 24 hour toxic metal urine test (we get the results back this Thursday). Karl's tics have definately gotten better since being on Dr. Ali's program but they're still waxing and waning and haven't been totally eliminated. Last September he started a horrific abdominal tic that affected his walking. Many times I felt so sorry for him that I would carry him or just not bring him to the stores. I'm not an overly religious person but I now pray every day that I'll find a solution to Karl's condition. I'm or should I say we, my husband is extremely supportive but works so much and is goine 13 hours a day. Unfortunately, the responsibility of fixing Karl is mine. Sometimes I feel like it's almost too much for me to bear. As you probably know, somedays are great and then when the tics come back it's your worst nightmare. I see a light at the end of the tunnel. My son is so beautiful and such a sweet boy, I would and will go to the end of the earth to figure this whole thing out. Just one note on how Karl was before his tics began explosively last April. As an infant his cried from three weeks on, was grumpy, moody, angry, didn't get along with other children well, was shy and always at odds with me. Difficult is the word I'm looking for. I look back now and see that he had allergies. My husband Karl also had terrible allergies as a child and was finally diagnosed as having a food sensitivity to corn syrup at age 4. But who knows, that was 37 years ago and I can't say much for how accurate the tests were back then. We also have a history of ADD/ADHD, panic, depression and anxiety in our family and alcoholism. No history of tic disorders. Some family, HUH.....ha, ha. Write soon. Dara

Cheri, Thanks for that link to 'braintalk'. I read the information about 'pyroluria'. Still having trouble pronouncing it. I went ahead and ordered my test kit. I spoke to the woman at the lab and asked her about being on vitamins and supplements while taking the test. She didn't have much of an answer. I need to do a little more reading about it I guess. I'd hate to take Karl off his supplements. I'm afraid of what would happen. Today has been a really bad day for me. Karl's tics seem to have worsen. He keeps making awful sound with his lips and saliva. Sucking the lips in and then puckering them. He's also had some head jerking along with minor other facial tics. I feel like pulling my hair out. I just had a playdate come over to the house for a couple of hours to keep my boys occupied so that I can get on line and research. Karl and his brother Graham both have had snotty noses since being in Florida last week. Karl especially looks under the weather and is very grumpy. The grumpiness could be a result of his tics. Can you tell me about the spit test and what it tests??? Thanks a bunch. Dara

Hi Cheri, Thanks for writing back. I do agree with you about the chlorine. This is something I'll have to keep in mind over the next couple of months. Can you tell me what pyroluria is? I keep seeing this come up over and over again?? Dara

Hi Everyone, It's been awhile since I've written. I don't know if any of you remember me or my son Karl Henry who just turned 5. We also have a 3 1/2 year old son, Graham. I first found this website last November. I first must compliment many of you on your dedication to reading and posting on this website. I'm so amazed that some of you write several times a day. Since finding this website, my intentions were to at least read the forum everyday. Unfortunately, during these last 3 1/2 months I've been so emotionally and physically exhausted that I barely have had the strength to read the posts. Anyway, I'm sure many of you can relate to what we've gone through/or are going through. Alison, I really have enjoyed reading the daily accounts of what you've been going through with your son. I find them extremely uplifting. And I'm so glad to hear that he is doing better. You and I joined onto this forum right around the same time. I also noticed, that in one of your posts you remembered reading a post from me about my Thanksgiving day ######. What a day that was. My sons tics were so bad that day, I felt so miserable and helpless. I basically sat at the other end of the table, watched every tic my son made and and drank my way through dinner. I must first say that things have gotten better since that time. I won't recap Karl's entire history since it's all documented in earleir posts. But just to give you a little background, he woke up one day last April with full facial and vocal tics. Prior to that he just had eye blinking that lasted five months. As of April, we ran to every doctor we could possibly think of and with the help of a back issue of Latitudes, found an environmental physcian here in New Jersey that was willing to help us. Since our first meeting in November, Dr. Ali determined that Karl had food sensitivites (as a result of a IgE blood test) to sugar, eggs, milk and oranges. Was allergic to white oak trees and sycamore trees in addition to fungus, yeast and mold inhalents. Our son has had a first morning urine test, which showed a yeast problem in the gut. We recently completed a 24 hour heavy metal test which we will have the results back this coming Thursday. Dr. Ali put Karl on an all organic diet, no colors or preservatives in addition to no sugar, eggs, milk or oranges. He prescribed sub-lingual drops for the inhalent allergies and also precribed a supplement program. It took us the entire month of November and December to get on the diet and supplement program. As of January, we noticed a BIG improvement in his tics. No abdominal tic, no head jerking side to side or back to front, minimized vocal tics such as coughing, clearing his throat, and grunting (this grunting one is a hard one to describe, it's not really grunting but almost like a noise that you would make of you were trying to clear mucus from the back of your throat). We we're of course so excited to see real results. During these last couple of weeks we've noticed the grunting coming back a bit in addition to some eye rolling once in a while and we also noticed a new tic. Karl plays with his lips and saliva and makes a sound with it - it's very hard to explain. It started on January 19th while watching TV and he's still doing it today, mostly when riding in the car or watching TV. We've limited TV to about 1 hour a day, usually in the morning. I've been very frustrated lately because I believe we're doing everything that we should be doing with the diet, supplements, limited tv etc and then a new tic appears. I thought it seemed that Karl had more saliva in his mouth lately and that's what triggered the new tic, but I'm not sure. We were on vacation in Florida last week staying with my mother-in-law. I stuck to the diet about 80% but his tics we're not great about half the time. We thought they definatley increased after swimming in the pool. Karl's supplement schedule includes taking vit C, multi vit, cal/mag, taurine, acidophilus, aloe water, Q-10 melt, nystatin, glutathione and children's DHA. I think we're definately on the right track but are possibly missing something. Encouraging words would be greatly appreciated. I sometimes wish that we all lived close together so that we could see each other face to face and talk about our situations. Thanks as always for listening. Dara

