Cj60

Hi Megan, I don't know the specifics of your case, but it sounds like my son may be similiar. I would really look at the feingold diet and the effect of salicylates. It made a big difference for us, the clue for us came when Zack was doing realy well then had about 5 red grapes and went ballistic. I found the naturopath for us was a little off for Zack. He was eating blueberries and raspberries like no tomorrow and was out of control. Chemar -- what does the Royal Jelly give you?? I haven't read it anywhere, TIA Hi CDNRaider, Can you give a brief overview of the Feingold diet? I checked out the website, saw that the program has to be purchased and didn't come away with a good idea of what is behind it. I've identified red grapes as a no food for my son, and am wondering if there might be a connection between them and other foods I might be needing to target. Thanks, Chris

Greetings, We started looking at diet and supplements around five or six weeks ago, starting with eliminating all dairy, hfcs, preservatives, artificials, and as many additives as possible. That coincided with our supplementation of magnesium (1 tsp. Kids Calm in the morning), an additive-free, sugar-free kids strength multi vitamin (a.m.), and an omega supplement ("Flaxseed Fusion") (1 tbsp. a.m.). I believe the effect has been positive; while tics are still present, they do not interfere with his school or other activities, as it seemed they would do if we had chosen to do nothing. We're vigilant, though; he tics most while reading (a neck jerk), and I'd like to improve upon that somehow. We have since started a nightly tea with inositol and a B6 supplement for the calming of potential comorbid symptoms. They seem to have a positive effect also. And the epsom bath in the evening a few times a week, usually when we notice neck discomfort. It definitely helps. What I can say for certain with our son (8), in the little time that we have been monitoring these things, is that preservatives and unnecessary ingredients in any food (i.e., anything with those long lists of ingredients) exacerbated his tics, such that now we simply do not give them to him. Chris

I've been wondering what kind of precautions concerning meds I'll need to take as we move into the autumn months. Fevers and colds will be showing up eventually. I took note of some of the natural cough remedies posted a few days ago. Should I avoid the kids fever meds (tylenol, mortrin, etc.), too? Any suggestions on what to substitute? Thanks in advance, Chris

Hi Lynn, We're newbies at this, so I'm not sure how much my feedback can be taken into consideration... I haven't had the IvG recommended yet. But my son is half way through his skin prick allergy tests. The allergist started with the most common allergies. We already knew there was some sensitivity to dairy, and had eliminated it by the time of his test. Even so, it came back as the highest allergy. Others were slightly elevated (corn, egg, concord grapes, chiken, rice -- all staples in what we thought was a pretty healthy diet) and the allergist gave us a four day rotation for them, so we're not having to eliminate them entirely. The dairy has not been as hard as I would have thought. Probably because we can still do soy (at least I'm pretty sure there are no major issue there...) The biggest things with the dairy have been no ice cream, for the obvious reasons, and then cheeses, which he ate frequently. But after only a few weeks my son's accepting of the dairy deal. I think he knows its for the best. Our home routine has definitely changed. We're super vigilant about what goes into his body, and our food costs have already gone up noticeably. We've been lucky during his first week at school, because he's fancied taking meals in a thermos thingy. We heat him up (or send in cold) some left overs and he likes that more that the boring old sandwiches. Taking trips is another issue. Already I don't like having to leave, since how to eat on the road and while visiting will always be a hard task. I wish you good luck figuring out how to manage things, and please post any tips you find to work for you. Chris

Hi Megan, Hijack my posts whenever you want! Everything little thing I hear back about is a positive for me. When I first got on here, I saw references to inositol and googled it. Here's one helpful link if you haven't done it already: http://www.vitamins-supplements.org/inositol.php As far as my earlier post, Chemar mentioned taking care with soy products. As far as I knew we were, but all this is new and a little hard so when we ran out for an between-shopping-trips soy milk fix, we evidently picked up a bad one. I checked its contents this a.m. and found it's filled with no no's. So we had a last minute change in breakfast plans... You can never be too careful, I guess! Thanks to you all for your quick replies!!

