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Greetings everyone, I am brand new here. Does anyone have any diet tips for Tourette’s? Other than eating fish, rye bread, and garlic, I’m kind of at a loss for what to do right now. Thanks in advance, “Tourettesaurus”

My son who is 11 has had Tourette's since he was 4. Both vocal and motor tics and typical waxing and waning symptoms. So far it's been mostly mild at times with only a few severe spells. We're in the worst period ever since he now has a screaming tic for the last several weeks. It's not going away and he can't go to school or be in public right now until it gets better. I am very well-informed (in addition to a mom I happen to also be a physician) and have tried nearly everything out there over the years as far as supplements, diet changes, nutrition, neurofeedback and environmental therapy. Mostly his tics seem to "wane" when they choose to no matter what so it's hard to determine if treatments are working or if it's the natural cycle of improvement. This spell is severe and has lasted much longer than any others and I am looking to more advanced/serious treatments. I specifically would like to know if anyone has experience with Dr. Jeff Lazarus in California? Everything I've read about his treatment is positive on this site and on other reviews. I've talked with him already and he seems to really believe he can help. If he could it would be amazing right now and for the future for my son. The problem is we live in Louisiana and will have to travel there for a minimum of a week. This is expensive. Not to mention his therapy costs THOUSANDS of dollars for just the one week. Based on his estimate it would be over $5,000 up front and that doesn't even include any travel expenses. Also he requires both parents to be present initially which adds to cost and to stress for my son since we're divorced. AND travel would be a nightmare - I can't imagine the plane rides with him screaming every 20-30 seconds. Bottom line - I need to decide if it's worth the stress and the time and the cost. I'm willing to do anything but I don't want to invest this much foolishly either. Thoughts from someone who has specific experience with this doctor or hypnosis in general and might have advice for me to help me decide to take the plunge? Thank you very much in advance. AprilP

We recently had an OAT and IgG tests run for my 6 year old son who has Tourette’s (and OCD / Anxiety). OAT results showed elevated Arabinose, Lactic and Hydroxyhippuric. It also showed extremely low Ascorbic (vit C). The IgG test showed high sensitivity to Wheat. Wheat Gluten, Gliadin and Whey. With moderate sensitivity to Cassein, Cheese and cow’s milk. I would be really interested to hear if anyone who has done similar tests / had similar results and what you have done since them. I’ve not been able to find anyone in the UK who has much background in Tourette’s and the gut/brain connection, so feel we are doing this a bit blind. Our son is taking a magnesium and omega 3 supplement and are now starting a gluten free diet. A herbalist has given us an additional supplement for the yeast infection (using camomile and a few other herbs). I was interested in some of the posts on histamine – and looking at trying to decrease DAO, but don’t really know whether this is also something to try. Any advice, thoughts, input would be great.

Hello - I 'm new and reading Natural Treatments for Ts & Ts. I am finally finding people whose experiences are like ours. My 12 yo has terrible tics. I believe meds are making them worse. Can anyone tell me how long the washout period is and what might help the demonic behaviors that go along with it? I realize I need to find some allergic / food triggers first before I try to convince the dr. Thank you.

Hi everyone I have been reading the posts here for almost a year now, which has been so helpful in many different ways. I finally found the courage to post and share our story. I will really appreciate the input of those who have had similar experiences. I have a 5-year-old daughter who developed tics around May 2018. Prior to that, I do not remember her having any tics, compulsions or repeated behavior of any sort. I will try to keep it brief. She had chickenpox in April 2018. Looking back, she started facial grimacing, touching cars, getting upset because she had to be the one to close the car door quite soon after chicken pox. I did not think much of it. At the beginning of May, she had an accident which resulted in nose trauma. By the end of May, it felt like, overnight she developed face stretching/squeaking noise/snapping jaws. I was devastated as the first thing that came up on the google search was Tourette. Her tics were constantly changing in the combination of multiple motor and vocal tics. We visited a couple of neurologists who all diagnosed her with provisional tic disorder and told me that there was nothing that could be done besides to just wait and see if they last for more than a year. That's when I remembered that when we visited my husband's dad and his half-sister, they had both vocal and motor tics. But they do not talk about it. When I asked if any of them had a diagnosis, his step-mum said that the daughter's tics started when she was young, they even had MRI done and were told to ignore them. I would say her case is quite mild (unless I saw her when she was in the waning period) because she is going through puberty and has simple motor and vocal tics. My father in law, more understandable, he grew up in the 70s and not many professionals knew about Tourette's or diagnosed it, they were just called tics. For that reason, I never entertained the thought of PANDAS as I thought this must be genetic and this was the card my child was dealt beside that her dad is tic free. Fast forward, her tics calmed down by end of October but really came back with vengeance by end of January. By the end of February, she was prescribed antibiotics for her UTI and 90% of her tics subsided. So, I thought, it won't heart if I take her to a neurologist (U.K Based) who is PP friendly. Dr. K told me that decrease in tics after antibiotics would suggest the possibility of PP and she ordered blood tests, nasal swab, throat swab, and perianal swab. She was also put on co-amoxiclav for a month, which reduced her tics farther, she only has throat clearing tic. Although, I am not getting my hopes up as it might just be a coincidence. However, I got the results today and they are the following: A.S.O Titers - 555.3 (normal range is <200) IgE - 73.9 (normal range is <48) Anti-DNase B - 393 U/ml Nasal Swab showed: Moraxella catarhhalis Streptococcus pneumoniae Throat Swab showed: Staphylococus aureus Perianal swabs showed: anaerobes So my question is that even if you have a family history of tic disorder can tics still be initiated by infections triggers? Or this is just a tic expression mediated by infections triggers which are commonly observed in Tourette's population. I am quite confused as they do not seem to differentiate between Pandas tics and Tourette's tics as most academic papers suggest that Tourette's kids have immune issues anyways. Anyone who has a family history of possible Tourette's but has had success with tics by treating infections would be much much appreciated

Has anyone out there heard of Tourettic OCD? I just heard the term today for the first time. Any info appreciated! Thanks!