Hi Decorah & Marie, My name is Dara and I'm also fairly new to this site as of early November 2004. Our son Karl (4 1/2) started eye blinking back in Nov 2003 which turned into full blown tics (coughing, clearing throat, throaty noises, eye rolling, nose wrinkling, head cocking left to right and front to back, abdominal tic, shoulder shrugging, pulling mouth downward and rolling lower lip down in April 2004 - wow what a list). I absolutly feel for you Decorah. I've been there. This last year has been something out of a bad dream and we've experienced feelings of sadness, anger, sympathy, terror, confusion, etc. Not to mention the stress it has put on our marriage. After an initial grieving period when we realized our son truly had a diagnosed tic disorder, the emotions subsided a bit and I was able to get to work investigating what I could do for my son. It was about Karl not me and my emotional rollercoaster feeings. So, after seeing 7 different doctors in 7 months, reading, and finding this website, I finally felt like I knew what I needed to do for Karl, at least somewhat. I found our Environmental Physician from the back issues of Latitudes. I also called Sheila Rogers to see if she knew anything about him. We struck gold. The doctor, Dr. Majid Ali from Denville, NJ was exactly what we needed. After our first meeting, he put Karl on a strict diet, no sugar, no dairy all organic and ran blood tests for food sensitivities and inhalant sensitivities in addition to a urine test. Karl's food sensitivity tests came back positive for sugar, eggs, milk and oranges (3 out of the four are his favorite things to eat) in addition to being allergic to mold, yeast and fungus. Dr. Ali put Karl and a full supplement regime and prescribed sublingual drops to treat the inhalant allergies. The first four weeks were terrible and Karl's tics actually got worse. We stuck to the program and by the fifth week, we started to see some change. The tics didn't go away completely, but they were definately less. Since we thought it might just a waxing and waning of the tics we held tight, waiting for a new one to pop up or for the current ones to get worse. As of today, two months into it, Karls tics are still milder than they were before we started the program. In fact, I've been keeping a log and on several occassions, they were barely noticeable. We pray that we've found the right solution for our son and just take one day at a time. Your first step should be to find someone like Dr. Ali and then take it from there. Hopefully we can all learn from each other during this journey of healing our children. Dara