Hi everyone, Yesterday was school day 1. The neck tic we had seemed to calm way down at home resurfaced as an issue, as ds mentioned discomfort (which means ticcing) during long sit down/reading sessions. Also at soccer practice I was noticing it more than I had in the past couple of weeks. He probably had more sweets (although healthy ones) than he needed after school, which might explain the soccer practice issues. He also had several soy products yesterday: milk with cereal at breakfast; soy yogurt and another bowl of cereal before soccer. But the school thing was obviously stress/tedium related. Not sure what to do about that, although the teacher told me that if she notices him being uncomfortable she'll send him on an errand or something like that (unfortuntaetly her helper was in in the p.m. yesterday when the ticcing/tedium occurred). While waiting for results of a urine test and further recommedations from our envir. dr., I'm wanting to add to his supplements on my own. From all I've read, adding to his B vits is a good place to start. But yesterday my wife had trouble finding a B6 supp that could be broken into a smaller dose (I want to start little by little) and an inositol supp that didn't have other stuff in it. She did find a B complex chewable, but I've read enough here to shy away from that. Any suggestions as to where to find these two supplements for a child of @68 lbs.? Any recommendations for a non-dairy kefir? I've found adds for an expensive coconut kefir online, but was hoping for something a little more practical. I think I'll also try the deglycerized licorice root as a precaution against digestive track imbalances. Thanks for any input you might have! Chris

Hi Christy, I think several of the posters here are in a similar situation. My son is also 8, and has manifested lots of the classic tics recently, too. Here's what I've done so far. 1) Read read read online and gotten Sheila's book on natural approaches to tics/ts; 2) Eliminated dairy and as many junk items (HFCS, artificial flavorings, preservatives, etc.) as possible. This has been the hardest part of the whole thing. Non stop reading of labels. My son broke down a little last night when I told him sugarless gum was no longer an acceptable food. Not that he even chews it more than a couple of times a month. It's just that he sees things that he has always eaten (and his little sister still eats) taken away from him, and is feeling a little vicitmized. 3) Began supplementing with mg (kids calm - every morning), a natural multi vit (every morning), and flaxseed oil (a few times a week because I tend to forget by the end of the day, since I don't want to overwhelm him with too many supps in the morning); 4) Taken my son to a ped. neur. Not a good experience; 5) Taken my son to an enviromental dr. A good experience. I feel hopeful with this, since he, unlike the p.n., actually did something: scheduled allergy tests, one of which we have done (3 more to go, my poor son's arms!). It confirmed our suspicion of dairy, which we had already recently eliminated from his diet. He also recommended a couple of new supplements: a probiotic, which I laid off of fairly quickly since I'm not yet confident about all of this and got nervous when I sensed an increase in tics a few evenings after I started it. He provided us with another supplement, too, about which I've posted but which I have yet to administer to my son. He also ordered a urine analysis. We have a follow up appt. in around 5 weeks. Hopefully by then we'll hear about the urine test, and have more to go on than we do now. 5) Met with his teacher, school nurse, and guidance councelor. It was a very meaningful visit for me, even though I embarrassingly sobbed through 3/4 of the meeting. (Even dad's break down once in a while:) I was assured that they will take good care of him, and make sure he is successful in school, tics or no tics. I'm pretty sure that the combination I am using now has had a positive effect; that is, tics are less noticeable than they were before we started down this path. But they are still there, especially in the evening when he is winding down. And I've noticed some minor ocd features. So these are the things on top of my list: how to address the moderate pique in the evening hours (we're getting the tea recommended by Chemar, to start), and how best to supp for the minor ocd symptoms. I'm sure your path will be as major a learning experience as ours has been. We're a different family now than we were five weeks ago! And thanks to this site, I'm hopeful. Chris

Thanks so much! I'll look into the cocconut or soy kefir, since our suspicion that dairy was an issue with our son was accurate, according to the allergy tests administered so far...

