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Hi Claire; I really do not understand under meth kids, can you explain? Also, who is Pfeizer (? spelling). I see this name in some posts. I did have neuroscience do a urine test and the seratonin levels were low and the dop levels high. I understand that you cannot raise/lower these levels throught proper nutrition, so how do you balance this out? Marie

Hi all, Last week was sooooo good for Luke. Very minor stuff, mostly mouth stretching. No eye rollong, head nodding etc. By Saturday I let him watch 1 hour of LCR TV and he did nothing. Great I thought, but by Sunday he was mouth stretching a lot. By Sunday night he started this thing with screaming. Is it play or is it tics? I questioned him and he said he liked to do it. He is fully aware of it and he told me that he can control it. I told him that it scared me so to let me know so that I would not jump out of my skin. So today when he played dinosaurs he asked me if it would be ok and I said "sure" and he scream a few times and that was it. I am so afraid of the vocal stuff and more tics that I am seeing everything as a tic and I afraid that reality is mixing with worry. As for my next move, I have ordered Travac which is a supp that made with 5 http and high in the b-6, folic acid and Vitamin C. The Nutritionist claims that this will raise the seratonin level of which he is low on and that should help some of his issues. Any thought? Marie

I'm trying but its so hard. I called his doctor today and asked about his last bout of strep. It was in April of 04 and I returned to the office in July and September because he complained about his throat. Half of his throat was sooo red and swollen but the strep test kept coming back neg. Luke told me that he stopped complaining about it because no one did anything. I just thought it disappeared until last week when he started to complain about it again. This time it was not red but he did still complain for a night and never heard about it again. From July through and into September it was an issue. Early October came and so did the croup where his was rushed to the ER and given a course treatment for croup and asthma- since they did not know what to treat. That is when he was given steroids. I would imagine that this surpressed the throat issue, but caused something else because in October is when I noticed the blinking and by December he was ticing and twitching. I spoke to a mom of a child in his class who told me that since Sept. strep has not stopped within the class. Last month his friend had his tonsils removed because of on going strep, 2 girls and 1 boy right know are on meds for strep. These are all of the kids that he eats, naps, plays and learns with daily. The only thing I did notice is that when these tics started his lips were really chapped, and his face was pale, blue around the eyes and his cheeks were red and extremely dry and his hands were red like sunburn from the cold. Soon after the supps/vits the color came back to his face, blueness around the eyes gone, chapped lips were healed, cheeks and hands were soft and great a reduction (not gone) in tics. Now chapped lips are back, blueness around the eyes is present, cheeks are red and very dry and as for the tics they are ever present. If I read correctly strep can affect the skin not only the throat right? Any thoughts? Marie

I will be ordering threelac today. I read about it and I am suspect to it but since I know he was a sugar kid for sooo long and the white tongue is a sign I need to do something. Yesterday was a carb day. I know carbs bother him but he ate 2 1/2 large pancakes made from whole or buck wheat, 1 egg,a large bagel with cream cheese alternative made from rice, and a salami sandwhich on wheat, plus one 8 oz bottle of water and 8 oz of fresh carrot juice. THis was all between 8-12:30. So you see the appetite is hugh! I've been reading about PANDAS and the symptoms he is showing are pointing to that as well. Can you have a strep infection without it showing up in the culture? I read about blood tests so is it possible for the body to have the infection and not show in the throat area? Marie

Hi Alison, Well things are going for the moment. We had a great few days last week, which included some TV (LCD of course) and everyone noticed great strides. But yesterday late afternoon proved to be bad. He started the eye roll thing which was gone for a while now. It seems that when you think your on track something else its you. Luke had a strep infection a long time ago, no signs of strep at all but his borther had it so we tested him to save me a trip later and he tested positive. When he started ticing in December he tested negative both with rapid and culture. Does that mean that he does not have the strep infection, or does that mean he does not have strep throat and that the strep infection can reside somewhere else. THe vit/supps and juicing made him move from a size 6 to 7 in the past couple of weeks, and his apeptite is great. THe stress factor has improved and I received his nuerotransmitter test back and his dopamine levels are 270 where 175 is a normal high and his seratonin leves are at 130 where I beleive 150-175 are normal. Should I start amino acids? His tongue is still white even with the acidopholis, is there something else I can do to help him? I know I have a long way to go, I am at 6 weeks dealing with this and so many have dealt with this longer. I just wish I had the crystal ball to see if I am on the right path. Marie

