How long before tics subside?

[4Jack]

My son with Tourettes was just dx with Lyme. He still had the bulls eye so its early stage 1 or 2. His tics went through the roof about 3 weeks ago. He is on doxycycline as he is allergic to penicillan. Does anyone have experieince with how long before his tics will subside?

[NewBeginnings]

Hi,

 

How long has he been on doxy and how old is he? My son is also currently on doxy and he's been on it for 4 weeks. He had completely stopped ticcing before he was on doxy. When he started on doxy his tics came back. I think the time frame for tics subsiding will depend on each individual.

 

I have noticed that increasing his magnesium intake and more frequent epsom salt baths help to calm his tics and twitches down a lot. It may be something to consider.

[4Jack]

He is 9 and has been on doxy for just 3 days. Do you think it was the doxy that made your son tic? Does he have Lyme? My son's tics started to increase 3 weeks ago, which I assume is due to the Lyme disease.

I do give him Epsom salt baths and they do help a bit. I have also been using a mag/zinc cream for several months. I also have been giving him a steam shower as I read that the bacteria do not like it when the body temp is raised. The heat is also supposed to ehelp with absorbtion of the antibiotics.

 

Thanks for your suggestions!

Edited October 26, 2010 by 4Jack

[NewBeginnings]

My son had tics before the doxy. That was actually his first symptom. His tics subsided over the summer while on another abx but a lot of his other symptoms remained. When we got the positive Myco p test, we put him on Doxy bc he is allergic to zithromax and his tics restarted. All of his other symptoms are very much improved, but doxy did bring out the tics.

 

I don't know if its directly related to the abx or if the doxy has shaken things up in him and that's why they started again. And yes, he does have Lyme. Late stage......

 

I'm hoping your Dr or pharmacist warned you about sun sensitivity while on doxy. Has he had any upset stomach from it? If so, I find that it helps us to take it with a ginger root capsule and right in the middle of a meal.

[PacificMama]

Hi,

 

Just to clarify, are you saying that your son only had tick bite in the past few weeks?

And that he has only been on abx (doxy) for a few days?

 

Not sure how familiar with lyme you are, but when starting abx treatment for lyme it is quite common to have a herxheimer (herx) reaction. This means that symptoms temporarily increase before getting better.

 

But yes, also the tick bite itself would increase your son's pre-existing tic disorder.

 

Is it possible that your son could have had lyme for much longer than the past few weeks? Perhaps the bullseye is due to recent tick bite, but in reality he had lyme before this? Or, sometimes a rash appears long after the initial exposure. I ask this because of his tourette's diagnosis -- perhaps it was lyme all along?

 

Are you under the care of a good lyme doctor?

 

Mary

 

My son with Tourettes was just dx with Lyme. He still had the bulls eye so its early stage 1 or 2. His tics went through the roof about 3 weeks ago. He is on doxycycline as he is allergic to penicillan. Does anyone have experieince with how long before his tics will subside?

[4Jack]

Hi Mary,

My son was dx with tourettes 1 year ago but has had tics for 4 years. His symptoms have waxed and waned but they recently spiked about 3 weeks ago. We just found the bulls eye rash 5 days ago and he has been on doxy for a few days. His tics have not gotten worse since the doxy ( no sign of herz reaction yet) but they have not improved either. I'm hoping to see a quick response to the doxy but have not seen any change.

I am not yet seeing a Lyme doctor but have been on ilad.org and am reading up. We have spent so much time building his immune system and trying numerous alternative therapies for the TS and am crushed that we now have a new pathogen to deal with.

 

Thx to NewBeginnings for the ginger tip. The doxy is upsetting his stomach but have found he does best first thing in the am, 1 hour before breakfast and right before bed. Our rx says to take on an empty stomach.

 

Any advice on finding an llmd?

 

Lisa

[NewBeginnings]

They always put "take on an empty stomach" on doxy bottles. Supposedly it is absorbed better that way. I have never met anyone that could tolerate doxy on an empty stomach. Also, do not lay down within 2 hours of taking Doxy. It can cause bad acid reflux and can burn the esophagus. It will take some time before this happens, but its miserable when it gets to that point.

 

Avoid having dairy at the same time you are taking doxy as well as supplements. They need to be taken a few hours away. I try to take ours 4 hours away if possible. Dairy and magnesium will interfere with absorption.

 

Pacifmama has a lot of good points. I thought my son's tics coming back were a herx at first as well, but he's been ticcing for the entire time on doxy now.

 

Is he on any kind of yeast prevention? I recommend liver support as well. Just trying to share what we've learned along the way with Doxy....hope this helps some.

[4Jack]

They always put "take on an empty stomach" on doxy bottles. Supposedly it is absorbed better that way. I have never met anyone that could tolerate doxy on an empty stomach. Also, do not lay down within 2 hours of taking Doxy. It can cause bad acid reflux and can burn the esophagus. It will take some time before this happens, but its miserable when it gets to that point.