Hi! I'm so, so happy that I found this forum. Just picked up the Natural Treatment for Tics & Tourettes book a few days ago and I'm so glad I did. I am the mother of a 15 month girl, and absolutely frightened because she is exhibiting multiple motor tics. This all started on January 29th, the same day she learned to walk. I was video taping her to show my folks that she was eating with her fork and noticed she did a few odd head jerks. I caught it on video and showed my parents and husband that day but all anyone was focused on was the amazing miracle of our little one walking on her own. I brushed it off, but had a bad feeling about it. I'm with her 24/7 since I took postpartum time off and now I work from home and take care of her, so I feel like I have a very good grasp of her personality and eccentricities. The head jerk tic continued, and she did it while walking as well, almost as if she was trying to balance herself. It continued, so I made an appointment with her pediatrician for Feb 6th. Her doctor viewed the video and said it was a tic, but nothing to be concerned about, that I should cut out all TV time for a week to be safe. Our daughter doesn't really even watch that much TV. 10 minutes tops a day while I change her diaper or clip her nails. This was when she only had one tic. Still, I did what she said, but more tics started to develop, even with zero screen time. She went through several days of very odd long eye blinks which almost seemed to disorient her for a moment while she either ate or walked. She had a head flailing movement which leaned for left. Others came and seem to go since her first tic Jan 29th. I told our pediatrician via a phone call about all of this on the following Tuesday, and mentioned that I had / have OCD (not as bad as when I was between 4-10 years old). The doctor then quickly made a referral. I was referred to CHLA to see the neurologists there and we went Feb 19th. The two neurologist there (very nice, but sadly not helpful), were really surprised that someone this young was indeed exhibiting tics, but had little advice or ideas as to what to do, other than "wait it out." I also showed them a video of my daughter when she was about 7 months old. We had to get an EEG for her because we thought she might be exhibiting seizures, her head was nodding forward almost like she was about to fall asleep, but with her eyes open. Now the neurologists felt like those were actually tics, at 7 months! Our daughter also fell out of our bed January 11th. It was terrifying and she busted open her nose/mouth, we rushed her to the ER. Everyone there reassured us that there was no need to do any scans, and that the best place for her to fall with on her face. Thank goodness she healed quickly. I asked them about Magnesium supplementation and was told that it's a fairly recent topic in their radar. I told them about her ticcing in her sleep. We bedshare, and now are too scared to sleep train out of fear that it will make her tics much worse. I also told them about her terrible sleep since birth, the fact that she's teething with 5-7 teeth coming in (4 of which are molars), and about her HORRIBLE digestive issues. Our daughter is chronically constipated, no matter how organic and well we feed her. She has a good high fiber diet. None of this seemed to worry them, or seem like read flags. I've read about the potential of Dysbiosis, her possibly being allergic to gluten (so we have cut it out but still haven't seen much of a difference), switched to goat milk which she didn't really like, and stopped all her organic pouch foods that have preservatives. Now we only do cold pressed pouch food which we rarely feed her but they at least have zero preservatives. I'm so sorry to post such a long letter, but I'm very worried. I'm just not sure what the next steps for my daughter should be, should we really wait it out?? I am asking specifically if 15 months is way too early to be exhibiting tics (since 3yo seems to be when the are detected earliest), and does this mean that she has a much higher chance of having Tourettes? Does this mean her chances of these tics becoming chronic higher? I can't find anything in the forums here, or anywhere online about a child this young. We have an appointment with an allergist this following Monday and was hoping I can have some help figuring out which tests specifically he should run. Lastly, are there any Naturopathic/holistic doctors or pediatric nutritionists in the Los Angeles area I can be recommended? THANK YOU so so much, and am so happy to find this forum / the incredible books. It seems like tics/tourettes are so under documented and reported and most doctors just don't know much about it. I can't believe that "wait and see if it goes away," and "if it doesn't there are really strong drugs with horrible side effects we can try," is all most of the medical community is willing to do.

Hello to all of the incredible parents and caregivers on this forum. I am new here and found this forum through extensive google searches, which always brought me back here and to several of you who have posted extremely helpful information. I cannot than you enough for sharing your stories. My 5.5 YO son has TS, vocal and motor tics for a year. We have followed similar diets (GF/DF/Nut Free) to many of you here and he also has severe tree nut allergies with anaphylaxis, which seems to be a common thread with TS kids (allergies/OCD/ADHD). We've been on a quest for the past year to find the right cocktail of supplements + diet to help jumpstart his gut biome to function more efficiently. We have a Neurologist, a Pediatrician and the most helpful, a Naturopath who has been with us every step of the way. The non-western path is certainly the one for us, and we've recently noticed a few changes with the introduction of PharmaGaba supplements (2 chewable per day) which have significantly reduced the motor and verbal tics. He's only been on this supplement two days and I notice a difference. Wishful thinking? Or a strong connection? There is a Mt Sinai clinical trial looking at GABA's role in TS with Dr. Vilma Gabbay which many believe to be greatly reduced, up to 50% in TS children. We just sent in our 23andme genetic test for our son, which I'm hoping will also lead us down a more focused path. Not as easy to get a kid to spit in a tube as I would have thought, but we collected enough to process. So much new research out there about the role of GABA and Histamines in TS - sometimes overwhelming. In some cases, kids are not producing enough Histamine and in others, and over-production of histamine and it's not going to the "right" places which from what I can gather is why DAO can be helpful. We see a lot of allergies, food allergies, environmental allergies in our son. I'm convinced my son is allergic to carpet backing and any plastic products that off-gas. Looking at chlorine and pools as another possible trigger, as he has swim class weekly (inside) which we're worried is compounding his symptoms. Anyone else see major environmental effects on triggers tics - specifically plastics or chlorine? He had a NutraEval test where his MTBE levels were extremely high, which was why we started to look at the carpeting and carpet backing in his room and in the house. My main reason for posting today is about genetic testing. Has genetic testing helped to guide your treatment decisions for how you supplement and/or approach detox, chelation or natural and herbal healing for your TS kids? If so - which genetic mutations or markers were the most common or important markers in TS and how did this impact your treatment path? We get our results back in a few weeks so plenty of time to mine for more information. I'm so eternally grateful to have found this forum. We are warriors, super sleuths, CSI investigators trying to solve this neurological mystery to make life a bit easier for our children and loved ones. I am sending you all a gigantic hug from cyberspace. Your words and wisdom have helped me get through many rough patches. Thank you! Erin

