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Hi Everyone. So glad I found this forum. My son's first tic started when he was around 5 - he is 9 now. There are many contributing factors that could have triggered the onset. We suffered from longterm exposure to carbon monoxide and after 7 mos. of the exposure - right before we found out we were being poisoned - his tic started. He also had swine flu and tamiflu months before...so who knows..it was all too much on him. We've both suffered lifelong damages from the exposure - but it's too much to explain here. His tics used to happen every 6 mos. in the beginning after the first one - last a couple weeks and be gone for about 6 mos. I had no idea what they were - involved blinking eyes and making a face with the eyes involved, then breathing, inhaling noises, coughing, throat clearing, squeezing his hands and flinging his head back (the worst one he's had) - or a combination of that and some other upper body movements were his worst. He has also had Strep and I often wonder about PANDAS. I have tried a lot of different things. I've been writing down everything as things change with him - to keep an eye on what's working or not - and what's triggering if possible. A few months ago my friend told me about Elderberry syrup. I bought some - take a teaspoon with a couple tablespoons of grape juice (tastes great if you make it yourself) supposed to be extremely strong immune system booster - used in other countries as a replacement for antibiotics and to treat illness, chronic fatigue, fibromayalgia, etc. I could go on and on. There have been studies on it also - you can look it up. We have been taking a teaspoon or two (or three if getting sick) every day for the last couple of months. I noticed his tics waned down to almost nothing - just a little hand tic when reading or stressed out, etc. Then I had us stop taking the elderberry syrup for a week as we had stomach problems and for some reason I thought it might be linked to it (I had just made my first batch of elderberry syrup from dried elderberries and it was around the same time we got stomach problems which developed). During that week with no elderberry, a new tic developed with him making a strange face and sometimes licking his lips and doing something with his nose. After that week I started giving him (and myself) the elderberry syrup again as usual as we started having some other issues with a cold developing. I realized the elderberry syrup did not cause us any stomach problems. Since I started him up again the tic is completely gone and has stayed gone - he has had no tics that I've seen for the past few weeks or a month maybe. This is a huge huge deal as I have tried all the vitamins, magnesium, supplements, etc. and they haven't done anything noticeable. I will update if anything changes...OH by the way - the tics that he has had over the past 8 months or so have been consistent and nonstop everyday - something happening with them. It has been the LONGEST stretch of nonstop tics as when he first started having tics they would only last a couple weeks and go away for about 6 months. If anyone else tries this - please let us know the results..I would love to know if it helps others!!!!! If you want a recipe to make it yourself, I can give you a link to the recipe. Or else you can buy it from a natural health store, organic store, but some brands have a lot of alcohol in them to preserve them and the taste isn't the best. Depends on the brand anyway. ...So far - the past month to two months - nearly no tics - lately I just give him 1 teaspoon a day. All the normal triggers for him are not triggering them as of now. I am really happy for that. Take care everyone! (Also - since doing this with the elderberry syrup - I haven't been giving him anything more than a regular vitamin and sometimes forget also)