Severe screaming Tic

[cara615]

Gave the NAC last night and vocals calmed down. This morning vocals are less as well. I am giving him 600mgs once a day and will work up to 2x a day (which is what the Yale study is doing). There is strong evidence that NAC reduced hair pulling which is also a tic. i am hoping that the results of the Yale study (July 2013) will show a reduction in tic of TS as well. The hair pulling study said effects took 9 weeks. If i am seeing immediate results then that is a good sign right?

 

So far NOTHING i gave him to date has reduced tics. I have given him tic tamer, mag glycinate, taurine GABA and Epsom Baths. No results but I swear the NAC has eased things up a bit.

 

Coincidence or just hopeful? Thoughts?

[logismum]

I have no knowledge of NAC but i have had the study saved in my favourites for a while waiting for the study results to come out, I hope it's good news. Do continue with yoru investigaing of allergies etc though, It's all part of the puzzle Look forward to hearing more updates from you about the NAC

[Chemar]

If you do a search on NAC here you'll find some past threads on it... some have it spelled out as N-acetyl cysteine

 

Some had success and some not (us in the not group) so again showing what works for some may not for others.

 

So glad that you are seeing some improvement with it Cara

[Michele310]

Hello, I am just seeing these posts now though they are 5 years old !  Cara I am going through the same thing with my daughter.  How have things been ?

 

[LianaE]

On 5/21/2013 at 8:03 AM, cara615 said:

I decided to start the NAC instead of the 5-HTP. Been hearing good things about this and Yale is doing a big study on its affects on tics right now. Results into be published in July. I just gave him 600mgs and his vocals have calmed down. Maybe just coincidence.

Hi, my son has really bad high pitched yelling and very frequent recently.  In fact for the whole year 2019, his tourettes has been really bad.  Taken him to see a few different doctors, no one can really help.  I read about the the leaky gut theory and found he has intolerance to dairy, we cut all diary seems work for a few weeks then all come back again. Is this NAC you mentioned here really helped your son? Which product did you use?

Edited December 30, 2019 by LianaE

[Chemar]

Hi LianaE

As this thread is from 2013 I am not sure if Cara still follows it?

I can comment from personal experience that the supplement L-Carnitine greatly helped my son when he had what we called the "shrieking tic" (very loud frequent yelling).

Our physician recommended 500mg daily and the effect was remarkable.

It's not supposed to be used longterm, and we were advised to discontinue after 3 months, but didn't even need to use it that long! We continued about 3 weeks past the cessation of the shrieking tic, The physician did say we could restart it if the tic returned but thankfully that particular one never did.

[Michele310]

Hi Chemar, 

totally appreciate it.  Was the doctor a Tourette’s specialist? How old is your son and how is he now? Best, Michele

[LianaE]

6 hours ago, Chemar said:

Hi LianaE

As this thread is from 2013 I am not sure if Cara still follows it?

I can comment from personal experience that the supplement L-Carnitine greatly helped my son when he had what we called the "shrieking tic" (very loud frequent yelling).

Our physician recommended 500mg daily and the effect was remarkable.

It's not supposed to be used longterm, and we were advised to discontinue after 3 months, but didn't even need to use it that long! We continued about 3 weeks past the cessation of the shrieking tic, The physician did say we could restart it if the tic returned but thankfully that particular one never did.

Hi Chemar,

Thank you very much! You mentioned L-Carnitine, but Cara mentioned NAC - N-acetylcysteine.  Are they the same thing or slightly different? I searched online, there are lots of brands for NAC products but non of them mentioned its suitable for kids to use it:( what's the particular product you use?  I can go and check with the doctor then.  Thanks

Cheers,

Liana

Edited December 30, 2019 by LianaE

[Chemar]

Hi again

No L-Carnitine and NAC (N-acetyl-cysteine) are 2 different supplements

We used the L-Carnitine.

Our physician was very experienced with Tourette Syndrome, and was an Integrative MD

My son is now a thirty something adult, doing very well. His TS was at its worst in his preteen years, which is when he had that yelling tic very severely.

 

 

 

[LianaE]

15 minutes ago, Chemar said:

Hi again

No L-Carnitine and NAC (N-acetyl-cysteine) are 2 different supplements

We used the L-Carnitine.