Hi everyone and anyone My 5 year old son has been experiencing both verbal and motor tics on and off for 1.5 years. Each time, just as they peaked, they quickly went away. However a new "episode" started 1 month ago and the tics have been more frequent and more aggressive. We have seen neurologists and had basic allergies tested (he has anaphylactic allergies to ALL nuts and seeds). We are desperate to find an environmental physician or any expert who can help us find possible causes and triggers, anyone more learned than me. I have spent days and weeks reading everything i can find on the topic ...so i know the tests that i think need to be done but i also know this is'nt my specialty... my son deserves someone who has experience with this.. not just me piecing together various bits of data .He is a very sensitive and gentle boy who is getting progressively more anxious as he struggles to deal with his body jerking hundreds of times per day. would anyone have a recommendation for a doctor or functional clinic in London, UK who can help us? a million thank yous in advance

Hi, I posted in the Tourette Forum but haven't heard anything. DS17 has PANS and an underlying TS dx (we think). Tics more or less controlled w/PANS treatment and 2 IViGs, but has remaining loud yelling tic (screaming one or two words, sometimes coprolalia). We are wearing earplugs. Do we just live with this, or is there something else to try?? He's already been on almost every psych. med, still on some, also on Functional Medicine regime for PANS with enough supplemnts to choke a horse. Has CBT therapist. -Has not tried L-carnitine or taurine, which I saw mentioned in past threads - PANS NP just said it'd be too much glutathione with these -CBD oil 25mg./2x day works so-so -Considering deep brain stimulation or tDCS is we can find a place Thanks! ~TJ ds17 (b. 1999): ID, DD, TS, ADHD, OCD, Anxiety; PANS diagnosis March 2014 and treatment started, about five years late. dd22 (b. 1995): neurotypical, IBS, Celiac mom (me): Post-babesia

My son is 14 and we have not had much success with any protocol, keeping in mind he has been reluctant to participate in almost everything. I have been in touch with Dr Mary of Marys Herbs concerning her OCD protocol that pertains to thinning myelin sheath. I am looking for parents that have used her protocols to share their stores and effects the treatment has had. Thank you!

My six-year-old has been blinking his eyes on and off since he was two. Of late, he started stretching his neck, blinking from what was once in a while to every two seconds, and grimacing with his right eye and cheek. Except from this strange throat clearing thing he only does as he wakes up and goes to sleep, he doesn't have any verbal tics. We have him off gluten, artificial sweeteners/colors, and have drastically reduced his TV-watching time for one week so far. We've noticed a bit of improvement but his tics seemed to have spiked up as of yesterday. We want to run the tests that Natural Treatments for Tics and Tourette's calls for but also need proper guidance. Without it, we feel we're shooting darts in the dark trying to figure out his triggers. Can any one recommend a doctor/health practitioner in/near the Tampa Bay area that has dealt with treating tics? Any help would be much appreciated.

Hi, I'm glad I found this forum, seems like a very resourceful forum, so I'm hoping that I can get my questions answered. A bit about myself - I'm a 39 year-old male, diagnosed with TS around 7-8 years old. I have taken meds like haldol and catapress (sp?) and both turned me into a vegetable, as I kept falling asleep, and couldn't focus too well. Since about 11, I stopped taking meds altogether, and my symptoms have been a bit of roller coaster ever since. My main symptoms are facial tics, muscle tensing in the neck and shoulders, forced breathing, and repeating words and/or actions until I 'get it right'. At times, it can be taxing to the body, as i feel muscle aches and pains. I do try and stay active and try to workout on a consistent basis, as well as maintain a healthy-ish diet, which helps. I have been reading a ton of articles about magnesium and b complex to be main supplements to possible assist in reducing TS symptoms. I talked to my doctor about trying supplements, and he told me that it sholdn't be a problem. He recommended that I take between 400-420 mg of magnesium, coupled with a b complex bill for a couple of months and see how I react to that. I also take 5000 IUs of vitamin D3, since i hvae a deficiency there as well. So with that info, I then found that there are different types of magnesium that are better absorbed by the body. Based on several forums and articles, it seems as though magnesium glycinate is a good choice for tourettes. I also discovered that magnesium is easily attainable through natural foods (leafy greens, nuts, seeds), and shouldn't be too hard to reach the recommended 400-420 mg per day. So my question is, is it better to just get your dose from natural foods, or better from the supplement? Also, would it be feasible if i switched it up between natural foods some days and supplement on others? Sorry for all the babble, any thoughts, adivce or recommendations are greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help!

Hello, I'm writing on behalf of my friend whose son 11yo has severe tourette's and ADHD. He's been on all kinds of medication, vitamins and supplements, but none of them has worked on him. The devastated mom recently heard about PANDAS, and her son's pediatrician is skeptical about it(=doesn't know much about it), so she is in a search for a doctor who can test and treat PANDAS in Wilmington NC or somewhere near around. Does anybody have a recommendation? Thank you!!!

