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Hello. My son, Bailey, who has just turned five years old, popped up with tics right after the holidays. He is rolling his eyes w/a blink and sometimes and blink with a slight head turn. I first noticed it when he was watching tv. I do not think the onset is coincidental as far as timing...he has been under a lot of stress - we've moved twice in the past 8 months, he started a new pre-school, and of course, the holidays. He also has two-year old twin sisters, which stress everyone out.

 

I've been very distraught the past week, and have had ups and downs. I'm thankful for finding this board, and it has offered me hope. Our pediatritian wants us to go to the neurologist on Feb 1st, so I will. I will not, however, do drugs for Bailey. I am convinced that with his stress, and inadequate diet over the past 6-8 months, it has taken a toll and is coming out in the form of a tic. He has also been very sick since early October - several rounds of pinkeye, one round of bronchitis, and he now has full sinuses and a bad cough, with nasal drip.

 

I don't know if this is PANDAS, but I do think that based on what I've read from several posts - there are several things connected....1) stress and nutritional deficiences 2) food sensivities and allergies 3) yeast overgrowth and overload of digestive system (he's had a lot of sugar the past several months at his new preschool).

 

Three days after I noticed the tics, I started him on some flaxseed oil, liquid mega B-vitamin complex, and chewable calcium and magnesium supplement. He used to be on Reliv (a supplement) and did very well with it but stopped taking it around August. I can't force the dang stuff down his throat now, though I wish I could.

 

I have removed milk (just started yesterday). I think that may help his sinuses. And, I'm starting to watch artificial flavorings and colors. I need to do some major shopping. This is all so overwhelming. It has put stress on my marriage. My husband is frustrated and just wants to "fix it" as I do. I recognize these things take time, but I am very scared. It's been a week now that he's had this and they haven't gotten better or worse. Foolish me, I had kind of hoped to "cure him" by the time his neurologist appointment comes.

 

We have very little family history of tics (my husband's cousin has one) and no history of tourettes. I did have allergies as a child.

 

Bailey's behavior has also changed...more quarrelsome towards his sisters, and rigid and less adaptable to change....although I wouldn't call it OCD yet, he has to have his room a certain way, hates it when his sisters get in, etc.

 

Any advice on what else I can do? We are also taking him to a child counselor for the first time tonight...maybe he need to vent some built-up frustration...it can't hurt, right?

 

Does anyone really believe this can go away completely? I am so afraid it will affect the rest of his childhood and adolescent life!!

 

Thanks for any encouraging words or advice in advance. If you want to e-mail me directly, it is amcleannecc@yahoo.com.

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Angibrandy,

 

Most parents here are proof that you can reduce tics through immune system building and elimination of triggers. We have a few long summary threads on this that you can review.

 

Since the tics dramatically increased over vacation and you first noticed during TV, I am bumping the TV/computer survey thread for you. Kids often watch a lot of TV or play a lot of computer over vacations, so there is a good chance that was a major factor.

 

Photosensitivity develops/worsens over time, so this may not have been an issue before. TV/Computer CRT monitors have an invisible light flicker, plus some of the graphics/flashing is a trigger in itself.

 

I recommend bribing your child to do 'no screens' for a week--I bet you will see a major difference. 15 of 17 parents who tried this saw substantial improvement. It is much easier to do with a young child than a pre-teen/teen.

 

After this, you can deal with creative ways to do supplements and underlying health issues. For example, they have cal/mag chewables, and I think a liquid zinc. Omega3's in strawberry capsules... Over time, the supplementation, or dealing with yeast/mercury, is likely to help for the long-term. (If he had antibiotics recently, it can set off yeast).

 

For us, the screen restriction (later modified with LCD viewing) was easier than getting my son to swallow vitamins. Though over time, we did the supplements because ultimately they are healing and reduce the photosensitivity.

 

Claire

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Angibrady,

 

It does sound from what you have described that you will have success with diet and as Claire mentioned, limiting screen viewing. With the stress of the moves and the high sugar diet, it sounds like there may be yeast overgrowth as you have suspected. It is great that you recognize the problem and are going in the right direction to fix it. Even though we all want a quick fix, please be patient and understand that it may take some time to cleanse his system before you see results. A good antifungal may help or at least a probiotic to help replenish good bacteria in the intestine.

 

My son had severe tics last year and re treated an overgrowth of yeast with Threelac and had great success.

 

I am sure you have read through old posts but if not, this is the best way to find answers. As you will see, each child's imbalance is individual and different treatments are necessary depending on the imbalance. Calcium/magnesium, B6 and Zinc are common deficiencies, as well as the fatty acids.

 

I know what a stress it can put on your marriage but try to keep that stress between the 2 of you so that your son does not feel it. This can only compound the problem. I had the hardest time at first convincing my husband that the natural treatment would work. Now he is my biggest supporter. Have patience.