 

Avoid having dairy at the same time you are taking doxy as well as supplements. They need to be taken a few hours away. I try to take ours 4 hours away if possible. Dairy and magnesium will interfere with absorption.

 

Pacifmama has a lot of good points. I thought my son's tics coming back were a herx at first as well, but he's been ticcing for the entire time on doxy now.

 

Is he on any kind of yeast prevention? I recommend liver support as well. Just trying to share what we've learned along the way with Doxy....hope this helps some.

[4Jack]

Thank you, these are all good points. I will try to give him his second pill after school so it doesn't interfere with his mag and other supplements.

He does take a good probiotic but I am also considering an anti-yeast diet. We had recently started a GF diet so I am worried about more restriction.

I had printed out the ilad.org guidelines for Lyme so I will look into additional supplements. We were doing most of them anyway but I need to add co-Q10.

Edited October 26, 2010 by 4Jack

[sf_mom]

Just a reminder: The TICS can flair for an extended period of time when treating Lyme. Our son has congenital Lyme (previously treated for PANDAS) and was having back to back TIC free days prior to starting Lyme treatment protocol. It took him over 9 weeks of Lyme treatment to return to baseline. During that 9 weeks we saw a huge resurgence of TICs. So, much worse for an extended period of time. We anticipate our son being on antibiotics for at least another year.

 

I would have to agree with Pacific Mom and investigate finding a good LLMD to unravel to true underlying issues that might have resulted in your son's TS diagnoses.

 

-Wendy

Edited October 27, 2010 by SF Mom

[lyme_mom]

Don't pay attention to the label when it says take on a.n empty stomach! My llmd said to take doxy with food and that was the only way I was able to take it for two years. Taking it in the middle of a meal is exactly what I did (good advice). I'd eat an egg sandwich For breakfast and take the doxy halfway through it. If I deviated from this I would throw up or feel like I had to throw up. You need to sandwich it in between bites so itt is never alone in your gut :-). Sometimes I'd take a sip of kefir too to get it down without upsetting my stomach. I know u shouldn't take it with dairy but it helped and I didnt drink much. There r also two versions of doxycyclene. I took tiny pink pills and once I got large blue pills when I picked up a refill. I was told that the bigger pills are considered more effective Or better absorbed but they made me feel sick so I switched them for the pink pill. It got me well so it worked just as well.

[justinekno]

I got the small pills the first time and they didn't really help much but then when I went to pick up my refill I spoke with the pharmacist who said that the pink ones are more for skin issues and they would have to be special ordered (he just didn't have any at that moment) so I went with the blue ones. I have had more herxing like symptoms since I started them a couple of weeks ago. Hmmm, maybe people react differently to each type of Doxy.

 

I couldn't take the pink doxy and lay down but the blue ones don't seem to bother me. Weird.

 

There r also two versions of doxycyclene. I took tiny pink pills and once I got large blue pills when I picked up a refill. I was told that the bigger pills are considered more effective Or better absorbed but they made me feel sick so I switched them for the pink pill. It got me well so it worked just as well.

[sptcmom]

Hi

Ds has a Bartonella diagnosis and we are on 2200 mgs of abx per day. We NEVER take any meds without food. He's doing Augmentin, Biaxin and Bactrim and Biaxin it says without food but I never have. I also do one trillion units of probiotics a day to try to maintain the intestinal flora.

We had a HUGE resurgence of head nodding and neck spasming tics after starting this Lyme protocol and it was all Herxing. It lasted about 7-8 weeks and is now beginning to calm down a bit.We even saw some new stuff come out.

yes, iron, mag and calcium away from the abx since they intefere with absorption.

We do detox baths with dead sea salts, baking soda and ginger essential oil- powerful stuff and with alternating Bentonite clay and Chlorella, the detox helps with the tics very much indeed.

I also do Valerian at nighttime.

 

We recently added EARTHCALM to nullify all the EMF in our house, took away all wireless, cordless and microwaves and that is a HUGE help with the Tics.

 

I would investigate further like the other moms suggest- maybe it was lyme all along. My DS has had issues since 22 months of age, and we'd thought Aspergers but it was lyme all along and the PANDAS diagnosis came earlier this year. I still think it was Lyme all along.

Infact as I discuss more with my mom, its becoming more and more obvious that DS might be third generation Lyme child after my mom and I. Can't afford to test or treat myself at the moment but its in my future plans once I get DS on the right path.

Jodie

[sptcmom]

Also agree with the good LLMD advise ofcourse. That is the key. Many DAN docs are LLMDS and take insurance.

I also wanted to add that the moms on this forum have been my lifeline and lifesavers. Their advise and experience is PRICELESS and thankyou too all the wonderful LYme/Pandas moms who have helped us in our struggle so far. God bless and lots of luck.

Jodie

[justinekno]

I didn't know this about taking magnesium away from antibiotics...

 

yes, iron, mag and calcium away from the abx since they intefere with absorption.