Hi. I was told to post here, so I thought it would be best to just repost what I did in the tic/Tourettes forum. Hope that's okay: Posted Yesterday, 08:48 PM First, I want to thank Sheila and the staff for their amazing web site/forums and incredibly helpful book. I am so glad I found these amazing resources!! Please excuse the long post, but it's been a long story.... But it is: My 8 y.o. son started ticcing when he was 4--mildly, no one really noticed but me. Then, they went away within month or two. When he was 6, they came back. He started ticcing more regularly but still mildly and intermittent. In March of 2015 at the age of 7, his tics became so bad it was completely dramatic. Happened two weeks after having an ear infection and being diagnosed with seasonal allergies. Having read about PANDAS, in May, I asked for strep testing after he had the ear infection. His ASO test came back at 707 (normal is up to 200). They put him on antibiotics and he was tic free for two months--May until July. Then we saw a neurologist who said he doesn't have PANDAS because it's so rare and he didn't have the dramatic change, I guess. I still didn't believe it so we had his ASO repeated in July and it was in the 400s. His pediatrician said it was coming down, so the strep was not the reason for the tics. Then in September, I wanted to see the levels again, and it was lower but still in the mid 300s. I pleaded with the doctor to giv ehim antibiotics. She did, Amoxicillin 10 day trial. But no improvement in tics. In November, we had him tested for the last time and it was still in the low 300s. His tics went from eye blinks, to facial rolls, to throat clearing, to grunting--all at once or separately. The grunting has been going on since October. It happens several times a minute. Sometimes several times a second, it seems. Then when I had enough of no one really caring, I wanted to get a final opinion, so we saw a PANDAS expert in December, Dr. Josephine Elia at Nemours/DuPont in Wilmington, DE. She was great but said he didn't have PANDAS because we have a family history of tics (my dad has motor tics but no vocal tics). She did a thorough evaluation of him and said although he didn't have PANDAS, he looked allergic so recommended allergy testing to us. Even though to anyone else, including his parents, he didn't appear the least bit allergic. But I guess they can tell from the color inside your nose (grey?). We also put him on Claritin and then Zyrteck for 6 weeks (as recommended by Dr. Elia), as well as a netti pot. No improvement in tics. We also did a dairy-free trial for two weeks and no improvement. We saw a great allergist in King of Prussia, PA, who has an integrative medicine background. She tested him for 55 allergens and found he's allergic to just about every outdoor allergen, dust mites AND our dog (as well as cats, but we don't have one). We would have never guessed he was allergic as he's never had any symptoms other than seasonal ones in the springtime--no other time. Could this be the allergy coming out in tics? Or is it just a trigger to the tics? It breaks my heart that he's allergic to our 10-year-old dog that we've had since he was a puppy and before our son was born. The allergist said we don't have to get rid of our dog, but that we have to make a lot of changes, that we're prepared to do. Dog out of his room/daily vacuuming/HEPA filter/ dog shampooing weekly. And then the supplements (high end/expensive) Omega 3s, Probiotic, Multivitamin and B-Complex. Tonight he started shoulder shrugging and neck bending. It's bad. Just looking for direction. I'm glad we have some answers in that he definitely has allergies, but I just don't know what to do with this information. Other than treat him with the supplements and see if it helps. Do you think it's the allergies causing the tics? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

Hi everyone, I have had tourettes since i was very little, and I'm now 23. I have been relying on meds mostly since thats only what doctors suggest. However, I recently found out tics are heavily related to food and also magnesium as well. I had been eating quite a lot of junk food recently, and a lot of stress from graduating in the toughest engineering school in the country, as well as looking for jobs, having interviews, my tics have been crazy. My tics has always been pretty bad, but there were some times that it was better. I have a variety of tics i do in the same period, and they keep changing. Anyway, i recently read on this forum about Natural Calm magensium supplement, and i started taking it last night. I also took it this morning. I'm wondering how long would it take to have positive impact on my tics. Of course it might not work for everyone, but assuming it does for me. Btw, I'm taking 3mg resperidone and some amount of clonidine that i don't remember the dose, at night. And i also take smaller dose of clonidine in the morning. I also would love to know if it is possible for a person like me to gradually stop taking meds and control tics with good food and supplements. Ive been on meds since around 10 and I'm definitely worried about myself in a long term if i will have to take them until I'm 80 something. But as i said my tics are worse than average a lot of times, so I'm not sure if i can manage it without meds. I would appreciate your input! Any opinion is welcome. Thanks!

**PLEASE NOTE that this product has been discontinued since 2017 so the thread has been closed to avoid any confusion** Hi everyone. I need help ASAP please. I saw an ad or post on here yesterday regarding a new treatment called Repreeve. I thought I had bookmarked the website, but can't find it anywhere. I'm trying to do research before they send me their product, but need to find their ad, post or website. If anyone knows any of this, please let me know ASAP. Thank you a head of time! *J*

Hello. Can anyone please recommend a good environmental / naturopathic doctor who treats TS in NYC area? After experiencing a number of vocal and motor tics of various severity that have been present on and off for about 2 years, my 6yo son was recently diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome and prescribed Clonidine. The medicine made him very weak and sleepy and disinterested in his surroundings. I could not endure seeing my little boy so sick, and took him off Clonidine after couple of days. It's interesting how the medical community does not have answers to two crucial questions that I am sure every person who has been exposed to TS has been asking: 1. what are the causes? 2. what is the cure? My son's neurologist admitted that giving any type of medicine to treat his TS is like putting a Band-Aid on a wound. The medicine just helps alleviate the severity of tics, but does not really cure the underlying cause of the condition. Is the cover up of symptoms through medicine really worth it, giving the endless list of side effects that cause critical harm to a human body? Looks like the only way to start approaching any type of treatment of this disorder is through the natural therapies. Could someone please direct me to a good medical professional in NYC who is able to treat TS naturally? Any leads would be highly appreciated. Thank you so much in advance!

