Tenex and Red Dye

[Jshaddle]

We made the difficult decision to try medication for our 7 year old because he developed a very loud constant vocal tic 3 months ago. We have gone the natural route since he was 3 and thought we had things at a manageable level. However this tic changed his life at school immediately and has started to affect his self esteem. We have been on Texnex for 3 months with no significant results, in fact I think they have gotten louder. We just went back to his Dr. yesterday and switched to Abilify. When my husband brought the meds home we realized they were blue! Our son has been dye free for a few years. This triggered the dye police in me and I realized I never looked at the exact ingredients of Tenex. Well I discovered for the past 3 months we have been feeding him the evil Red Dye I have been completely avoiding. I guess I should not be surprised that the white Tenex has Red in it, since marshmallows have Blue... I am not sure what to do. I want to try the Abilify, but am worried about giving him a medication with Blue Dye in it.

[Chemar]

sometimes the generic versions don't have those dies in them, but that may be a trade off due to other triggering ingredients

 

I know for a fact that both red and blue dye have always been major tic triggers for my son....and we now have official confirmation that he does indeed have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, long suspected, so that makes things even worse with these artificial ingredients.

 

I am assuming you have also read the FDA warnings about Abilify?

[Markey]

Before you go forward with another medication, avoid all the synthetic dyes, not just the red or blue. You were part way there with eliminating the red. All these dyes are made from the same thing - petroleum. So if red bothered him, so would the blue, green, yellows, etc. If I were you I would check out the Feingold Program. You'll learn that artificial flavorings (such as vanillin) and the preservatives BHA,BHT & TBHQ are also from petroleum. You may find that those tics will go away. Here's a good link: http://feingold.org/overview.php

 

We made the difficult decision to try medication for our 7 year old because he developed a very loud constant vocal tic 3 months ago. We have gone the natural route since he was 3 and thought we had things at a manageable level. However this tic changed his life at school immediately and has started to affect his self esteem. We have been on Texnex for 3 months with no significant results, in fact I think they have gotten louder. We just went back to his Dr. yesterday and switched to Abilify. When my husband brought the meds home we realized they were blue! Our son has been dye free for a few years. This triggered the dye police in me and I realized I never looked at the exact ingredients of Tenex. Well I discovered for the past 3 months we have been feeding him the evil Red Dye I have been completely avoiding. I guess I should not be surprised that the white Tenex has Red in it, since marshmallows have Blue... I am not sure what to do. I want to try the Abilify, but am worried about giving him a medication with Blue Dye in it.