Allergy Treatment Often Helps With Tics and Tourette’s Syndrome

[GraceUnderPressure]

Got this thing on my google alert for Tourette's - looks more like a press release than anything - but it got me to wondering because tree pollen is starting to gear up here in zone 9 & we're all starting to have sinus issues & ds18 is starting to have problems as if he is getting sick again (ie. we're having an exacerbation of his tics).

 

Now it's too soon to tell if this is just allergies or a new bug going thru the house, but last year his issues flared badly just with allergy season. Got me to wondering if allergies are merely another symptom of this syndrome or could they actually be a PITAND cause?

 

Allergy Treatment Often Helps With Tics and Tourette’s Syndrome

 

February 5th, 2011

Most people associate allergies with the standard hay fever-like symptoms: runny nose, itchy eyes, and sneezing. But allergies have a broad reach and can even contribute to neurological problems such as tics and Tourette’s syndrome.

 

Tics are involuntary movements and vocalizations of sounds and words which are not appropriate. Patients with frequent, severe tics are often diagnosed with a neurological dysfunction known as Tourette’s syndrome.

 

There are few definitive answers for why tics and allergies are linked, but physicians such as Allergist Dr. Stuart Agren see evidence of the correlation on a regular basis.

 

Dr. Agren is the director of the Family Allergy Clinic in Mesa, Arizona. For the past several years, he has been treating patients with tics using allergy immunotherapy. With immunotherapy, patients take extracts of the dusts, molds and pollens that they are allergic to in gradually increasing amounts. They can take the extracts as oral drops under the tongue. The majority of Dr. Agren’s patients have either seen their tics decrease or disappear within a few months of starting immunotherapy.

 

Samantha Malaki was one such patient. When she was just 8 years old, she developed a motor tic that caused her neck to jerk violently every few seconds.

 

“It was very scary,” said Samantha’s father, Sao Malaki. “I would look back in the car when I was driving, and it was like somebody was hitting her in the neck.”

 

The tic caused Samantha extreme pain in her neck and back. She began having trouble sleeping at night and concentrating on her homework. At school, her peers teased her.

 

Samantha underwent MRIs and CAT scans, but doctors remained baffled about the source of the tics. She tried seven different medications, but they didn’t help and had troubling side effects.

 

Within two months of starting allergy shots immunotherapy at the Family Allergy Clinic, though, her tic was gone. It has been over three years now, and she remains free of the tic.

 

Allergies have been linked to a wide variety of health problems including headaches, eczema, and hyperactivity. It is estimated that allergies affect at least one in five Americans.

 

http://health.googletip.us/2011/02/allergy-treatment-often-helps-with-tics-and-tourettes-syndrome/

[thenmama]

xx

Edited March 26, 2013 by thenmama

[Tamistwins]

Wow, very interesting.... Thanks for sharing!

[thereishope]

Allergies were a trigger for my son. When allergies surfaced early on in recovery, the setback they caused was as bad as what a strep infection would cause. Once I got his allergies under control, he then began to improve agian. Definitely a direct connection for my son. So, now I've learned to mark on the calendar when they start each year and try giving allergy meds or supplements before they have a chance to really kick in.

 

As for allergy meds/supplements, each child reacts different to them. Claritin worked at first then on day 11 made him hyper. Benadryl works for my son w/o making him hyper or tired. I have now switched to natural and they work great.

 

Also remember, allergies can cause sinus infections.

 

My son never had tics, but allergies affected all other PANDAS symptoms.

[Tamistwins]

My son doesn't seem to present with allergy symptoms, however on bloodwork he has shown elevated ige( allergy) we did allergy testing for the environment and he was basically allergic to almost everything. I think there its a correlation between elevated ige and pandas.

[lismom]

I agree too. Tics are in full swing here along with fatigue. My son was on allergy shots back when he was six. The only reason I found out he had allergies was he started ticcing. No sneezing, no sinus trouble, just tics. The allergist said he didn't believe it would help, but I said well we're doing the shots anyway. It worked, tics went away. Until, strep. Now, along with dealing with PANDAS for two years, I have recently retested him and all the old allergies and some new ones including the dreaded dust, have appeared positive. Shots start next week. We will see in the months to come. Hopeful for some reduction.