Has anybody read the book Brain Maker by David Perlmutter? http://smile.amazon.com/Brain-Maker-Microbes-Protect-Brain%C2%96/dp/0316380105/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443638847&sr=8-1&keywords=brain+maker In chapter 9 he talks about a PANDAS (Tourette's?) kid (Christopher)...I'm not sure Perlmutter has a great grasp on PANDAS (since in his mind, it's a form of Tourette's). However, what he had to say was interesting. He treated this kid (mainly tics, didn't mention other symptoms, so maybe he was really TS, not PANDAS/PANS, with an enema enriched with probiotics, with good results. This book does have some interesting points btw...definitely parts I don't agree with (such as he claims it's been proven that vaccines aren't a cause autism), and IMHO he blames too many problems on antibiotics (and not necessarily the infection for which the antibiotics were prescribed, or the Tylenol which was likely given with the infection/antibiotics). But, nonetheless, he brings up some interesting ideas. Also, has anybody heard of using pro-biotic enriched enemas? It's definitely an interesting idea.

Hi everyone! My son suffers from ADHD, Tourettes and OCD. He is on a low dose of stimulant medication (which makes his OCD and Tics worse, but he is unable to function in school without it). We have just started exploring dietary intervention along with supplements (we are researching both now). We know he is sensitive to gluten and dairy, but have been pretty lazy about adhering to a diet. In the past year or so, we have seen a sharp rise in his symptoms so we are motivated to modify his diet. I wanted to get a baseline of his symptoms before the elimination diet. My husband and I have long noticed that his pupils are often very dialated. Much more so than ours in all types of light. Has anyone else experienced that? I thought it might be worth noting in the diet/behavior log. Thanks! This is a fabulous site and has helped us tremendously!

I just want to know if anyone else's child has these weird triggers. Please note my son has Lyme and PANS, and pretty much his only symptoms are severe motor/vocal tics. My son's tics are triggered sometimes by certain words/ideas (feet related, insect related, bodily functions, 'gross' things), the sounds of people coughing/sneezing/blowing nose, the sight of the above mentioned things (can't look at feet, bugs, etc). They *might* make him feel anxious, but what happens is that he has a big tic or a series of tics. For example, yesterday I asked him not to "get underfoot" when he was in the kitchen. B/c of the word 'foot', he had of series of tics - a couple of kicks, swearing, yelping. This happens EVERY time he sees something he "doesn't like". Driving by a billboard advertising a pedicure - tics. Blowing my nose - tics. Joking around and he drools while laughing - tics. A fly on the porch - tics. Learning the digestive system at school - lots of tics. The neuro that we see says it's like a psychological thing. The psychiatrist who assessed him couldn't categorize it into anything; she said 'unspecified anxiety disorder'. Almost a phobia, but not really a full on phobia b/c he can control the tics better when he's at school. Is there something he is lacking? a supplement he should be taking? He's on abx (azith and herbal) and he takes magnesium. I was thinking about trying niacinamide as I've been reading about how it's calming and can also help tics. Any suggestions? Thanks for reading.