Clarie, Just a thought, my older son was always proned to sinus infections and I always have to be careful with asthma. I have found that Garlic is a great cure for these types of infections (great for vampires too). I know my health food store has garlic pills but I alway add garlic to almost everything I cook to keep those nasty infections away. I am so happy to hear that it was a secondary infection and nothing more. It is funny I have never met you or your son, but when I read your post it, I was just as worried for you as I would be with my family. I guess the people here really do share a special bond. God Speed for your sons recovery and for the homework part too! Marie

These good words are needed this morning. Well this weekend proved that some two feet of snow, three additional kids in the home increases the excitement which would cause twitches in all. But his are less than they were last week. They are still there but still compared to when it first started it is less, so I guess we are on the right path. I understand that these twitches/tic seem to go into different muscle groups and wax and wain, etc. So I am extremely hesitant to celebrate any improvement. I guess I am extremely suspect to my own instincts. Slow and steady I keep telling myself- slow and steady. Truth be told, my son is so much like me. I am very sensitive and hold sooo much in. If I cry you know that I am at my last straw. This week he has been extremely talkative, something I have not seen since last summer. He has been sharing his thoughts more, and now cries when his feelings are hurt. It is like the popping of a blister. So much emotion, happiness, anger and oh the make beleive stories. I would be enjoying this if there were no underlying issues- I just need to get passed my baggage. When you observe, you seem to notice everything and question "Is this normal?" "What does this mean?" So much so that I am driving myself nuts. I keep telling my husband that when this is under control he can visit me in the nut house. I think he's looking forward to that visit too! Marina; I am happy that your eldest appreciates everything you have done for him. You must be so proud on a multitude of levels. So feel comfort knowing that it is you that blazed a path for him to excel. My brother has a saying that he always uses "Dare to Believe". when things become impossible, we always Dare to Believe and with work determination and more work things happen. I keep this in my thoughts most of the time because giving up is just so easy. Parenting is the hardest thing I have ever done. It presents challenges that you would never dream of. So with three children under your belt and being seasoned with these things you can, will and are able to believe! In the meantine I will Dare to. Marie

Marina, Good luck to you. I thank you for your support, just as I support all who come to this site. I am sure that your experience is just what your child needs and deserves. As for the depression, I feel that I am also burdened with that. I am now down to some below 100 pounds. I must have dropped more than 10-15 pounds within this last month and I have no clothes that even fit. I can't really eat anything. I am tired and all I want to do is sleep. But tonight I have about 10 inches of snow on the ground and three additional kids for another sleep over and the smiles, giggles and I love you Mom are keeping me from going under. My solice is that there are many of on this forum that are here to help and there words are so far exactly what I needed. I hope they are what you need to. So try to sleep and look past breifly for what you were able to do for your first child and know that you will do the same for this one. Marie

Hi Alison; My brother and cousin are big into juicing and they both agree that the juicer you need to buy is the kind that grinds the food the brand I use is Green Power Kempo. The best starting food is carrots. Carrots are the closest molecular sustance known to blood with the exception of magnesium and another vit/min., so when extracted into juice form in goes into the blood stream faster and will get absorbed fater and better. Cut the ends off but do not peel, place through the juicer and strain it before drinling to discard any excess fiber. I have ny kids on 8 oz. in the am with breakfast, so if they are poor breafst eaters, I know that they have subthing good in the system. Also, since we all are victims of immunizations, aftifical colors and all that good medicine lemon juice is important as a detoxifier. Peel the lemon with as much white as possible on it and juice. Add water to taste and shake over ice and it is a great lemonaide with benefits. I started reading a book about juicing written by a doctor who lived to 106 years old and he has many receipes/formulas. My brother recommended this book so I can get a better handle on the way the body works. I might have told you, but it is worth repeating, my cousin fell into a deep depression and over 40 doctors tried to put her on depression meds. As a pharm rep she declined and searched and searched. She could no longer work, she lost her med benefits and used all her money to find a cure. She sought the help of an 80 yr old doc who told her she had candidia (yeast) she now juices and is a vegitarian and is now a perfectly normal functioning adult. On the flip, I buried a friend about 2 years ago who sought the traditional route for depression and went on the meds and hung himself leaving behind 3 great kids. I tell you this because I was weiry just days ago about the importance of diet when my friends father, a doctor, told me that what I was doing was busy work in using supps and juicing. So for all who read this, note the importance of diet and how the body can heal itself. It still remains a mystery to me but the more I read the more I learn. I'll pass the name of the book onto you in another post, I do not have it with me right now. Hope all is well and keep up the good work. Marie