[Fixit]

Just want to add...great find

 

i have not read thread in full or even first post....

but ds is doing allergy shots....

here in ga our counts are startin up...

i usually see something in regards to allergies..eyes, drainage..

so far..holding...we are only about 4 months in but note that ds was started on extra low dose..so we may have added 2 months in the front to get to your standard starting dose....

 

pan/pits have immune problems...whether allergies, viral, or auto immune..

Edited February 7, 2011 by Fixit

[GraceUnderPressure]

Allergies were a trigger for my son. When allergies surfaced early on in recovery, the setback they caused was as bad as what a strep infection would cause. Once I got his allergies under control, he then began to improve agian. Definitely a direct connection for my son. So, now I've learned to mark on the calendar when they start each year and try giving allergy meds or supplements before they have a chance to really kick in.

 

As for allergy meds/supplements, each child reacts different to them. Claritin worked at first then on day 11 made him hyper. Benadryl works for my son w/o making him hyper or tired. I have now switched to natural and they work great.

 

Also remember, allergies can cause sinus infections.

 

My son never had tics, but allergies affected all other PANDAS symptoms.

Vickie, what natural product are you using? We have tried D-Hist with very little success, but we have always started after the sinus crud wound up so I don't know if that would make a difference. (Actually, I don't know that our allergies have wound down much if at all in the last year or so - there are just some times when the drainage is significantly worse like during oak pollen & grass pollen)

[GraceUnderPressure]

Allergies were a trigger for my son. When allergies surfaced early on in recovery, the setback they caused was as bad as what a strep infection would cause. Once I got his allergies under control, he then began to improve agian. Definitely a direct connection for my son. So, now I've learned to mark on the calendar when they start each year and try giving allergy meds or supplements before they have a chance to really kick in.

 

As for allergy meds/supplements, each child reacts different to them. Claritin worked at first then on day 11 made him hyper. Benadryl works for my son w/o making him hyper or tired. I have now switched to natural and they work great.

 

Also remember, allergies can cause sinus infections.

 

My son never had tics, but allergies affected all other PANDAS symptoms.

Vickie, what natural product are you using? We have tried D-Hist with very little success, but we have always started after the sinus crud wound up so I don't know if that would make a difference. (Actually, I don't know that our allergies have wound down much if at all in the last year or so - there are just some times when the drainage is significantly worse like during oak pollen & grass pollen)

[GraceUnderPressure]

Just want to add...great find

 

i have not read thread in full or even first post....

but ds is doing allergy shots....

here in ga our counts are startin up...

i usually see something in regards to allergies..eyes, drainage..

so far..holding...we are only about 4 months in but note that ds was started on extra low dose..so we may have added 2 months in the front to get to your standard starting dose....

 

pan/pits have immune problems...whether allergies, viral, or auto immune..

Fixit, so do you think that the allergies are a symptom leading up to PANDAS/PITAND or a contributing cause or a result of? My ds18 has had signs of seasonal allergies since he was an infant, but I honestly don't know for certain when his PITAND problems started because there were some very minor things in his development that were slightly off - I only know that his tics/issues started up around age 4.

[thereishope]

Yes, it was the DHist. I start it on my PANDAS son as soon as I even suspect allergies are starting. Last year, I started my PANDAS son the moment I questioned allergies but I waited to start them on my non-PANDAS son until I was sure. Well, my PANDAS son was never miserable, my non-PANDAS son had a harder time getting the allergies in check and ended up having a bad sinus infection from them. So, this year I will start them at the same time for both kids.Do you use a neti pot? I don't think I could get my boys to use one, but I think I will get one for myself.I just use saline spray on the boys.

 

Also, do you give the D-HIst Jr? If so, check what the best dosing is. You can give 2 tablets at a time.The thing with that is they are expensive.

 

If you don't think the allergies ever wound down and they always seem stuffy/runny, or their voices seem off, take them to make sure there's no sinus infection.

 

Allergies were a trigger for my son. When allergies surfaced early on in recovery, the setback they caused was as bad as what a strep infection would cause. Once I got his allergies under control, he then began to improve agian. Definitely a direct connection for my son. So, now I've learned to mark on the calendar when they start each year and try giving allergy meds or supplements before they have a chance to really kick in.

 

As for allergy meds/supplements, each child reacts different to them. Claritin worked at first then on day 11 made him hyper. Benadryl works for my son w/o making him hyper or tired. I have now switched to natural and they work great.