 

Heather

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Angibrandy,

 

Just a quick note - my son was diagnosed with PANDAS in August. My advise since you said he has been sick since October is that you get a throat swab and the blood work done to see if it indicates PANDAS. If he does have PANDAS it is important to get on antibiotics to get rid of the infection. My sons tics improved 90% on day three of antibiotics, although he did have a very sudden onset/exacerbation of tics - although looking back they did increase during the previous month, he had always had a chronic cough. None of these tics had impacted him in any way. The tics that occurred when he was diagnosed with PANDAS were unbelievable. No actor could imitate the amount of movements he was doing by the second all day long, it was exhausting and heart breaking to watch. The other thing you wrote which caught my eye was that your son's behaviour has changed. The week prior to the explosion of tics it was like my son had a personality change, lacking empathy, nothing was right, clothes did not fit right ( he had always had a minor issue with clothes - tags had to be cut out) but during this time none of his regular clothes fit right, nothing seemed to be going his way. Now that we seem to be get getting things under control this is no longer an issue, he wears all sorts of clothes ( tags still need to be out) he is his usual sympathetic self and is generally a very happy, content kid.

 

Talk about stress, 2 moves, three kids under the age of 5, 2 of whom are 2 year old twins. YIKES. I hope you have some support.

 

From what I have learned over the last few months, and especially the last month from this forum I believe in many or dare a I say most cases this can completely go away, and if it is not completely gone it will be so minimal that only you notice it. There seem to be many transient tic disorders that kids outgrow( I realize this is not the case for all cases but it seems even the stuff I have read about tourettes kids generally get better) The other thing I learned (although it seemed to take me a while) is that regardless of the diagnosis a tic is a tic and the issue seems to be the immune system ultimately and that healing the immune system heals the brain etc. In my case we needed the antibiotics to prevent infections as well - I am so sorry if this is way to simplified for all of those who know so much more than I do, but in the end it seems we all end up treating our children with similar supplements, or restricting diets, restricting tv, and from all that I have read there is an incredible success rate. Those who stick around and continue to post seem to because they have seen such success and want to help others learn more about this alternative medicine, those who come and ask a question or two and then disappear, I like to think it is because they are no longer in a crisis situation as things have resolved themselves in some satisfactory way. (makes me feel better to think this way anyway)

 

Certainly I know little about all the tests etc, Claire and Chemar seem to have an answer for every possible question you may have. And Ronna knows way more about PANDAS than I do. I just wanted to say that I do believe that this is an incredible forum full of incredible information. I know how hard it is to deal with this along with a young family, I was a basket case at the beginning. The good thing is your son is young and his friends will probably not notice his tics and he will probably not remember this little 'blip' in the continuum of his life. My son has been on supplements for only a week and we already feel he looks so much healthier. I have posted a lot over the last few weeks under the New Here post so I won't repeat myself here. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer as best as I can. I am a regular reader of this forum now!

 

Take Care and Good Luck.

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Alison,

 

I think we all went through the "basket case" stage as you have recently. Last winter before Christmas I had to take my son for drives to get him to sleep at night as his whole body was heaving with snorts. He didn't attend school and would barely even go out of the house as he was embarrassed with everyone looking at him. I spent so much time just crying after he went to sleep and was so scared this would not go away. You have found the right path very early in the journey so I am sure it will be uphill from here (with perhaps a few bumps in the road).

 

We had moved location which was extremely stressful on my son (he had a great group of friends), we were living in a tiny apartment since our new home wasn't ready for us, which was causing stress on the marriage and both kids were having trouble settling into the new school. On top of that my son had a poor diet (very limited choices) and too much sugar. During the preschool years he had been on antibiotics a few times for ear infections. You need to be careful with the overuse of antibiotics as this kills the good bacteria and can lead to an overgrowth in yeast as well. The doctor suspected PANDAS and he was put on an antibiotic and by Day 8 he was snorting so bad, I stopped it. Looking back I believe he was reacting to the colouring agent and flavouring as that turned out to be a big trigger for him as we found out later.

 

I believe that his tics were entirely environmentally induced as there are no other tic disorders in the family. You are right in concluding that it is an imbalance of the immune system and correcting it or boosting the immune system will eliminate or at least decrease the tics. An excellent reference book is "Children with Starving Brains" by Dr. Jacquelyn McCandless. It is subtitled the treatment for autism but really covers the whole spectrum of neurological disorders. I have referred to this book often during my treatment.

 

Anyway, right now my son's tics are gone entirely and have been for a few months. They have resurfaced a couple of times during the treatment but it was because of a change in supplements or more recently I believe he had a regrowth of intestinal yeast. I believe that this happened because we don't have the metals entirely out of his system which disrupts digestion and can cause an overgrowth of yeast. He was also eating more sugar than he should have been. The absence of tics had me become too slack in watching his diet.

 

I do not believe my son would have outgrown this naturally as his tics were severe. I believe that the antifungal treatment and subsequent treatment with Cal/Mag, B6 and Zinc are what helped us through. I do believe his imbalance still exists and that it will take more time to heal but we are keeping the tics eliminated with the supplements. The goal is to be supplement free once we have boosted the immune system to where it should be. A lot of patience is needed and a true belief in the treatment to keep at it as there may be ups and downs.

