food sensitivities

[deagar]

I have read a lot about certain foods having an effect on tics. How exactly do you do food testing? If you eliminate a lot at once, how do you know what had an effect on the tics. If you do one at a time, it could take a LONG TIME. So what is the best way to go about this? Also, with the way tics wax & wane, how do you know if it just happens to be the wonderful waning period vs food sensitivity?

Thanks - Deanna

[Claire]

For the reasons you state, elimination as a test method is challenging. So we did the blood test ($300) at www.elisaact.com. Needs a doctor's signature.

 

Symptoms typically reduce in a week. If you stay off the food, they stay reduced, that's how you prove it isn't waxing and waning.

 

Claire

[ad_ccl]

Hi Deanna,

 

I had to respond as I am absolutely positive that in the end food allergies have been the biggest problem for my son, and he had NO normal symptoms of food allergies. We came to this board after he was diagnosed with PANDAS, sudden onset of tics after a strep infection - tics were horrendous and appeared overnight - prior to this - from ages 3-6 he did have a chronic cough and a few other "tics" that would come and go - no big deal, nothing anyone would really notice ie sniffs, blinks, subtle and not constant - more like seasonal allergies. My son was on antibiotics from August to January with good result, but there were still regular ups and downs with viral illnesses, tv etc. It was only after I read the thread about food sensitivity that I decided as a trial to take him off his milk, he had been drinking 6-8 glasses of cows milk a day, I changed to soya and limited to 2 a day. I am the first to admit I was speculative - he was a terrible eater and I always felt good that at least he was getting milk. He was off milk for a week which was also the first week we started supplements, by the end of the week he was doing amazing, I put it down to the supplements and when he said one day that he really did not like soy milk and preferred cows milk and he asked if he could switch I said sure, I did not see the big deal at all. By the end of that week he was convulsing with tics - the other factor was a return to school and the florescent lights. That friday we switched him back to soy just in case it was the milk - I still did not really believe milk could be doing this. The next week he did amazing at school, the teacher did reduce his exposure to flicker so I am sure that helped, but his chronic cough was gone, and he had had that since 3 - it was termed a behavioural tic that he would probably outgrow- the antibiotics did not get rid of it. We decided to do the IGg testing after I read about it here - it is a blood test - I am sure Claire can give me more details about it - my son was happy to do the blood work as he wanted to know if he could drink cows milk again. I was SHOCKED when it came back that he was highly allergic to milk. At that point we took him off all milk products, we also learned he was allergic to gluten and eggs. I started to do some research on food allergies and was amazed by what I was reading - allergies DO NOT always present as upset stomach, hives, etc. Kids can present with ADHD, other behavior problems, tics etc as a result of food allergies. I believe now that my son has always been allergic to milk - he drank a ton of it as an infant and had chronic ear infections and throat infections - had surgery, then the cough started - I believe his immune system has been so taxed over the last few years - that when he got the strep it put everything completely out of whack - causing the explosion of tics. In the end it was a blessing in disguise and there was a silver lining - we have now discovered the allergy and he literally has had a personality change for the better - he has excelled in school - he is interested in writing, reading, colouring, his fine motor skills have increased ten fold - and I can REALLY put it all down to when we removed milk from his diet. He LOVED milk, cheese strings, minigos, ice cream - I did read and it has been said on this forum by others - kids crave what they are allergic to - again that made no sense to me but seems to be true. Since being off milk my sons appetite has changed completely - he is trying all kinds of new foods and is hungry - not eating because I am making him eat. He has a healthy appetite. The teacher has also seen a transformation in him. He has always done fine in school academically, had many friends, been involved in sports, but I always had to be on him about behaviour - always rambunctious, - at his worst in the fall when off antibiotics the teacher talked to us about having him sit on his own as he had become disruptive - he was getting 4 time outs a day - we then filled her on on the PANDAS diagnosis etc and she immediately started working with us - we had not told her previous to this as we did not want to draw attention to the tics or have him labeled in any way - and really just hoped it wall all resolve itself. He has not had a time out in months - and last week the teacher told me how well he is concentrating in class and how efficient he is at getting his work done. I asked him last week about his old "habits" and if they really bothered him, he said they did as he was not able to learn in school and it felt like his brain was all twisted around. He is very cooperative about the new restricted diet as he knows how much better he is doing. Sorry...I am going on here.

Your question is where to start - the easiest is to do the testing - you get a definite answer - I paid about 300 Canadian - and it seems none will be covered by my insurance, but it was worth every penny - he had such a limited diet to begin with it would have been hard to do an elimination diet. I also have two other small children so felt that it would have been too overwhelming in general. I also felt that in the many months of so many unknowns it would be so nice to get an answer in black and white. But, if you go the route of elimination I would guess doing one food at a time would make sense and stay of the food for at least a week and note any changes - I think I have read it can take 7-10 days to see a change - I would start with the one's that seem to keep coming up - milk, wheat, eggs. Again when I initially did the elimination I only eliminated the milk he was drinking, and did not give him pizza, cheese strings, minigos etc - but he still got milk ingredients in hot dogs, granola bars etc - I have now cut all of this out. I definitely noticed a change within the week. My son did not have any waxing and waning, his tics were pretty constant and increased with illness.

 

Doris Rapp has written a lot about food allergies and kids - and I read some of her stuff on the internet. It is fascinating to say the least. I am sure others can go into more details for you but I just wanted to share my success story - it was a completely unexpected reason for success and I would have never come across it were it not for the forum. At no time has any doctor, infectious disease clinic, neurologist, suggested that food allergies could be at the root of my sons problems.

 

Good Luck,