JCWolfe

Yeah, I guess you're right. You would still need the carnosine. But if you reduced the amount of dietary glutamate maybe the 5% would diminish. Worth a try. I bought some carnosine over the weekend and have been taking 500 mg (Source Naturals). with meal 3 times a day. It does seem to be helping. I'll have to give is some time before I can tell. It's hard for me to keep tabs on it because I always twitch when I think about twitching (muscle memory perhaps) so I have to give it a period of time before I can reflect enough to tell if it has been happening less. Since it's mostly just my eye twitch that happens regular (and possibly throat clearing) it's not as obvious as a hole head movement or barking for instance. My chin jutting is something that I'm very good at controlling. I think because it's more conspicious. Most of the time it just feels very tense and from time to time I stretch it out by moving my chin up. So it's all kind of subtle and hard to gauge. I'll let you know how it goes. In your initial post, you said you could go more into the biology of why carnosine is helping. I'd be interested in hearing more on that. I'll do a search myself on glutamate and apoptosis and see what I can dig up. Thanks again for the info. Jason Jason: Thank you for the very interesting website link! I will certainly check it out. I would agree with you that many neurological disorders (epilepsy, TS, autism,...) are different expressions of similar patterns of neurolopathology. While I am no medical expert, I have (as you probably do) an insider's insight into my brain. When I try to educate myself on the neuroscience, something clicks inside! As you know, glutamate is one of the excitatory neurotransmitters, which if not adequately captured by receptor sites, can cause toxicity to neurons, inducing them to commit suicide (apoptosis). Apparently, Carnosine can protect the neurons (by simulating the receptor sites?). A related observation, whenever I eat at a Chinese restaurant that uses MSG (mono sodium glutamate), the symptoms get worse! Of course, I am also bothered by cold&dry weather, mold, strong perfumes, etc. So, it must be the glutamate in the brain, not just the diet. From your description, you seem to have a relatively mild case of TS (good for you!). I don't know if the shallow breathing is characteristic of all TS individuals, but is unmistakable in my case, especially in the throes of an episode. If I take a deep breath (in fact, several) I find that the tics quieten down. This is a problem because the lungs won't cooperate but go into a spasm. In fact, I have found some of the yogic breath control techniques (pranayama) to be useful as tic management tools that can moderate the intensity of an episode. These are typically useful for adults (not suitable for little children); so I haven't discussed them here (there are very few TS adults on such forums, I guess). ......Perhaps avoiding the glutamate and aspartate foods would take you that last 5% or make it so that you don't need the carnosine. Carnosine IS what is providing the 95%, so I'd still need it. Also, its anti-aging effects are palpable. Yes, it is expensive (unfortunately). But, you can get it for under $20 (60 cap, 500 mg each). That is $1 per day, not too bad. Good Luck and keep us posted, Firefly. 9187[/snapback]

Thank you for your reply Chemar. I was going to wait till I got more responses before posting but they never came. Guess maybe it's not something anyone else notices, besides you and your moon cycle. I've seen you post about that before and it sounds interesting (and weird at the same time which always gets my attention!) Any thoughts on how the moon cycle could effect tics? I've heard of circadian rhythms (I think it's called) in regards to health. Maybe it's along those lines. The guy who asked me was trying to compare it to epilepsy which he (and I) were theorizing that epilepsy is just a different symptom of the same cause of tourette's. That is to say they are both conditions of the same issue because they are so similar. Anyway epilepsy seemed to be worse one time of year or another. So he was wondering if tourette's was. Thanks for your input. Jason

Hello everyone. I'm Jason. I am 31 and have had Tourette's since I was 14. Eye tics constantly, occassional chin jutting (possible vocal tic of throat clearing though that may be from smoking). I have been reading the boards for awhile but haven't posted or registered till today. I have learned quite a lot from your posts and would like to thank everyone for their info. I have not done testing yet as I can't afford it yet, but plan to go to an environmental doctor or DAN doctor when I have the cash for lab tests. As of now, I'm trying dietary approaches and supplementation to some extent (though without the testing it's a crap shoot and a waste of money). But we do what we can right? The important thing is to have faith. Faith that I'll find something eventually that will work. It took me a long time to understand that this isn't some psychological thing. That there's not something "wrong" with my mind. Physically or psychologically. I now fully believe that it is caused by something I'm putting in my body (toxins, wrong foods, parasites) or something I'm not putting in my body (vitamin/mineral definciency etc...). In fact I believe that all ailments are caused by this. And this site gives me much hope and faith that I will eventually find help. Anyway, what I wanted to ask is if different seasons are worse for tics for you (or your kids)? I can't really think of whether mine is or not. It is worse at times but I don't have the objective perspective to see it. But I figure you moms and dads probably can tell with your kids. Is it worse in summer or spring? Winter? A researcher I'm talking too asked me and I'm not sure. I can't figure it out doing a search here or on the net. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Jason

Hi Firefly. I'm very interested in trying carnosine. I'm 31 years old, had Tourette's since I was 14. Diagnosed a couple years ago (by myself and then confirmed by a neurologist). I have been avoiding foods with high glutamate levels for awhile believing that tics are your brain's way of trying to clear glutamate and aspartate out of itself. This comes from a theory of epilepsy which I think is very similar to Tourette's. Both are ways the body is trying to heal itself. I got this theory from dogtorj.com a veterinarian and celiac who has done massive research. It's a lot of info, if you go to his site. The G.A.R.D. (Glutamate Aspartate Restricted Diet) is where he talks alot about this as well as his Epilepsy page. Though you may have to read "The Answer" to get the underlying theories. It's all fascinating to me. I have not tried this diet for long enough to tell if it will help the tics (I have eye tics mostly with chin jutting occassionally and possibly a vocal tic of clearing my throat though that may be caused by smoking) but I do feel a hundred percent better already (been about a month). Others here may be interested in this site too. Sounds like the carnosine may work on similar lines. Perhaps avoiding the glutamate and aspartate foods would take you that last 5% or make it so that you don't need the carnosine. Though I hear it's very beneficial for rejuvinating cells (the anti-aging aspect) and as an antioxidant. But it's very expensive. I will try it as soon as I can free up the money (most of which goes to organic food ) . Have you done much research on the underlying science of why carnosine works for you? I'd love to hear more about that if you have any info. I already know about the glutamate connection (proposed by dogtorj) but have not heard of hypoxia. I'll look that up. I don't know if suffer from bronchospasms or not. I always have shallow breathing and my tics are pretty constant but mild. Aggravated by the usual (stress, caffeine, etc...). Love to hear back from you. Jason