 

Keep us posted.

 

Heather

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Hi,

 

I got the above posts mixed up and addressed my post to Allison when really I was addressing issues for angibrady. I was thinking the post above mine had been from angibrady and then I read it again and realized it was from Allison. Anyway, sorry for the mix up and hope it is helpful to anyone out there.

 

Heather

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Thank you so much for everyone's response. I was so discouraged this morning when he got up as his tics were worse than yesterday. So far we have done the following:

 

1) removed milk (two days ago)

2) Started EFAs, Vit B complex, Calcium & Magnesium

3) Started probiotic (yesterday)

4) removed sugar (as much as possible) and artificial additives (as much as possible)

 

Is it normal to see things worsening before they get better?

 

I am so frustrated and scared this will be a lifelong thing...help!

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Hi Angibrandy,

 

I am in no way an expert - but have done some research into the getting worse before better phenomena which seems to be called the "healing crisis" it can happen but does not always. I started supplements a few weeks ago and within a few days my son was so much worse, there was probably also a viral infection at play but it certainly scared me off the supplements, I went off them too until he was seeming better then tried to add the vitamins a little slower ( hard to do) and I also started with 1/4 of the amount being recommended, did that for a few days then increased to 1/2 etc. The other thing I have always noticed with my son's tics is that they always seem worse just before they get significantly better, it is like day by day things are getting better then out of the blue the get significantly worse then the next day that tic is gone. Just my experience.

 

I know the fears you are speaking of as I have had and still have them at times. It is so frustrating, it seems so unfair. I just wish we could wake up and this would not be an issue anymore. It has consumed me since August.

 

You did not mention if you have started the no screens - I REALLY recommend it. Hard to do thought with three small children - but worth the effort.

 

Hang in there and I look forward to hearing how your son is doing in the days ahead.

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angibrandy, With regard to the worse before better, from the "no artificials" perspective, Yes, it is Very common for the symptoms to get worse before they get better. We call it the detox period. For some it can last a week, for some it can be longer. However, once that period is over, the difference can be like night and day. I have seen so many stories of folks who have removed the artificials from their diet, who have seen the detox, then a tremendous improvement.

Please hang in there and keep a positive thought.

Jeff

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Guest Guest_efgh

As all of them mentioned TV is one of the biggest culprits ... A good night sleep is also essential for the tics to be minimal during the day.

 

Heather,

 

Quite some time since you posted. Good to see your posts. Glad to know that your son is doing well. Is he on NO TV these days or does he watch TV?

 

My son was doing very well with his supplements and no TV and good diet. Now , I let him watch a LOT of TV during the holidays and AGAIN I can see his tics resurfacing.. Planning to cut down his TV from tomorrow to see the difference. I am hopeful - anyway lets see.

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EFGH,

 

I have not had a lot of time to post lately but always read every post. Glad to see you posting again too. You didn't post much in the fall either.

 

Hope your son will do better with eliminating the TV.

 

My son is watching unlimited TV right now and plays the gamecube as well. The tics still remain gone and he seems unaffected by the screens. I pray to God that this keeps up. I do believe there was a regrowth of yeast but the magnesium, B6 and zinc have kept the tics away.

 

He has had some tingling in the fingers and I believe this is because of a regrowth of yeast. There were several other signs of yeast regrowth and I have read that tingling is a common symptom for yeast. We are treating for it right now again with Threelac and this time I am going to keep using a maintenance dose of an antifungal so that it doesn't happen again...or at least do it every once in awhile. I haven't done the Threelac consistently since last January and his diet was creeping back to too much refined sugar.

 

Heather

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Heather and efgh,

 

I have read many of your old posts about the tv, my son has an immediate reaction to watching tv and we have been doing no screens for a few weeks. Tics are still present but minimal. ( he was diagnosed with PANDAS in august) They have been minimal in the past but the minute he watches tv the tics start often by the second and the minute he looks away from the screen they stop. If you have not read any of my posts on New Here then the other point to make is it does seem that he has photosensitivity as he reacts immediately in bright flourescent lights, again ticcing by the second when he had been almost tic free, they decrease once out of the store. Just wondered if either of you tried an LCD tv and if so if it made a difference. We are buying one to try it out but was just curious what your experiences have been. It seems way too hard and unfair in a way to have the kids watch absolutely no tv ever. Although I realize there is limited benefit for kids watching tv it certainly gives me time to get dinner ready!

 

Thank,

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Alison,

 

Presently my son is not ticcing even while watching TV so I didn't end up buying the LCD. We did have to eliminate TV for awhile though as it definitely was a trigger. We have an LCD computer monitor and we would rent DVD's to play on it. He did not react to this monitor but did react to the regular TV screen so in answer to your question, yes, the LCD monitor was better for Will at the time when TV watching was a concern.

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