Hi Helen, I've been away from this forum for a couple of weeks. My New Year's resolution is to try and sign on every day, even if I don't have time to write. To answer your questions about the supplements, diet, YES they work. In our situation, we took our son Karl who is 4 1/2 to an environmental physician in the beginning of November. His name is Dr. Majid Ali, from Denville, NJ. He's mentioned often in the back issues of Latitudes (that's how I found him). During these last couple of weeks, we've seen him three times. He immediately put Karl on a strict diet - no sugar, no diary, no preservatives, all organic. As a result of bloodwork, he did the IeG test and urine tests, put Karl on a supplement routine and began sublingual drops for inhalent allergies to fungus, mold and yeast and trees. The first couple of weeks were so rough, and it wasn't until about three weeks ago that we've been able to do all the supplements and diet. For two weeks now, our sons tics have greatly diminished. They're definately not gone, but the vocals are almost non-existent and the other less intense. If you read some of my original post, you'll see like most of the folks who post here, that our son has had numerous tics and they've been consistent since April. During the last couple of days we've seen some of the tics come back a bit, but we're buckling down with the diet, tv and supplements and hope to see them diminish somewhat during the next couple of days. We also bought two air purifiers which I think are helping. We all have to stick with what we feel is right for our children. And I know how heartbreaking it is for you and your husband. I've never cried as much as I have since April. Keep in touch. Dara.

Hi Evangelia & Helen, Evangelia, I've been meaning to write to you and update you on what's been going on with our son Karl. As I mentioned in previous notes, we had our original meeting with an enironmental doctor four weeks ago. Since then we've been back to see him once to dicuss test results and to review the supplement program and diet. Our doctor preformed the IgE blood test which showed sensitivities to eggs, milk, cane sugar and oranges. Also, molds, yeast and fungus and sycamore & oak trees. The inhalent are beging treated with sublingual drops. As far as the diet is concerned, we've taken all the sensitive items away from him (boy was this hard - he loves eggs and was sometimes eating them twice a day). We've taken all dairy and sugar out also. As for the supplements, the original group of supplements that were ordered were mostly in pill format which I was supposed to grind up and stick in his food/drink. Well this did not work. He refused to eat anything with the supplements. When we went back last Monday to get the test results and do a supplement/diet check, our doctor changed some of the supplements to chewable forms. I've finally been able to get ALL the supplements in him for one week. Yeah. I still have to grind a couple of them up in a coffee grinder and put them in a sip of juice. Karl takes these ground up ones in juice just like someone is doing a shot from a shot glass. He doesn't like it but does it for me. So, after four weeks, we're finally on the diet (95%) and doing all of the supplements. Boy this is some process. My husband and I did agree that we thought Karl's tics were slightly less, just slightly. I'll take anything at this point. I'm so anxious to see some results. We're totally sticking to this program of diet and supplements. I really like our doctor and think he's on the right path when it comes to healing the body through nutrition and supplements. I guess it's just a matter of time. I've also cut down on the amount of TV our sons watch. Helen, In reference to your question about if my son asks/talks about his tics and why he has to diet and take all the supplements - the answer is NO. Keep in mind that he's only 4 1/2. His tics started with eye blinking one year ago (NOv. 2003) and in April of this year when to full facial tics. From that point he's had and/or still has in varying degrees everything from eye blinking, eye rolling, grimacing, sniffing, coughing, head cocking left to right, head cocking in a downward motion and abdominal tics. Even when his tics were at there worst (September he had a terrible abdominal tic which affected his walking) he NEVER complained or mentioned it once. It got so bad during this time, I had to carry him sometimes. We were so heartbroken. To see your children suffering is probably one of the worst things that I've had to endure. I truly believe Karl just thinks this is the way he is. He doesn't mention his tic to us and we don't mention it to him. I try to keep our lives as normal as possible while at the same time implementing the diet and supplements. Well girls, it's 6am and it's time for me to get moving. I wake my boys at 7am for nursery school. I always get up early (usually 6am) to have a little time for myself before I have to wake them up. My husband works in New York City and leaves the house at 5:50am to catch the ferry to work, so I'm pretty much up anyway. I'll write soon. Dara

Hi Marina, Wow, I haven't talked to you in awhile. Is Matt your son? I didn't realize he was having an operation or maybe I've forgotten over time. I hope everything went well. Now I know what an osteopath is. I figured it was like a chiropractor but wasn't sure. It's funny how there are different names for different things. I'll take a look at that link and see if I can possibly locate someone in my area (NJ). Keep in touch. Dara

Hi Evangelia, I just signed on quickly. It's almost 11am Thursday night and I'm so tired. I wish I had the time/strengh to sign on and chat every night. We did get some test results back from our doctor and I would like to tell you what vitamins and supplements our son is on, unfortunately I need to go to bed, so I'll write you over the weekend. Thanks for keeping in touch with me. Are you in NJ???? Dara