Thanks Marina; I will try to do what I can with the TA instead of the teacher, she seems more willing to work with my child and me instead of ignoring it. I think the teacher thinks this is something he will out grow. I cannot sit by and wait. Dealing with it when he is 6 is much easier instead of waiting. Today is Sat. and although not much sleep because of his sleep over, he seems much less twitchy- noticable to me anyway. You know the mother microscope. So I guess time will tell if the path I put him on is the right one. Please keep in touch and thanks for posting. Marie

Thanks Alison, I am pretty much doing the same, but the cal/mag and probiotics were added just last week. The only thing I am doing different is juicing carrots in the AM and lemons in the afternoon. He doesn't eat much veggies and carrot juice and lemon juice are great detoxifiers, so I figure it can't hurt. I just read a little more about jucing and found that when you detox, all of the toxins release throughout your body and for about one week your symptoms get worse- whatever symptom that may be. I pray that is what he just went through last week. Who would have ever thought that parenting would be that difficult. I think tomorrow I will send my parents some flowers to say thanks for being parents. I am so happy for you and your son. He is a lucky boy! My hat is off to you! Marie

Cheri, Like it so hard to keep from crying these days, but your last line just made me cry for a much differnt reason. I really do want to see the light and I remain hopeful. Cheri, Claire and Alison you all seem to be such great mom's, and not to get off of the subject but I feel that I am trying to blame myself on a multitude of levels here. The stress, school, immunizations,genetics, whatever, I feel that I am to blame. Did anyone of experience this emotion? Marie

I will look into the 504 and perhaps plan a week and call it a Mommy amd Me Holiday, he's on in Kinder so he won't miss much. Thanks for the info. Marie

Yes, I agree with your thoughts on both the teacher and the my firends father. You know I met up with my son's teachers aid today while dropping some stuff off at school. She pulled me outside because of the cameras they have in school, she did not want anyone to know that she was speaking with me. She told me that she noticed less facial stuff and the more head moving, like I was noticing this week. She asked the teacher to pass this along in my conversation that I had with her yesterday and the teacher told her she would not because she did not want to upset me. I told the assistant that I need to know any and all info. The assistants' take is that my son is extremely nervous and holds it in. Much my take on him as well. She assured me that she will try every measure to make him feel confortable, but she told me that they are strict in the classroom. On the contrar,y his teacher tells me she grants him more flexability on behaviour, etc as not to add to the emotional pile. The aid made me promise to keep our conversation on the QT because she did not want to get fired. I have been in the classroom and met with the teacher who seems to me so very nice. Could I be sending him into a setting that is creating the anxiety? Shouild I just keep him home for a while and monitor him? I don't have much clarity these days ...any thoghts? Marie

Thanks Claire!

Thanks to all, Well it is Wed and I just spoke with his teacher, yesterday she let him watch TV with the class and eat junk with the class because she feels that the anxieity level would cause more of a reaction than the TV/junk itself. She had a 20 min. movie and noticed minor facial grimacing which quickly went away after the movie. When he came home he had really no facial, head and neck stuff, just time to time body stretching. As of today she said if not for me telling her about his tics she would have not noticed and that I should stop stressing and continue what I am doing because he just seems happier. I have not kept a diary, but my friend told me to start since I will have him see a neurologist next month. Her father is a Doctor who told me that under lying siezures may be an issue, which scared me even more than I am. He also said that what I am doing with the supps are okay but it is just keeping me busy and has done nothing else. That's when I wanted to jump off the nearest bridge!!! I don;t think I have cried so much in my life. I hope one day I will be the one advising people, but for now thank you to all who help me! Marie

Hi Everyone, Well Sunday was a mess. He was toe crunching, holding his breath and body tensing. To get him to sleep was painful. Monday the facial stuff slowed dramatically but the body tensing was still there (less than Sunday). My question, I know I blamed the borwn rice for in onset, but on Sat. afternoon I added to his supps probiotics and cal/mag. Could this be why the increase? Could this be the "healing crisis"? Please any help? Marie

Thanks Claire! My nutritionist works with an MD. I'll see if he can order this for me, if not I will go into my sons doctors office and see what I can come up with. Thanks Again, Marie

