Moodiness

[Brenda]

Is being moody a part of TS or just bad behavior?

 

I have an eight year old daughter who has TS. Although her tics have been very minimal for several months now, I find that her continued moodiness is nearly unbearable.

 

I have had blood work done via mainstream testing and they found her low in zinc. I have been giving her 2 Bonnies vitamins a day and trying to avoid as much junk food as possible, but maybe this isn't working.

 

Along with the moodiness, any discussions with her have to be lo-o-ong drawn out discussions, to the point of frustration. She has to know every last detail!

 

I feel like a bad mother - but I'm just really tired of the bad attitude.

 

Thanks,

Brenda

[Chemar]

Hi Brenda

 

yes, many people with TS do also seem to have issues with moods.

 

We found GABA helpful, although I think it really was the overall combination of supplements that helped my son best, along with the fact that his system was detoxed from yeast and heavy metals, plus he had a healthy diet free of the junk

 

If your daughter is low in zinc, maybe the TS Plus isnt supplying what she needs...we never used the BonTech supps but from what I know about them...an 8 year old should be taking a lot more than just 2 a day I think.........

 

The "long drawn out need to know every detail conversations" could well be linked to OCD, which in itself can manifest in moodiness, and again we found relief with the supplements that help with OCD(5HTP, samE/methionine and inositol)

 

As I have both a son and husband with TS, I have learned to accept certain degrees of moodiness as part of them, and I just leave them be when I sense a mood funk. I find that trying to discuss it, or asking what is wrong etc often just exascerbates things. Left alone (and with me just attending to subtle increases in their supps and special attention to their diet) these moods really do seem to pass quickly.

 

Hope that helps a bit.....it aint easy I know but is just another one of those parts of TS that IMHO we have to just live with, provided it is not out of control moods or violence etc

[Brenda]

Thanks Chemar for the info. So far there hasn't been any violent outbreaks, but a constant bad mood. It seems that no matter what I say or how I try to say it, it is done in the wrong way.

 

I know that only I am not giving her the full regime of Bonnie's vitamins, but I have been hesitant to give her more. During an earlier episode of more intense ticcing, when I gave her higher dosage of Bonnie's vitamins, she seemed to tic more. I will check into the amount of zinc again on Bonnie's vitamins, perhaps I need to add extra zinc in a second or different type of supplement.

 

My daughter has shown earlier OCD, thanks for pointing out the detailed conversations related to OCD. Somedays, it seems that we can discuss something to the point that I can't remember what the originial thought was! I will check again into inositol.

 

I have tried to maintain a healthy diet for my family, but have let it slide recently with a family holiday, hopefully cleaning our diet again will help to ease the moods for my daughter and myself!

 

Thanks for letting me sound off!

Brenda

[Sydsmom]

Hi Brenda,

 

My daughter has struggled with moodiness too. Since eliminating sugar (she gets a sugary treat once a week), artificial colors and dairy she has been so, so much better. When she has too much dairy she gets mean and nasty. When we were on the yeast free diet she was really good but she refuses to do that anymore. She's still a little moody but I pick my battles - she just turned 12, so what's hormones and what's from the TS, I don't know. She's been on the supplement program for 10 months now and like I said, things are better. I think you just have to find what your child's triggers are and stick to that program. I wish you luck. Stay in the game and it will get better.

 

Lisa

[Giselle]

Hi Brenda, my son is only 8 and I didn't find him to be moody - he was just emotional - seemed any slightly sad thing would bring tears and detailed conversations that when on and on about how sad it was. He was very OCD about many things. We had his neurotransmitters tested (by NeuroScience) and found he was very low in dopamine, seratonin, and epinephrine but super high in norepinephrine, GABA, and histamine. We supplemented accordingly (all done through his DAN and Environmental Docs). His OCD (and over-emotional tendencies) went away as did most all of his tics as they were OCD in nature (he had to get them "just right"). It was amazing. He seemed to level out. He still gets sad, angry, happy, elated - but it all seems more "appropriate" for lack of a better word.

 

We also did many other things before the neurotransmitter test. We had tested for yeast (he had it), heavy metals (high lead), allergies (gluten, casein, soy, corn, etc), deficencies (B6, magnesium, his zinc to copper ratio was out of whack) and as a result either eliminated foods, added vitamins, worked on his yeast.

 

One of the first things we tried though was Bonnie's vitamins. At first he seemed to do well on them, then he did horribly on them and actually got way worse. We found out why. He has a real difficulty synthesizing and breaking down B6 (hence his deficiency) and we had to give him P5P which is basically B6 but is one more step broken down for him. Also fish oils are horrible for him because of his high histamine - apparently the choline contraindicts high histamine (makes it worse). Instead he takes Flax Oil which works fine.

 

I guess each child is unique and how they come to TS is unique - like a puzzle. Our job is to find all the pieces (or as best we can) to help their bodies not be strained - which helps with their TS.

 

Good luck,

Giselle

[JAC]

Brenda,

 

It took us so long to realize that my son's moodiness was not bad behavior; it was the Tourette's.

 

Once I realized this, it completely changed the way I approached almost every situation with my son. I immediately became more patient and even more responsive.

 

I do not, however, allow my son to be rude or disrespectful to me, other family members, or other adults/teachers. If these situations occur, we discuss the inappropriate behavior and it is corrected by him with an apology or a reversal of wording/tone, etc. Sometimes he is completely "spent" from his symptoms of OCD and Tourette's. His exhaustion sometimes results in extreme irritability with an extreme "attitude".

 

(Sometimes it is hard to determine if his behavior is normal 6th grade/12 year old boy manipulation/attitude or the Tourette's/OCD/depression.)

 

He is a MUCH happier individual since we removed dairy and sugar (with MINIMAL exceptions on occasions)from his diet and added supplements. He is more reasonable and does not cry for 20-40+ minutes in his bed each night before he falls to sleep. THAT is an absolute blessing!

 

JAC