The research below, done in Australia shows the dangers of our food supply and why there is an epidemic of diseases with the onset of GMO food both in our meat supply and corn, soy and sugar beets. My mom always wondered why I, and so many of my friends had to have bed rest pregnancies. She use to be a labor and delivery nurse in the 50's and saw miscarriages but mostly early on. Glyphosates were introduced in the 70's and tripled or more in amounts sprayed with GMO foods. Now I have my answer. I met the farmer personally 2 years ago at a lecture. He is 3rd generation and has seen changes first hand in the field and slaughter house. He is passionate about what he has discovered because as he puts it, "I don't know who my kids will marry and I want healthy grandchildren". He presented his findings to the FDA and was ignored. Fortunately he has not given up which led to this extensive research. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/05/18/gmo-foods-inflammation.aspx?e_cid=20140518Z1_SNL_Art_1&utm_source=snl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20140518Z1&et_cid=DM45056&et_rid=524687028 Visit the Mercola Video Library By Dr. Mercola If you're like me, you've probably been asked by many of your friends and relatives why you believe genetically engineered (GE) foods are unsafe. Dr. Judy Carman, one of the few researchers in the world who has carefully and independently evaluated this question, can help you provide answers to your friends and family. Dr. Carman has degrees in both epidemiology and medicine, specifically in the field of nutritional biochemistry in metabolic regulation in relation to cancer, and her research into GE foods provides compelling evidence for avoiding such foods if you value your health, and want to protect the health of your children as they grow older. Her background involves both cancer research, and work as a senior epidemiologist in Australian government, investigating outbreaks of disease. She's currently an adjunct associate professor at Flinders University in South Australia, as well as the director of the Institute of Health and Environmental Research (IHER). Independent GMO Researchers Face Many Challenging Hurdles As one of the few researchers looking into the effects of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), Dr. Carman is no stranger to the many challenges that this kind of research entails. The biotechnology industry has devised a rather clever and sophisticated control system that largely prevents independent research of their products. "Yes, there are a number of problems for anyone doing research," she notes. "They usually center around getting the money to be able to do the research... But you also need to get the materials to test. In this case, it's the seeds from the genetically modified (GM) plants... But it's very difficult to get GM seeds to test. If a farmer wants to buy seeds to plant in the field, the farmer has to sign a technology user agreement, which means [he]... is not allowed to do any research on those seeds, and is not allowed to give them to anyone else to do research on either. You basically have to find some way around that that's legal and we did, but it took us quite some time. Otherwise, you need to go to the industry to ask, 'Pretty please, can we have some seeds?' We did that as well. The conditions placed upon us getting those seeds were such that we couldn't legitimately try and get the seeds from most companies." Besides the hurdle of obtaining the GE seeds in question, protected as they are by rigid patent laws, researchers who venture into GMO research must also be prepared to survive the personal and professional discrediting and abuse that comes with the territory. Truly, anyone who does this kind of research must be close to sainthood, as those who reveal negative findings are figuratively speaking "tarred and feathered" for their efforts. Most must endure being personally attacked and vilified, and many have had their entire career stripped from them in the process. In the last six years, Dr. Carman has survived six different attempts to have her removed from her various university positions, for example. As she notes later in this interview, she was largely "protected" by the fact that she knew this going into the research, and chose to stop receiving a salary and getting paid for her work. Funding is another major barrier, of course. Because most of the agricultural universitiesthe ones that would conduct these studiesobtain their funding from the very companies that make the seeds, they're not interested in research that might jeopardize this lucrative relationship with the industry. In Dr. Carman's case, her team was fortunate enough to obtain the funding for their research from the government of Western Australia. Why Industry Safety Assessments Rarely Reveal the Truth Most pigs raised in American piggeries are fed a GE diet these days; typically, a mixture of GE soy and corn. Howard Vlieger, who is the second co-author of the study, had noticed differences in pigs fed a GE diet compared to those given non-GE feed, and he was one of the primary instigators of the investigation. Dr. Carman explains what got them started: "The two main things he was seeing was an increase in intestinal problems in pigs fed GM feed, particularly an increase in stomach inflammation. He was also seeing things such as a thinning of intestinal walls, and hemorrhagic bowel disease, where a pig can... bleed out from its bowel within 15 or so minutes. The other thing he was seeing was a reduced ability to conceive in the sows (female pigs) and higher rates of miscarriage in female pigs fed GM crops. [in] communities in the United States that still use boars to inseminate their sows... he was also seeing a reduction in the number of piglets born." They decided to take a proper look at these phenomena. Dr. Carman has been an outspoken critic of the protocols used by the genetically modified food industry for their safety assessments, so she was careful about the design of her own study. Generally, industry safety protocols fall into two main camps: What the industry calls a "safety assessment" is really nothing more than an animal production study, Dr. Carman notes. Using significant numbers of animals, they feed some the GE crop, and another group gets non-GE feed. But the outcomes industry researchers look for are typically irrelevant to human health. These studies are basically done to reassure primary livestock producers that if you feed this GM feed to your animals, they will live long enough to get to market and produce a good yield. The second type of studies done are animal studies to determine if a product is going to harm human health. These are quite rare within the GE industry. Here, a very small number of animals are typically used, who are then given GE feed. Sometimes, however, they may not even feed the animals with the GE crop in question. Instead, they might just use the "active ingredient" or in this case the particular plant protein that has been inserted into the plant. For example, a small number of animals might receive a GE protein, and the effects of a singular dose are then noted over the course of seven to 14 days. If the animal (usually a rat) doesn't die, all is presumed to be well. Crazy as it seems, this is sometimes the main safety assessment performed by the industry. Even more remarkable, sometimes, the protein tested doesn't even come from the actual GE plant, but rather from the bacteria they genetically engineer to produce what they hope is the same protein. As Dr. Carman notes, this kind of testing is not going to reveal the long-term health outcomes associated with eating the GE food over the course of years, or an entire lifetime. In Search of Statistical Significance Dr. Carman's team decided to use pigs instead of rats. Adverse effects have already been observed in pigs raised on GE feed, and the digestive organs in pigs are very similar to those in humans. They also decided to feed them long enough for adverse effects to actually be found. As soon as the piglets were weaned, they were randomly assigned to receive either GE or non-GE feed, and they were fed the same feed for their entire commercial lifespan, which is about five months. At that point, the now fully mature (and very large) animals were slaughtered according to industry standards. All personnel involved in the study were blinded, including the veterinarians who performed the autopsies at the end of the study, meaning no one knew beforehand which animals were receiving which feed. Two years ago, the first-ever lifetime animal feeding study involving GE corn revealed major health problems, including massive mammary tumors, kidney and liver damage, and early death. That study, led by Gilles-Eric Séralini, also attempted to separate out the effects of glyphosate. To do so, some rats were given GE corn that had not been sprayed with glyphosate, while others were given conventional GE corn that had been sprayed. Yet another group received glyphosate in water, but no GE feed. All suffered serious health consequences, although the combination of glyphosate and GE corn was the worst. "In my view, he needed to have more animals to be able to find statistical significance," Dr. Carman says. "That's what we did in the pig study. We made sure that we had large numbers of pigs, so that if there was anything biologically significant happening, we would pick it up in the statistics. We had 168 just-weaned pigs. We split them into two groups: one fed GM feed and the other fed non-GM feed. We had 84 pigs per group. That made quite a lot of difference. We were able to do some more elaborate statistics and actually hunt down some hypotheses within the statistics that we used." Pig Study Reveals Significant Stomach Inflammation The sad reality though is that pigs are not just fed one GE crop at a time. As mentioned earlier, they're fed combinations of GE crops, typically GE soy and corn. Dr. Carman used Roundup-ready soy designed to be resistant to the herbicide Roundup, so that the herbicide will only kill surrounding weedsalong with a couple of different GE corn varieties. "We were in effect feeding three GM genes and their protein products to these pigs at the same time," she explains. This was also done in order to simulate the diet of a typical American who, just like pigs raised in a conventional piggery, will eat a variety of different GE corn crops, not just one specific one at a time.Besides the fact that there are different kinds of GE crops, such as Roundup Ready and Bt, more than 37 percent of the GE crops grown in the US are "stacked" gene crops, meaning they're not just resistant to Roundup, they also have one or two Bt genes in it. So eating foods that have two or more genetically modified genes in it is pretty standard in terms of what you'll find in the typical American diet. "These pigs were eating the Roundup-ready gene, its protein product, two Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) proteins, and the proteins from the two Bt genes, which are designed to produce insecticidal proteins. I suspect that the reason why we got such strong stomach inflammation was the interaction between the proteins that the animals were eating," she says. At the end of the study, Dr. Carman's team discovered a significant increase in stomach inflammation in the pigs fed a GE diet. Overall, inflammation levels were 2.6 times higher in GE-fed pigs than those fed a non-GE diet, and