Hi everyone, The other day I embedded a question in another post about the above mentioned supplement, and didn't hear anything. I thought I'd give one last call to see if anyone has used dimethylglycine for tics, and if so, what the results were. I'm a little nervous about adding supplements. A doctor we visited this past week recommended a probiotic and the dmg. I tried the probiotic first, since I had read pretty much about them here and elsewhere. We used it twice, and on the third evening, before we gave him his third dose, we noticed heightened tics, and my son even mentioned a little discomfort with some ocd symptoms (I had really been hoping to escape the 'comorbid' phenomenon, but I guess not). It may have been simple coincidence; it was meet-the-teacher night, so that might have caused the waxing. I'm even now suspicious enough of clif bars to keep him away from that old reliable standby. But it was enough to make me back off of the probiotic. Now I'm hoping for a little insight to the dimethylglycine before I try that. Thanks!

Trish, my son and yours are the same age! I've just recently started supplementing, and am a little apprehensive about things. I hadn't seen the L-Tryptophan mentioned before, although I read a lot about Tryptophan four years ago when my son manifested his first noticeable tic, which resolved before we went ahead with any supplements. Can you keep us posted on what you learn? Thanks, Chris

After our visit to the ped. neur. a couple of weeks ago (a real downer, let me say), we were able to get in quickly, thanks to a cancellation, at an environmental medical practice a couple of hours away. Man, what a world of difference! The pn diagnosed, handed us two prescriptions to choose from, baited my son concerning his desire to use meds to take care of his tics, and scoffed at my question as to whether there were alternative approaches. Yesterday, we had a 1.5 hr. visit, received the approval of the doc concerning the supplements and things we were already using and doing (mag, multi vit, flax seed oil, eliminate HFCS and limit sugary snacks, almost eliminated dairy), had a urine test ordered (why didn't the pn do this??), had an elimination / challenge diet recommended (we're really struggling with this, as I can't see how we're going to be able to do it in the near future, as ds starts school already this coming Monday), recommended the skin allergy tests which we're about to schedule (and again, why didn't the pn recommend this??) and had two new supplements recommended. One of the sups is a probiotic, which I was very close to implementing on my own, so now I don't have to wrestle with that any more. I'll probably start it today. The other is dimethylglycine (DMG 125), which I had not seen referenced here yet. I'll probably start to phase it in in a few days, pending feedback here. Any insight / feedback on the dimethylglycine supplement? As always, thanks for being here!

Hello Mythree, I'm new to all this, too. What I started with was Sheila's book (you'll see it referenced on this site). When it arrived, I read all day (my family was away), and found it to be a very rich resourse on all things tic related, including diet issues. Haven't gotten back to it since, because we've been so busy figuring things out day by day, but it's never far from reach. I went to our first visit with an environmental medicine doctor yesterday (am about to post on that experience), and he recommended (highly) an elimination / challenge diet, and gave us a handout on how to do it. Wishing positive things for you and your daughter!! Cj60

Chemar, I think I have the jarrow mulit easy showing on one site as available (in stock). Haven't gone through with purchase yet, as I want to run ingredients by md. - Cj60

Thanks for the post! Being new to all of this, I'm considering a probiotic (not sure if I can post the name of the one I have my eye on, it's a dairy free kids version). But I think I'll wait to talk to a doctor about it (this coming Monday). Let us know if you turn up anything. And good luck!

Mommyfor4, ilovedogs, Chemar: thank you very much for taking the time to help! I think that, thanks especially to this forum, I have a good set of topcis and questions that I can address with the doctor this coming Monday. I'm hoping she/he will help us in our quest to provide the best alternatives.