 

Also remember, allergies can cause sinus infections.

 

My son never had tics, but allergies affected all other PANDAS symptoms.

Vickie, what natural product are you using? We have tried D-Hist with very little success, but we have always started after the sinus crud wound up so I don't know if that would make a difference. (Actually, I don't know that our allergies have wound down much if at all in the last year or so - there are just some times when the drainage is significantly worse like during oak pollen & grass pollen)

Edited February 7, 2011 by Vickie

[Fixit]

so busy today..ds8 almost tic free started up again yesterday..2 hours later sore throat..just got home from peds...have to get ds3 in 2 minutes....

 

is short i think it is a huge correlation for alot of ts and pit/pan kids...

it is talked about frequently how MOST ts patients seem to have pretty bad allergies..not that all with allegies(same as with strep) will develp ts...

and unfortunaely for my ds...i would treat his allergies as a cold..since i never had allergies..didin't know what they were....and then per all the mucus and things getting stuck in the sinuses and such, not draining and beinga able to clear..i believe his first strep was in March when he was 3....and again unfortunately, as i have never had strep....did not know the signs till the tics started about 2 weeks after he started to throw up and had a fever...rest of the story goes from there....

 

i have talked to a mom who's dh tics...and subsquetnly her 3 boys..now successful(doctors and lawyers) young men were all diagnosed with ts...and one of them had it bad...

she did not seem to want to buy into the pandas thing...as i guess her research all those many years ago, lead her to more of what Bonnie does on the TS side..she could see a correlation with allergies and treated them with vit b's partiuablly b5 and keep a clean eating life style.....she says 2 of her boys have mild tics and 1 is unnoticable if at all...one of them is in denial that he ever had ts...well i think he is right in the regards he has a immune conditon...his may be allergies, someone else strep, someone else celiacs..blah blah blah

 

and just to reaffirm..ds eyes swell shut, can barely walk because he can barely breath..he was in full sydnams last april...i had to do more then just zyrtec as that does not get to heart of problem....

i was scared to start as we were in better place when we started about october...but i knew going forward we would be back to were we where if i didn't do more....

doc b started him super low...and i do not notice any flare from shots at all...they even seemed to settle him down a day or 2 after when we first started the program.....

 

and currently holding in a pretty good place ...i guess...at least compared to some of the worst times....and may be trending better slowly?????(from my mouth to God's ears)

 

also dh (who has some tics)brother who had scarelt fever as a child, had a small ocd period in his youth...has horrible alleriges...well he started back on allergy shots....and now i notice he doens't do this one thing anymore(in the last 2 years since starting shots back)...(which i thought was a tic, but he said it wasn't)

 

And ...his son..always had a slithg tic...that the mom said was allgeries...i don't know if she really believed that herself...but she indirectlys started me on this journey by that statement 8 years agos....her son is doing well...tics just stopped this thanks givivng....

she didnot do allerys shots for him thugh his tics were pretty consistant and allergies pretty bad....

just treated him recently for some gut/digestion issues...and all tics stoppeed...the main center for allergies lies in the gut!!!!dibiosis!!!

 

hope that at least kinda answers your question

Edited February 7, 2011 by Fixit

[GraceUnderPressure]

Ugh, dysbiosis. Yeah, we have that, too. I wish I knew how to fix it - we've tried $o much - but I think we're beyond the point of nature's more subtle approach & need more of a bazooka approach.

 

I think I'd better look into the allergy shots. Ugh, again. I hate trying to find a new doctor. You have to go thru so many frogs (& toads, for that matter) to find a prince (or princess) you can work with...

[eljomom]

This is very interesting, as I just e-mailed back an forth with a doctor in Maryland (Dr. Richard Layton) who does some allergy type stuff, and said he's treated kids with seeming tourette's and had success with many. His website is www.allergyconnection.com. VERY, very nice guy. Will e-mail you back and answer as many questions as you ask. I told him we are looking for someone to do a full, comprehensive workup....infections, gut, immune, etc....and he told me what he would be comfortable with, and what he would suggest we get done by someone else, which I found very honest. This was after a number of e-mails with many questions. I have not ruled hiim out at all. In fact, he has seen some pandas kids, and said he sends his difficult cases to a neurologist in Maryland....when I asked who, it was Dr. Latimer.