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CJ60/Chemar: Thanks for your recent post. I found the following in lieu of Kid's Calm: Peter Gillham Natural Magnesium Calm -- 16 oz - is this the one? It's about $22.77 on Vitacost.com website offering various flavors. I copied and pasted Nature's Calm into the search box and came up with this. Chemar can you confirm exact Magnesium product name for me to investigate. With so many types/products, even one ingredient could be off on a wrong purchase. During my quick consult today on the phone, I directed the Naturapathic Doctor to your website. He was unfamiliar with it...surprisingly. He got online and was looking at it while we were talking. I explained to him that i actually found his type of expertise by noticing this type of doctor title mentioned within this website/forum and worked my way towards him. CJ60: You mentioned the one diagnosis your son was given: transient complex motor tics. Very interesting. Seems pretty close (again, I'm pretending I'm a doctor/mother's intuition at work here)to my son's behavior. Since his symptoms/tics are coming, going and changing....seems very similar. I read something today that using positive behavioral response - praise him when he tries to not i.e. blink or deep and sigh heavily - that that can work. Maybe I can promise him a nice big toy if he stops - maybe that will work?!! Heck I'll do anything to rid this problem!!! I am going to see how that pans out over the weekend. Funny, I pinged/emailed my mom and was telling her a little about this "tic" situation with my son and she reminded me, that when I was like 5/6 years old, I had a minor blinking habit. I totally remember it. When she emailed me back her response, she reminded me that she basically kept yelling at me and telling me to "stop"!! I guess back then there was an easy fix!! Things were much easier back in the day!! Mom fixed it with a quick yell and a scream. It was OK to scream at your kid then too!!! Thanks guys again - it has been so nice to talk with other adults, feel so comfortable asking questions and getting some super info without having to take too much time off work or not having any info at all. Not sure how i survived only a few years back without the internet. In one week I feel I am armed and ready.....I am preparing my folder of info and will go through it and decipher more. Still need to sit my hubby down, but i know he'll give me the 'i have no time' or 'it's not that big of a deal' or "stop diagnosing it..." whatever..... a mother knows believe me. I do know i need to get the blood test panel and allergy test..to see if there is an underlying symptom....that is my next doctor step. Too bad that this doctor is not under my current health plan. I just don't feel like jockeying around my Kaiser group/pediatrician and just hearing the 'it will go away' after multiple visits, time off work, gas wasted and pulling my little guy out of preschool...been there done that.

Hi CJ60 - thank you for redirecting me to your original post. Appreciate it. You did such a nice write-up, definitely worth sharing and resending like you did. VERY detailed. Can I admit, I am so overwhelmed. I need to sit down, and look at all the posts - I printed them out. I had my consult call with the naturalpathic doctor this morning at 8am PST. Like he said to me, it's like I'm going to have to become a detective and try and figure out what is affecting my son and what changes need to be made by process of elimination. Quite daunting..to say the least. Last night I started looking at the ingredients and fear lots of changes ahead. My 4 year old is so stubborn and is not quite comprehensive like my almost 7 year old when i tell him that we need to stop eating these cookies or these foods - he won't even "get it". I can't even reason with him. What can you recommend I purchase in lieu of the milk - soy? Or is that also a no-go? You mentioned: magnesium supplement (currently Kids Calm); Is this a liquid form or powder? When i do a search on Kid's Calm i keep coming up with Peter Gillham's natural - looks like a liquid - do you give like a couple of teaspoons in juice or something?

Chris/cj60: Amazing. Thank you for this advice and path. I am going to have to print this out.....very detailed. You are hired!!! I have my call tomorrow to understand the Natural/Environmental Dr. and what his path would be in conjunction with all this info. I like having this as ammo and good info ready prior to my call. You mentioned the urine test - what were they looking for? Did the enviro Dr. order this test? You also mentioned a supplement was recommended, then you stopped. Can you explain what you noticed and why you stopped. I am not even there yet, but curious. Also, if you don' t mind me asking, if it's not too much, what tics did your son start with - a summary, and then what does he have now, only a certain few, or all the same original ones but now just at a lower level/lesser degree? I am just curious if they are all the exact same ones - eye blinking/sighing...like mine has or if you are dealing with a larger list of issues. Just me being curious. Also, how long has your journey been, since you first started the supplementals/enviro doctor to where you are today? Thank you for your time spent and your detailed/specific write-up. I had found a few past topics in the forum but only vague and broad answers. I am busy at work "working" and deciphering forum comments and can't for the life of me figure out what multi to buy or how much to give (along with a doctor's advice and consult, of course). If you have a plan that works, I don't want to recreate the basic wheel - I will work with the baseline and tweak it as necessary....I will keep you posted. Thanks again, Christy/Sacramento Area