male pigs fared worse than the females. While sows were 2.2 times more likely to have severe stomach inflammation on a GE diet, male pigs were four times more likely to get severe stomach inflammation. "And when I say 'severe,' I'm talking about a stomach that is swollen and cherry red in color over almost the entire surface of the stomach. This is not the sort of stomach that you or I would want to have at all," she says. To see the results for yourself, visit GMOJudyCarman.org. The uterus was also 25 percent heavier in sows fed GE feed. Both of these findings were biologically and statistically significant. In their paper, Dr. Carman et.al. discuss the disease states this kind of uterine enlargement might represent. "The two main things that we were looking at here and the two main things that Howard Vlieger flagged as a problemas things that he was seeing in livestock, particularly in pigswere both things we found statistical significance for: (1) digestive health problems, particularly inflammation in the stomach, and also (2) reproductive issues. In this case, we've found this increased uterus weight," she says. Can We Put the Genie Back in the Bottle? I sincerely believe that if you expose people to genetically engineered foods for a long enough time, we're going to see dramatic increases in disease. My own efforts are all geared toward reducing the number of people affected. And my recommendation is clear: avoid GE foods, and for as long as such foods are not required to be labeled, avoid them by purchasing organic foods. Without labeling, that's the only real workaround at your disposal. As noted by Dr. Carman, the chemical technology industry is NOT doing a good enough job ensuring safety before putting their genetically altered products into the food system. Unfortunately, hundreds of millions have already been exposed. And without knowing it, they've fed GE foods of highly questionable safety to their children, day in and day out, perhaps for years already. Have GE crops contributed to the increased chronic disease burden in the US, especially in children? While the industry says "no way," I believe the evidence suggests otherwise. We have to remember that humans live around 80 years, and this gigantic GE food experiment only began in earnest less than 20 years old agoeven less if you start counting from when GMOs became really prevalent in processed foods. Hence, we may be decades away from tabulating the human casualties. This is why long-term safety studies on animals are so critical, as rats and pigs have far shorter lifespans than humans. Silencing Scientific Dissent Dr. Carman's research, as well as Seralini's, really suggests we need to exercise the precautionary principle and avoid these foods. Needless to say, however, the chemical technology companies that created these crops are in the business of protecting and expanding business, not voluntarily shutting themselves down, and they've proven they're willing to go to great lengths to protect profits. Ruining a researcher's reputation and livelihood is nothing in the big scheme of things to a multinational giant like Monsanto. The Corbett Report above discusses some of the less-than-honorable methods used by industry to silence dissentersespecially scientists whose research doesn't jibe with preconceived industry decisions. The list of victimsresearchers who published research detrimental to the industry's bottom lineis long, and growing. As mentioned earlier, the findings from Séralini's lifetime feeding study, which was published in Elsevier's peer-reviewed journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, were an absolute bombshell. The study was, and still is, among the best evidence of the toxic effects of GE foods. Of utmost importance, Séralini's study showed that the major onslaught of diseases really set in during the 13th month of the experiment, strongly suggesting that industry-funded studies have simply been too short for problems to be detected. Consider this: if 24 months of a rat's life equates to about 80 years of your child's, the 13-month mark would be somewhere in your child's early to mid-40s. The industry immediately went on the offensive. Then, in what appears to have been a last ditch effort to get rid of this stubbornly incriminating study, the publisher (Elsevier) simply retracted it, for no other reason than its findings were deemed to be inconclusive. The thing is, inconclusiveness of findings is not a valid ground for retraction... Elsevier's actions caused a major backlash, and has undoubtedly opened more than a few eyes to the reality of censorship of "unwanted" research. Even the National Institutes for Health (NIH) scolded Elsevier in an editorial titled: "Inconclusive Findings: Now You See Them, Now You Don't!" Harassment, Par for the Course Another poster child for researchers harassed to their wits' end is Tyrone Hayes, whose Atrazine research turned his life into a paranoid nightmare. Rachael Aviv told his story in a February 10 article in The New Yorker. In the late 1990s, Hayes conducted experiments on the herbicide for its maker, Syngenta. As reported by Aviv: "...when Hayes discovered that Atrazine might impede the sexual development of frogs, his dealings with Syngenta became strained, and, in November, 2000, he ended his relationship with the company. Hayes continued studying Atrazine on his own, and soon he became convinced that Syngenta representatives were following him to conferences around the world. He worried that the company was orchestrating a campaign to destroy his reputation." Two years ago, his work on Atrazine provided the scientific basis for two class-action lawsuits brought against Syngenta by 23 US municipalities, accusing the chemical technology company of contaminating drinking water and "concealing Atrazine's true dangerous nature." Documents unearthed during these legal proceedings revealed that Hayes' suspicions were trueSyngenta had indeed been studying him as deeply as he'd been studying their toxic herbicide for the past 15 years. What follows reaches a level of creepy that no one should ever have to endureleast of all a scientist who's working to learn and share the truth about a widely used agricultural chemical that has the power to affect all of us, and our ecology. Aviv writes: "Syngenta's public-relations team had drafted a list of four goals. The first was 'discredit Hayes.' In a spiral-bound notebook, Syngenta's communications manager, Sherry Ford, who referred to Hayes by his initials, wrote that the company could 'prevent citing of TH data by revealing him as noncredible...' Syngenta looked for ways to 'exploit Hayes' faults/problems.' 'If TH involved in scandal, enviros will drop him,' Ford wrote. She observed that Hayes 'grew up in world (S.C.) that wouldn't accept him,' 'needs adulation,' 'doesn't sleep,' was 'scarred for life.' She wrote, 'What's motivating Hayes?basic question.'" Who Will You Listen to: Big Money, or a Researcher Working Next to Free? Indeed, what could possibly motivate anyone to undertake work that is bound to alienate them from their peers, smear their personal and professional reputation, and perhaps even ruin their financial future? In Dr. Carman's case, it was a passion for the truth. And a deep concern for her fellow manyour children and unborn grandchildren included. She is a magnificent role model for all of us as she sacrificed her income and endured professional abuse for the sake of the truth. She was savvy enough to understand the risks of such an undertaking. She knew that people in this field tend to be fired from their jobs once they publish negative findings. Publicly shamed and out of work, many of these scientists are prevented from doing any further research. To circumvent this possibility, Dr. Carman took some proactive steps to ensure that backlash wouldn't force her to discontinue her work. "Early on, it became obvious that there was really no money. You couldn't go to a funding organization and ask for money to be able to do research in this area. I was concerned about the possibility of bad health effects occurring in people. I decided that I needed to go looking. I needed to do some proper animal studies to see if there were any adverse effects occurring in animals that might translate into people. I realized I needed to leave paid employment to be able to do it. I'm actually unfunded in this work. At the age of 45, I had enough investment income to be able to do work on this area basically for free, and on very little money. I've been poor now for quite a few years. But it became imperative for me to look; I had a burning question about whether it was safe for people to eat GMO's or not... Most people would probably choose to look after their families [rather] than to continue on with the research. Not only is it very hard to get money to be able to do the research, but you have to be able to survive the abuse you get afterwards, and the threats to your livelihood afterwards. In fact, a lot of people who work in this area are people who are retired from paid employment, because once again, they can't be threatened with losing their livelihood." Follow the Money... Ever since the introduction of genetically engineered seeds about 20 years ago, the market for these chemical-dependent crops have spawned a multibillion dollar industry. Funding for the development of more varieties of GE crop varieties has come primarily from the privately-owned pesticide industry itself. Over the last 15 years, conflicts of interest within science have exponentially increased, and at this point, it's blatantly obvious that financial conflicts of interest play a major role when it comes to what research is done; what gets published, and what doesn't. Virtually all of the research done on GMOs is performed by the industry itself or scientists funded by them either directly or indirectly through grants to the agricultural universities. The results, therefore, are predictable. Few are those who have both the right qualifications and the willingness to "bear the cross," as it were, that seems to come standard when you're investigating GMOs as an independent researcher. My sincere gratitude goes to Dr. Carman for her personal sacrifices to get this all-important work done. Without such research, we'd remain clueless as to what these foods might be doing to us in the long term. With it, we can make far more educated guesses about the real ramifications of this massive, unannounced human experiment, and decide for ourselves if we really want to partake in it or not. My recommendation? Avoid it, as best as you can. Vote with Your Pocketbook, Every Day The food companies on the left of this graphic spent tens of millions of dollars in the last two labeling campaignsin California and Washington Stateto prevent you from knowing whats in your food. You can even the score by switching to the brands on the right; all of whom stood behind the I-522 Right to Know campaign. Voting with your pocketbook, at every meal, matters. It makes a huge difference. By boycotting GMA member Traitor Brands, you can help level the playing field, and help take back control of our food supply. I-522 poster I encourage you to continue educating yourself about genetically engineered foods, and to share what youve learned with family and friends. Remember, unless a food is certified organic, you can assume it contains GMO ingredients if it contains sugar from sugar beets, soy, or corn, or any of their derivatives.

