No TV - NJ Mom Documents Day By Day

[Dara]

Hi Everyone,

 

DAY 1:

 

Since this was for me the hardest thing to do, but the most obvious, I thought I'd start a new post and document the next seven days of our 'No TV Trial'. It started this morning with our three TV's being 'broken'. How amazingly easy it was. Not one question was asked from either Karl Henry, who is 5 yrs old or his brother Graham who is 3 1/2 yrs old.

 

I will say, that for those of you who have been following our saga, our sons tics have been really good over the last two months. Since being put on a stirct diet and taking sublingual drops for allergies, his tics improved tremendously during these last two months. About two weeks ago I started seeing some of them come back and TODAY was by far the WORST day we've had in two months. I will over the next day or two attempt to identify what changed in his diet or environment to make his tics come on so strong.

 

As a sidenote, we had the Gas Company come to our house today to check for a gas/CO2 leak. I've smelled gas over the last couple of months on several occasions. The technician did determine that there was/is a gas leak in our fireplace and from our furnace in the basement. I'm interested in seeing if there is any impact on Karl's tics once these leaks are corrected. Thoughts?

 

 

Dara

 

I'm determined to keep my spirits high. Talk to you all tomorrow with day two of 'NO TV'.

 

Dara

[ad_ccl]

Hi Dara,

 

Your comment about the gas leak jumped out at me!!! This could definitely be playing a big part in the increase of tics your son has been showing. As I mentioned in my New Here thread there was a day at school my son was sitting in the hallway reading with a parent and the janitor turned on his cleaning machine for the floors. Tons of exhaust came out right where my son was sitting. The teacher said the classroom also got a bit from the blast of fumes. Almost immediately my son started ticcing in a way the teacher had never seen, it was more like convulsing and occurred immediately. He complained to the parent that he did not feel well and was brought into the classroom. The teacher was quite concerned by what she saw and kept an eye on him, he started to settle down once the smell was gone but it seemed to take a few hours to get rid of the effects completely. I asked that night on this forum if fumes could cause tics and they CAN. This could really be significant.

 

Good Luck -

[Dara]

Hi Everyone,

 

DAY 2:

 

I can't believe how easy this is. Something that I anticipated as the worst thing to do was the easiest. My boys only asked for the TV once today and I reminded them that it was 'broken'. No questions asked.

 

Karl's tics were a little better today. Thank-god. Yesterday was like something out of a horror movie. I think it was a combination of things and today we were strict about no tv, taking all of our supplements and sticking to our diet. This week will be no different.

 

As a sidenote, as with all kids who have a tic disorder, most tics are increased by anxiety, anger, being excited, etc. Is there any supplement in particular that can help with this situation? I noticed my sons tics came on stronger late this afternoon while riding in the car to go sleigh riding. I also notice his tics come on stronger when I drop him off at pre-school.

 

Anyway, the no TV experiment is going great.

 

Dara

[marina]

Hi Dara

I've read your posts with great interest and am so glad you had a sustained period when Karl's tics were greatly improved. If you got there before, you will achieve it again.

It does sound like the gas leak might be a factor, but the screen test is certainly worth doing.

So far, for our son it has resulted in the biggest improvement, going from near constant eye, and neck jerk tics to nothing after 10 days of no screens.

Just to give you some encouragement, there was no noticable improvement for about 4/5 days, and then dramatic improvements daily. So keep on going.

 

With the anxiety issue, Matt's tics also get worse. However I suspect that he was more than a little anxious with the obvious improvement without screens, and all the implications that this might entail. Life without screens for a 12 year old is hard to handle! Nevertheless the improvements kept on coming!

 

Hoping for your good news over the next few days.

 

Marian

[Dara]

Hi Marina,

 

I'm so glad that I've gone through with the 'no' tv test. As you've been reading from my posts, our son Karl and two great months (Dec. & Jan) with limited to minor tics. It was the first time that we saw improvement since it all began last April. I'm hopeful that we will get there again. As far as the gas leak is concerned, I really don't think it's the cause. I've been smelling gas on and off for months. Don't know why I waited to so long to look into it. So, I think it might be a factor including some other possible triggers: Just comming back from Florida a week ago, exposure to Chlorine, having a cold/virus, not sticking 100% on the diet, missing several supplements on Friday, being exposed to dust and a dog, etc, etc.

 

As my yesterday post said, we did see a slight improvement yesterday (Sunday). Saturday was by far the worst. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Dara

[Dara]

Hi Everyone,

 

DAY 3:

 

Well, once again it has been really easy to take the TV away. This was our first day without TV before school. I let both of my boys sleep a little later then usual. Haven't noticed any improvement in Karl's tics. In fact, today they were once again pretty bad. Keep in mind that Karl's tics have been fairly good since the middle of December. He did start the lip sucking tic back in January, but it wasn't terrible. What we've seen during the last three days has been very bad. Saturday it was the worst, and then yesterday they cleared up a bit and today bad again. Even his teacher (pre-school) noticed them.