Hi Bean, Our son Karl (4 1/2 yrs. old) refuses to take any of his supplements. Obviously, I'll keep trying to slip them into his food in drink. Our doctors prescribes everything except the fish oils. So I took it upon myself to research a bit and did find the childrens DHA from Nordic Naturals that you described. I can get both of my boys to take the capsules with no problem. I wish it was that easy with the other supplements. Do you know if the children's DHA increases tics? Thanks, Dara

Jean, My son can't have any dairy so cottage cheese is out of the question. We see the environmental physican tomorrow. Hopefully he can give us some tips on how to get the flaxseed into Karl. Thanks, Dara

Hi Helen, Welcome to this forum. As you can see from my previous notes, I'm new here too. I found this website November 1st and have been trying to learn and correspond with all the other users since then. It's been a lifesaver for me. Our son Karl started with the eye blinking last november. In April of this year it went to a full force facial tic - eye rolling, grimacing, pulling down the mouth, etc. In addition, he also was coughing, clearing his throat and making this horrible throaty sound. We also thought Karl's tics in April corresponded with the allergy season. Since that time we've seen numerous doctors - all different types. After much research and determination, I think we finally found the right one - Dr. Majid Ali, in Denville, New Jersey. He's an environmental physician who treats tic disorders through nutrition, supplements and allergy identification. I'd be happy to give you all the information on him and tell you in detail what he ordered and what he prescribed for my son in the areas of diet and supplements. You said that you're in NY. Is that NYC or NY state. I'm from Poughkeepsie, New York originally but now live in New Jersey with my husband Karl and my two sons Karl Henry (4 1/2) and Graham (3). All I can say is that it's been some roller coaster ride since April. We've had good days and really bad days. I'm hopeful that we're doing the right thing for our son and that it's only a matter of time before we start to see improvements. I know the agony and emotions you're going through. I've been going through it everyday and I feel for you. One minute I'm staring at my son crying, because I feel so sorry for him and the other moment I'm laughing, playing with him thinking that everything will be fine. We all have to stick together and try to figure out the best way to help our children through knowledge and corresponding with others in the same situation. Let me know if you'd like to chat further in detail and we can exchange email addresses. Take Care. Dara.

Cheri & Anne, Hi, our son Karl is 4 1/2 and has had motor and vocal tics for 7 months. Our new environmental physician prescribed, among other supplements, 1 tbsp. of ground flaxseed twice a day which is supposed to be mixed in a shake with lecithin and protein protein powder. I've even tried the liquid flaxseed oil. How do you get your kids to take flaxseed? Our son doesn't like any of it and refuses to drink the shakes. Help. Dara.

Claire, This is very interesting to me. As you probably know from my previous notes, our son Karl Henry is in his second week of no sugar, no dairy, all organic and a ton of supplements as prescribed by Dr. Majid Ali in Denville New Jersey. The no sugar, no dairy and all organic is going well. The supplements on the other hand are not. I just took another look at his 'supplement guidelines' chart which outlines exactly what he's supposed to take and how many times a day. He's supposed to have 11 pills per day in addition to protein powder, ground flaxseed, aloe water, lecithin, Q-10 melt, and nystatin. We're going back to Dr. Ali next Monday, December 6th to get the results of Karl's blood work for food/inhalent sensitivities. I'll go over Karl's supplement routine with Dr. Ali again then. Currently, I've only been able to get Karl to take the aloe water, nystatin, and Q-10 melt. I've also had 'a little' luck with the Cal/Mag pill and the Bowel 12 pill (which is magnesium, potassium and taurine). Three pills (1 cal/mag and 2 bowel 12's) makes so much powder! If I add all of it to a cup of juice in the morning Karl can taste it. Breaking the rest up during the day doesn't help either because Karl drinks mostly water during the day and I can't put it in just water. Cutting down the amount of pills he's supposed to take would make it much easier. I'm anxious to see Dr. Ali next Monday to discuss the trouble we're having with the supplements. I assume most of these supplements are geared towards adults who can swallow pills. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks for the information and phone number. Dara.

Claudia, I have that particular magazine right in front of me but can't find the article about the 51 year old man with TS? Volume 4, Issue 2, Spring 1999 right??? Maybe you can't point me to the exact article. Thanks, Dara.