Hello, and thank you all. I have found great solace in this forum, and appreciate everyone's willingness to share and help others who are trying to sort things out for themselves and for their children. Our story: My son, now 8.5, first manifested tic behavior (he pulled at his eyelashes) in March, at age 4. We took him first to a ped. neur. (pn), who diagnosed mild ocd and recommended an SSRI reuptake if symptoms worsened. We took him second to a ped. psych., who diagnosed differently: transient complex motor tics. The tic went away completely, with no meds, within 5 or 6 months of showing up. This year, again in March, my son developed a neck jerk. It was prominent enough that his teacher noticed. This summer, he has developed arm jerks as well. So we took him to a pn, a different one this time, but with the expectation that the standard line would still apply. She did not let us down. In the meantime, I had bought Sheila's book, and found this site, and have done lots of thinking (i.e., worrying and obssessing). While we are waiting for our appointment with an alternative practice, I have taken the following steps. 1) Eliminated dairy. Ds already showed signs of lactose intolerance. While not easy, this hasn't been too hard yet; 2) Eliminated HFCS (hard, I always have to have my reading glasses now) and cut way back on sugary foods (very very hard and demoralizing); 3) Started magnesium supplement (currently Kids Calm); 4) Started natural multi vitamins, with all the Bs (we had never been good with vitamins), but not Zinc which is a concern for me; 5) Given occasional flaxseed oil supplement; What I am considering: 1) a probiotic; 2) subbing out the kids multi vit for another I saw referenced here (Jarrow Easy something), which has the zinc, as well as other goodies; 3) Royal jelly (not at all sure whether this is appropriate); 4) ...? Before proceeding with questions that I hope some of you can chime in on, I'd like to give a little more background on my son: 1) Other tics I have noticed over the past two weeks: some of the classic facial tics, a breathing tic, finger movements, no obvious vocal tics yet, but I'm guessing there will be eventually. 2) His tics are most notable when he's in a state of tedium, and in the evening. 3) He has never displayed behavioral or learning problems. He has always been happy, social, bright, and enjoyed school. 4) His cousin, my nephew, now 18 and about to leave for college, was diagnosed with TS around 4 or 5 yrs. ago. I don't chat often with my sister, and never about her son's TS (I'm thinking this might change soon), but he has seemed to manage well enough to be an outstanding soccer player with a scholarship to a good college. While I have been concerned for some time now, it was the visit with the pn (dagnosis of TS, excepting that 12 months have yet to elapse), and her attitude (drugs are your only recourse, alternative options are purely psychological), that threw me over the edge. Last night was the first night I've slept more than 4 or 5 hrs. in a week. Haven't eaten well. Classic anxiety depression stuff. But I hope to be turning the corner, realizing, as I read in an earlier post, that this isn't about me, it's about him. Anyhow, here are my biggest doubts. Please feel free to respond to them if you are able. 1) Can magnesium exacerbate tic symptoms? Sometimes I get the sense that sense that his breathing and facial tics have increased with it. But I also sense that his neck jerks have decreased. His arm jerks are the most constant. 2) What is the realtionship between chlorine and tics? This past weekend, we had a very active day. Bike riding & swimming during the day, miniature golf / hitting golf balls after dinner. The miniature golf was a last minute substitution for his regular roller blading, because I screwed up the times. At miniature golf, his arm and neck jerks were noticeable to standersby (this was a first for me). They even interfered with his swinging the golf club on the range. I don't know whether to consider the afternoon's chlorine as a trigger (he was not ticcing while we were at the pool, he was relaxed and enjoying himself), or simply chalk it up to over exertion. After the golf when we were in the car heading back home, and back home relaxed and watching tv, his tics were greatly reduced. 3) Am I going overboard cutting out dairy without a doctor's recommendation? 4) Are all sugars bad, or just HFCS and refined sugar? I'm cutting back on my own, but can't imagine eliminating it all the way. 5) What about dark chocolate, and chocolate soy milk? 6) Should I try a probiotic on my own? (This is different than an anti yeast agent, no?) 7) Is the Jarrow easy mulit mix ok for an 8 yr. old boy (@65 lbs.)? As a final note, we have only been experimenting for a week or so, but nothing we have done so far has shown any noticeable results. The onset of his most recent symptoms (facial and breathing tics) was pretty quick (over the ocurse of the past two weeks or so) and have not improved with the elimination of dairy or the magnesium supplement. I'm most suspicious of the effect of sugar, but can't even be sure of that. Any hints or observations are more than welcome! THANK YOU ALL! Cj60