 

So, unfortunately we haven't noticed a change so far, but we keep praying.

 

Dara

[Dara]

Hi Everyone,

 

DAY 4:

 

I don't think I'm ever going to turn my TV back on again ha, ha. This is fantastic. Day 4 with no TV has come and gone with no problems.

 

As many of you can see from some of my previous posts, my son's tics have been at their worst during these last four days. I think the reason for that is that there are/were many triggers that might have influenced the flair-up such as: starting new supplements on the same day as taking the TV away, being exposed to things that Karl's allergic to (i.e. dog & mold), having a cold, etc.

 

Starting tomorrow, I'm stopping all the new supplements and will see if the tics diminish.

 

Dara

[Dara]

Hi Everyone,

 

DAY 5 & 6:

 

Sorry folks, I've been out of the loop for two days because of company. Karl's tics seem to have eased off just a bit from the begining of the week. I don't think this was a good week to start the test because of the fact that there were too many other triggers going on, but it's been a great week without TV and as far as I'm concerned, it will stay off.

 

Dara

[Dara]

Hi Everyone,

 

DAY 7:

 

We made it to day 7...Yeah. Karl's tics have definatly quieted down a bit. We don't know if it's because of the 'no' TV or another factor. We plan on keeping the TV off for now. Want to see how Karl's tics pan out during this next week.

 

Thanks for listening.

 

Dara

[mmazz]

Dara,

 

Just wondering how things are going?

 

Marie

[kim]

Hi Everyone,

 

Could anyone tell me if you know what they look for in the blood work when they are testing for yeast? I have been going over the results of my sons blood tests and when I got to Monocytes it read "can be increased by virus or infection or fungus (yeast)". Since my sons # was 5.8 and the normal range 3.0-10.0 is this a good indicator regarding yeast or not?

 

Kim

[Dara]

Hi Marie,

 

I haven't been posting for the last week because it's been a little rough around here. We've kept the tv off for two weeks and two days. It was so easy. Both my boys don't even ask for it. Unfortunately, Karl's started a new humming tic that's gotten worse during the last week. We've been so upset. Just trying to figure out what could be causing it. How are you doing?

 

Dara.

[Dara]

Hi Kim,

 

 

I just took a look at my sons bloodwork from May 2004 (he recently had new bloodwork run, but the results aren't back yet), it showed a result of 6.4 for monocytes (the range is 0-10%) and to be honest with you, never knew this had anything to do with yeast.

 

In November of 2004 our Environmental doctor ordered an 'organic acid profile' test which is done using the first morning urine, and then was sent to the Great Plains Laboratory in Kansas. This is how we found out that my son had a yeast/bacteria problem in his gastrointestinal tract.

 

Karl's 'citramalic' compound came back with a result of 3.79 (normal range is 0.0 - 2.0) and his 'arabinose' compound came back with a result of 327.23 (normal range is 0.0 - 47.0. Our EM explained that Karl had a yeast/fungal overgrowth as well as the gastrointestinal backteria Clostridia including C. difficile. He's currently being treated with Nystatin for the yeast and Culturelle for the bacteria.

 

Dara

[kim]

Marie and Dara,

 

Thank you so much for your replies. Marie, your post about how you got your son to start eating and talking about how you will always remember the "hamburg" day gave me such hope. I could relate so totally and look forward to the day we can share that success.

 

Dara, I wonder if you have time if you might look at Carl's blood work and tell me under complete blood count, if you see something PV. I am missing the first letter in that 3 letter sequence. The fax my Dr's. office sent cut the first letter off of the whole margin. I figured all of the rest out, such as WBC, RBC, HGB, HCT, etc. but this one which is listed last, I couldn't find on the site that tells about blood test results. It appears last in the column and happens to be high. 10.9- normal range 6.5 to 10.5. It's slight, but I'm looking for clues, after all. Also, the info you shared about the yeast was really helpful. I HAVE to find a Dr. to order that test for my youngest son.

 

His vit. levels appear to be normal. I had given him some B6 and cal/mag. remarkable results quickly, but he got hyper, I got scared and then he starting complaining about his stomach. I think his Dr. would have been happy to see high Mag. levels to attribute the nausia to, so he could say"I told you so". I can't talk to the Ped or Neuro. about any of this anymore, I get too furious. Thanks

all!

 

Kim

[Dara]

Kim,

 

I think you might be referring to 'MPV'. I don't know what it is. It looks like the range is from 7.5 - 11.5. Karl's score was 8.6. As far as the organic acid profile test, go to www.greatplainslaboratory.com. They have every test that you need, but I don't know if you need a doctors prescription for it. I doubt it. I just ordered a comprehensive stool test to test for yeast in my son's stool. Claire told me about it.

 

Keep in touch.

 

Dara