Our physician was very experienced with Tourette Syndrome, and was an Integrative MD

My son is now a thirty something adult, doing very well. His TS was at its worst in his preteen years, which is when he had that yelling tic very severely.

 

 

 

Hi Chemar,

That is very helpful, thank you very much!  Are you guys from USA? We are in Australia, to be honest, non of the doctors I have seen so far are helpful at all.  My son is 8, and its very bad this year. Hope he can get over it soon as well.  Thank you!

 

Cheers,

Liana

[Michele310]

I really appreciate the advice. My daughter is 13 and she has had the screaming tic for almost a year  Miraculously or strangely, she does not do it in school and in public she modifies it so that it is very quiet. It is driving me crazy and part of me thinks that it is more of a compulsion. We live in California

[Chemar]

Hi MIchele

Some kids with TS have what are known as Tourettic OCD. Tics morph into OCD and vice versa!

There's quite a bit of literature about it.

We found CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) very helpful along with supplements careful diet, environment and all else we could do to eliminate known tic triggers. My son also found acupuncture therapy very helpful. The therapist we used was experienced with TS

[Chemar]

On 12/30/2019 at 9:25 AM, Michele310 said:

Hi Chemar, 

totally appreciate it.  Was the doctor a Tourette’s specialist? How old is your son and how is he now? Best, Michele

Hi again Michele,

I seem to have missed this post when you made it. Sorry!

Yes our physician was experienced with TS and was an Integrative Physician. (Fully qualified MD and also NeuroPsych specialist but also trained in more complementary/natural medicine)

My son is now in his 30s and doing well. His TS/OCD was at it's worst in his preteen-early teen years.

[Michele310]

I really appreciate all of your comments especially about the supplements. I have heard that a lot of this Tourette’s and OCD is interrelated. I actually think diet is a huge contributor as well. Unfortunately, my daughter is so difficult and oppositional but she absolutely refuses to do or try anything I ask her to do. I can sometimes get her to take the Calm magnesium gummy‘s and once in a while DHA. I seriously doubt I’ll be able to get her to take the L carnitine but you never know.  I have to make everything conditional and play these games and it’s very exhausting. She has been diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder and yet she comes from a very stable loving family with two Parents. This does not run in our family however I do have OCD and had an eating disorder when I was younger. I still tend to be rather compulsive but I have directed it towards good things like exercise.

 

We have a son as well and I often think he is much more mature than my daughter.Thank God he plays overwatch wearing headphones. A couple of times I told my daughter that his friends could hear her and their parents want to send somebody over to see if everything’s OK. That usually stops a tics for a little bit as well

Oh, by the way we tried Abilify for a year and she gained about 20 pounds in two months. Not worth it.

She does have severe anxiety and is on Prozac. Her anxiety was so bad when she was little that we didn’t even know it was anxiety we thought it was anger issues. Fight or flight? She was all fight. . She did have the RAGE that was so common with Tourette’s. We had no support medically and I had to figure all the stuff out by myself with my own research. She is under the care of a psychiatrist who is not a trance specialist, however she is following protocol from my research

 

. Even though we’re still dealing with a screaming tic things are a lot better , and I am pretty sure that she’s going to be just fine when she gets a little older. However, no one would believe what we have been through unless they experienced it and I’m sure you all understand. My daughter actually gets mad at us from we plug our ears yet apologizes to her friends when she occasionally lets out a little peep. It is very frustrating.  I keep thinking I should get her to try to control it at home yet I am not sure how to make it sound like it’s not a punishment. Or that we don’t like her. She refuses to go to another therapist which is also very frustrating. Hi do you know of a therapist near us that specializes in Tourette’s and would like her to eventually go see her however she refuses to talk to her. And her defense, before we knew what was going on she did see a therapist he was just awful so I don’t think she will ever trust one that we refer her toThe best thing for her sometimes is my husband holding her and hugging her. At night before bed it completely eliminates her tics helps her sleep.   I believe it is a lot of anxiety and stress to that causes this behavior. I hope that my story helps some of you out there

[Michele310]

Sorry about the ramble, I was using voice text and pressed send before I edit it