Brain Balance vs Applied Kinesiology

[trinnie]

Anyone have experience with Applied Kinesiology or Brain Balance Centers? We have been struggling to find any help for our son and it seems like we are going to have to go the route of alternative medicine or other treatments that are not covered by our insurance. Our son was diagnosed with Tourette's earlier this year after 2 years of progressively compounding tics. We are not getting a very good response from our current pediatrician. Struggling with communicating a more natural route to him for treatment and an array of testing (which he is not receptive to doing). We did just have the tests for PANDAS done and are awaiting those results but don't feel that he has that as his tics developed before he ever had strep. We are financially just barely floating right now so this is a hard route for us to consider, but we want to do what is best for our son. If anyone has experience with either of these and can comment on whether or not it was effective and how much it cost and in general what their overall experience was I would be very appreciative! Thank you!

 

Mom at her wit's end

[Chemar]

Hi Trinnie

 

I don't know anything about those

 

Have your tried the nutritional (dietary and supplement) methods that many of us have found helpful in reducing tics? Doesn't have to bust the budget and can have very dramatic positive results.

[911RN]

Anyone have experience with Applied Kinesiology or Brain Balance Centers? We have been struggling to find any help for our son and it seems like we are going to have to go the route of alternative medicine or other treatments that are not covered by our insurance. Our son was diagnosed with Tourette's earlier this year after 2 years of progressively compounding tics. We are not getting a very good response from our current pediatrician. Struggling with communicating a more natural route to him for treatment and an array of testing (which he is not receptive to doing). We did just have the tests for PANDAS done and are awaiting those results but don't feel that he has that as his tics developed before he ever had strep. We are financially just barely floating right now so this is a hard route for us to consider, but we want to do what is best for our son. If anyone has experience with either of these and can comment on whether or not it was effective and how much it cost and in general what their overall experience was I would be very appreciative! Thank you!

 

Mom at her wit's end

Sorry, my computer battery cut off after long reply just prior to sending-uuugghh. Don't you hate when that happens!! I'm too tired to repeat at present. In brief- take a look at this site- her son has TS. She has lots of info and resources on her site. She will directly answer to questions/replies on site even to old topics. Surf around- lots of info. I like her style. She is some type of Counselor/Therapist, I believe? She has traveled down the road you are on and may be able to offer good advice on how to invest your precious, financial resources to get the biggest bang for your buck re: alternative therapies.

 

http://pandasvaccinesandmore.blogspot.com/

 

Good luck- I'll reply to our experieces with AK and BBC tomorrow.

[drgary]

I am both familiar with Applied Kinesiology as well as Brain Balance Centers.

 

In my experience, there is not an official AK protocol for PANDAS or tics. There are a number of people who do muscle response testing, which is kind of a spin off of AK. One that seems to work some of the time is NAET, an allergy elimination technique which uses muscle response testing as it's diagnostic tool. In my experience, I've had good results using this technique for PANDAS. There is a person I would consult about AK and PANDAS/tics in West Los Angeles by the name of Dr. Jim Blumenthal who is very active with the (previous) DAN group and teaches AK and autism. You might contact him and ask what his experience is with PANDAS.

 

Brain Balance Centers operate from an entirely different level/prospective. The purpose of Brain Balance is to use physical rehabilitation techniques from functional neurology to balance areas of the brain suffering from what is known as a "disconnection syndrome". Brain Balance has an excellent reputation with reducing tics, and I've seen a few children with tics become tic-free.

 

Unfortunately, there are no "magic bullets" in my experience. Each of the things I've mentioned have had positive experiences, and I'm sure that there have been not-so-positive experiences though.

 

Hope all goes well with you and yours.

Gary

[trinnie]

Hi Trinnie

 

I don't know anything about those

 

Have your tried the nutritional (dietary and supplement) methods that many of us have found helpful in reducing tics? Doesn't have to bust the budget and can have very dramatic positive results.

 

Cheri:

 

I have tried eliminating some artificial colors and preservatives as well as wheat and a few others from his diet to no avail. We are currently having the PANDAS testing done (per a prior post with you - where you indicated given his large time frames of waxing and waning that maybe it's PANDAS) but we have not received all those results yet. We did get a call tonight though that his throat culture was betahemolytic strep positive - but not group A. Very odd, he's not even been sick!

 

Anyway, I guess I struggle with where to begin with nutritional methods and dietary supplements. Can you help me with that? I did read much of your post regarding treatments that you've used on your child, but it sounds like you had a lot of testing done first. We are having trouble with our pediatrician being willing to do a lot of testing. Did you get a lot of testing done or how did you know where to start. I certainly would appreciate recommendations and would love to venture down this road further before heading in directions which will cost us a lot of money (and may not even help him). I so appreciate your help!

[laurena82]

Hi Trinnie--

About 15-20 years ago I took my son to a chiropractor who did applied kiniseology for food allergy testing----------

 

we logged what he ate for 1-2 weeks,...then anything he ate more than 2-3 times/week we brought food sample and Dr did AK testing when that food was on his tongue. It identified ?? 6- 8 things probably--------we then eliminated all of those---> and he had DRAMATICALLY lowered motor tics. (unfortunately he still had some vocal tics. It cost $90 as I recall.

 

He also tested via putting vitamin supplements on his tongue along with the "allergic" food to "neutralize" it----we gave him those vitamins for awhile,........but in our case, anyhow, the food avoidance was much more noticeable difference than any supplements at helping.

 

 

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