MommyFor4 - Thank You!! I love this website/forum. Your information is great and I will keep your email response handy for tomorrow's call/consult with your insights as to what has worked for your child. I agree, too many quick changes to what is going on now and I won't be able to point a finger to a specific trigger. It's funny, the eye blinking has subsided and now the deep heavy breaths are the focal point. The "clearing of the throat" isn't really obvious, I only seem to hear them once in a while and am very tuned into his every movement, I'm sure others wouldn't even notice. So the blinking is gone for now, just this constant taking of a deep breath. Did your son's breathing tics subside or go away at all after making the changes you suggested? How do you suggest I tackle the breathing tic - first step? Thoughts. This one seems very broad - since the coughing tic could be a quick fix on the wheat/dairy removal. I have ordered the liquid multi I mentioned in my other post. Can you post what exact multi, magnesium you are using? I would like to check out on the websites the kind you are using to the one i will be using. There are so many, it's slightly confusing. I will also get the Epsom salt this weekend. How many of these baths do you recommend per week? Re: the breathing and deep breaths - I have found that he is doing this like at least 2 to possibly 3 times a minute....how many counts of these are you hearing and noticing in your child? I'm very curious to have found someone that has this same symptom. Any help and comment I would appreciate. Thanks for your help. I really am grateful to all of you who are helping and commenting. Did anyone by chance see last night on the discovery channel last night (Wed) - at 7:30pm PST - Tourette's Syndrome show? Murphy's Law - I've never seen this before - was a great show on various tics and how it is affecting and how they have made some changes to deal with it.

My heart goes out to you. I can hear my own husband saying "it's nothing to be worried about". I only fear someone ridiculing my son down the road and the pain of a child and with all the bullying going on these days. I hope that you are OK and I am thinking of you and your daughter. This is a great website and forum where you can reach out to people and those that will truly understand. I am still batting my husband on admitting there could be a possible "problem". Right away he says it's an "allergy"....well, a mom knows, it's not an allergy. I am only in the beginning stages and we have minimal/small 'tics' that are rearing their heads, compared to others I have read about...but I'm still already in a panic and trying to "fix" the problem as quickly as possible. I was so happy the eye blinking went away last year and now i'm so upset and saddened that they came back again and with added items. I say "why?" and this is just not fair!! Hope you are ok and i'll praying for you from the sidelines.

Hi Chemar: I just booked a 15 minute consult for this Friday with a local naturopathic doctor. I was able to find this doctor through a referral/a compounding pharmacy just down from my work. This doctor was just recently featured on TV talking about how parents over medicate their children and should consider a more holistic approach, check blood panels, hormonal levels and also consider an alternative to prescription drugs. Link if interested: http://www.kcra.com/health/25763102/detail.html I feel like I'm on a more organized track now and can work towards helping my son eliminate and subside these minimal symptoms (I know compared to some of the other mom stories/blogs) with a doctor on my side. I am not a doctor and do not feel I can diagnose this on my own and just give my son various levels or amounts of supplements. I feel through this forum I have been informed and appreciate the responses and help. I will keep you guys posted on my progress and send any info I find out as well if anyone is interested. I meant to ask you: have you have heard of in your studies/forums this constant 'heavy sighing, deep breaths' as a symptom from someone else? Or does it just sound like, based on my comments something that would fall in line with what would be considered a 'tic'??

Thank you Chemar and all those who responded to me. I appreciate all of the comments and feedback. I am trying to be a little more wary - my husband says, "oh it's nothing" but then i don't want to look back and wish i had done a little something to start working on these areas of concern. I used the calcium/magnesium supplement last year when the eye blinking habit started (then went away magically in 30 days) and am restarting this supplement again. I took him to the pediatrician last year and got the same old canned response "oh, no big deal, it will go away". I can honestly say I don't foresee big progress on that front. I need to find a naturopathic practioner somewhere in my area as a better option. I feel I can work safely in conjunction on the supplemental front. I ordered the following items yesterday off the Vitacost website (where i originally purchased my calcium/magnesium liquid supplement last year) Source Naturals Taurine Powder -- 3 oz Childlife Liquid Calcium & Magnesium Orange -- 16 fl oz Liquid Health Children's Multi -- 32 fl oz Liquid Health Attention -- 32 fl oz I will get his eyes checked - i promise and will do my best to try and clean up the diet. How do i stop a 4 year old who i hate to admit is a sugar lover??? I'm in trouble, I'm a bad mom, i know!! Other thing I noticed him doing in the last week or so - he is doing "heavy sighing", large breaths like 3 or so within a minute. I am starting to time him and I told my husband - look at these signs...these are not what our other child is doing. He started watching him and said, you are right. I feel all these signs are tied together...eye blinking, sighing and once in a while i have heard the "clearing of the throat" one too many times -for a 4 year old that doesn't have heavy phlegm or like a smoker would do. It's my instinct inside me that says all these are one of some big picture. I'm sure you would all agree. Chemar and others: where do i find a naturopathic practioner? I do not want to self diagnose him or do any of my own mixing of supplements. Thoughts or ideas?? Thanks to those who responded....I really appreciate the info and the help. Oh, one other thing..what does an Epsom Salt Bath do??? I hadn't read about that...please advise.

Hi Chemar: I am trying to be proactive and get as much info as I can as early as possible. I have noticed heavy eye blinking in my 4 year old within the last week. No explanation and just coming out of no where. I would like to know what supplements - name and amount needed if I could get this - to start giving him to see if this helps subside these symptoms. He had eye blinking - not so heavy last year - went away and now back - so realizing this could be a small tic that I need to address. I printed out your list of supplements you reprinted, but am quite overwhelmed. I need a quick and easy list if it exists. What I am looking for is: multi-vitamin - name brand, (is there a specific favorite). I am giving him the calcium/magnesium combo (I had some left over from last year) and will continue to do so. Just looking for an easier list and name brand Ex: I see Taurine mentioned - what name brand do you or forum members recommend? Any info and help would be appreciated. While I am going to put a folder together on all this and keep it handy..exact info would be helpful.