Researching around I found this very informative. Seems to me we have rendered the innate immune system dysfunctional. What should become dormant is creating havoc neurologically. Depending on the age of onset, infants-Autism, young children- PANDAS/PANS, elderly-Alzheimers. Looks like it's ALL the same thing! http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201110/could-alzheimers-dementia-be-caused-virus

This is one of the best articles I have read summing up the medical issues wreaking havoc on our children neurologically. It also goes hand in hand with the articles posted here in regards to missing gut biomes found in Autism, (ASU article) and the good strep bacteria in the throat, (NIH article) in the prevention of strep for PANDAS families. The author also talks about Gluten and Dairy as inflammatory contributors but not necessarily from an allergic response. The article gives me so much hope that we are finding answers. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/04/17/psychoneuroimmunology-inflammation.aspx?e_cid=20140417Z1_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20140417Z1&et_cid=DM42653&et_rid=490528222

Hi I have a 7 year old. Last year in November, he developed some vocal tics. These eventually evolved into coprolalia. He was put on guanfacine, zolofot and risperdal. That improved things and the only thing that remained were some grimaces. In an attempt to eliminate his tics and move away from these powerful drugs, we've tried a whole bunch of alternative treatements and dietary changes. - put him on a gluten free, dairy free, reduced sugar diet. - We have him on a bunch of supplements - Ca, Magnesium, Methionine,etc. - for a while, he was on a very strict, candida free diet and diflucan and probiotics Given that all of the above did not get rid of his grimaces, our suspicion turned to PANDAS. We spoke to a Pandas specialist and now have him on a dose of antibiotics with a steriod (prednisone). Three days into this treatment, we noticed a significant change in his behavior - a lot of rage and frustration. After about 5 days, we also noticed that his vocal tic had started to come back. Today is the 6th day, we've stopped prednison (after reading online that it is a significant tic triger). His grimaces are much reduced but his vocal tic is back and we are besides ourselves. The nightmare has returned.How long till Prednisone is flushed out of my son's system? And will his tics subside (or are they now at a "new normal")? Has anyone experienced the above before? Are his vocal tics really prednisone or just a herx reaction - is this just a strep die-off?Could his tics be the antibiotics?I've read that TS is usually inherited and there is no neurological conditions that exist in our family - or even the extended family...so if this is TS then it is extremely strange...any thoughts on this? I forgot to add that we did Lyme testing through IGeneX. Here is what we got... IGenex TES : NEGATIVE CDC / NYS TEST: NEGATIVE 18 KdA -- **23-25 kDa -- 28 kDa -- 30 kDa -- **31 kDa IND ** 34 kDa -- ** 39 kDa IND **41 kDa ++ 45 kDa -- 58 kDa + 66 kDa -- ** 83-93 kDa -- Does this indicate Lyme? Is it possible that his tics are also worse because of die-off (herx) reaction? Your help and advice is much appreciated.