Hi All, LCD TV was limited and in the AM, dinner was 5:30. I let him have about 1/2 hour every other day with the TV all week and most of the time he played while watching. The florescent lights bother him tremdously, so I kept him home Friday/Sat and he was just great. I noticed as the diet changed so did the tics and the bright light tics were more of a slow head thing, like Stevie Wonder but not that noticable- which was a great improvement from head jerking, eye rolling, blinking etc. Last night when I got him in the car after dinner it was an explosion of tics, the mood was horrific, he was crawling out of his skin and then suddenly he crashed. He became tired and actually feel asleep in the car. When I went to get him out he had no energy to even walk to purchase the reward for the week. I actually had to carry him into the store because he did not want to go home without his promised reward. That is when the florescents became an issue and woke him right up and could not fall asleep until 11...three hours past his normal time. When I got home I upped his B complex and his mood became better and researched even more. I understand that magnesuim (lack thereof) is a component to the inflamation to the nervous system which can cause all types of muscle contractions. I understand that sugar causes havoc on the absorbtion of the B's and thereby mag cannot be absorb either. So allergy, depletion of vit/min, etc can mask itself in many different facets, OCD, ADHD, tics,or what other label traditional medicines can create. I think it was more than likely the carbs, it was like a sudden rush. Strange enough last Sunday was the last time he ate pasta at my mothers house and the lights bothered him so much after he ate that he had to shut the lights and played in the dark, and we had no TV all that week. Today, I started juicing to supplement the supps..just carrots and apples and intruduced raw veggies to try to dextox his body of the nasties. I am trying to pull my thoughts together and found that at age four my older son was diagnosed as an asthmatic after years of antibiotics for the cough. Then came the round of asthma meds including steriods I was convinced that he would be some sort of bubble boy. I did everything conventional medicine told me to do. But I noticed that when my older son started playing hockey his asthma decreased. Everything I read told me that hockey was a bad sport for asthmatics, but I did not listen and let him play. Hind sight being what it is, I believe that his excercise (to the point that he is soaking wet when he comes off the ice), is the detox he required from the meds the doctors placed him on for all of those years. That's where the claim that "some grow out it" comes from. This site is testiment that they don't grow out it, some find a way concious way to aid the body to cure itself and others fall upon it ..like me. Those who do not change their lifestyle live and coupe. Right?? So as of today, I did not try the homeopathic stuff the nutritionist gave him, there is just so much I'm trying that I don't want to rush into anything new (possible bad move..who knows). I too suffer from information overload and want to quickly fix this, but supps take 12 weeks and I'm starting week three on some of it and day two on the rest. Wish me luck, anything you can offer please know that I am so appreciative. I need more infor on how to get an Igg test. Marie

Hi all, THis last week we were doing well. On a scale of 1 to ten- ten being best he was about a 7-8 by Friday. His appetite increased and started craving eggs, meats and fish. THe pasta craving and cookie cravings stopped by Sat. He was even watching TV (LCD) tic free by Sat.. So stupid me went to the Health Food Store and bought an organic Brown Rice Pasta --15% carb or 44gram. In a rush through dinner, I made the pasta plain and in ten minutes we were back at a rate of 1- being the worst. So it must be a sugar thing right? My guess is stay away from the high carbs and the sugarry stuff. Any thoughts? Marie

Alison; Congrats to a job well done:) I makes me feel as if there is still hope for my little guy. We were doing very well that last couple of days. His appetite increased so much that he was asking for meats, eggs and fish and the tics lessoned greatly. On a scale of one to ten- ten being no tics, he started at a 1 in mid December and by yesterday he was at an 7 or 8. Stupid me rushed through dinner and made him pasta (made from ground brown organic rice) and ten minutes later he was back to score a 1. In looking back, he was off pasta for a week because he did not crave it, like he always did, and it looks like we might have a carb issue. To much sugar depleting whatever vit/min he very much needs. Yesterday I started a cal/mag, a mulit and a probitotic and increased the B complex and still continue with the Omgea 3. Any advise? I truly feel like a failure. Marie

Heather; How about doage for children with Threelac? Is it the same as adults?

My nutritionist said to use Innovation Cal/Mag. The Health Food store can no longer get this product, claims the company might be bust. Does anyone have a good cal/mag supp that they can recomend. Also has anyone hear of Threelac as a supp that can oust yeast. The web claims that this is a miracle supp that can kick the crap out of hard to handle yeast. Marie

I did try the yeast thing. First spit in the AM, if it floats he's fine right? I am kind of out of answers right now on how and what to do. I feel if I take him to any more doctors that he will think there is something wrong with him. When I am having clear thoughts, I tell myself that it took time getting here i.e, poor diet and the electronic babysitter, etc. It will take time to undo these things. Slow and steady wins the race ...right?

Strange enough my son had a blinking issue only attributed to anxiety. In October he received medication for croup, which included a round of steriods and asthma meds. This brought on more blinging. In December he had the croup again and I treated it with asthma meds for a day or so which brought on more and more tics, but he was also stressed due to school and Christmas play etc. I wonder if the meds brought on the tics or if it made them worse. If so does anyone know if tics brought on by meds can be reversed through time? Marie