Supplements and diet plans

[shga]

I just ordered Sheila's new book from Amazon and received it yesterday. I had read most of it by last night and am very intrigued and willing to try. My 10 year old son has had TS since 5 and as statistics show it has become more severe now that he is 10. It was comforting to read all of the stories in the book as well as your forums because my family and I have been dealing with this alone for 5 years and our stories are the same as yours. It has been completely manageable up until the last few months and is still not what I would call severe but still disturbing and I worry about what is yet to come. My primary goal is to make sure my son stays a happy, well adjusted kid and that TS does not make him depressed.

 

So, I got up this morning ready to start by omitting milk products, dyed foods, wheat, eggs, juice drinks, etc from his diet as well as the family. I thought we would tackle this together. I had no idea what to fix for breakfast or to pack for his lunch. I thought we would try this for two weeks and see what happens. Does anyone have a food plan to share or a website that I can go to for what to give my son to eat?

 

I am also intrigued by the supplements but again do not know which to use or how much to give him. He also suffers from a mild case of OCD. We currently have him taking a half a pill of Zoloft a day for the OCD in hopes that if it alleviates some of his stress the tics might decrease as an added bonus. The Zoloft seems to be working well for the OCD. He says he does not have any "thoughts" anymore. As to if it is helping the tics-I do not really know. So taking into consideration he is on Zoloft does anyone have any suggestions about the mulitvitamins, magnesium, vitamin c, etc? I plan to clear all this through his psychiatrist.

 

My son also loves to play Playstation and computer games so I dread trying to put a halt to that. Any suggestions? I thought maybe I would sit down with him and aks him which he would rather-video games or no tics and put him in control. I am going to ease into this but I am game. I look forward to ckecking in with this group on a regular basis from now on.

 

One last thing, are there any national conferences that any of you have attended and found helpful?

[Chemar]

hi shga and welcome:)

 

great that you are reading Sheila's book!

 

I am working at present so cant answer in depth but would suggest you start reading threads here and this will hopefully give you lots to work from

 

finding a good doctor to guide you on all this is IMHO essential...DAN, Integrative, Environmental, Holistic, Naturopath, DO are usually most open and experienced

 

will be back later to give you some more info

hopefully others will post in the meantime

 

glad to have you here

[Guest]

Hi shga,

 

As far as eliminating foods, I sugest taking it one step at a time. Deleting all the foods at once can be kind of a shock. I would suggest making up a 2 weeks menu and having all the ingredients and recipes your going to start with planned out before starting to remove these foods. Health food stores contain mixes that are free of milk, dye, wheat, and other common food allergens. You may have to make food from scratch. Here are some good websites to start with:

 

Here's a topic I replied to about good mixes free of several common allergy foods: http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?...62&hl=Roben

 

An online store for food allergies that you can click on the ingredients that you need to avoid: http://www.missroben.com/

 

Dana's View Website-a website that includes lunch ideas for gluten and dairy free lunches, some may or may not be fit for being egg free: http://www.danasview.net/lunch.htm

 

Also check out Dana's main page as theres lots of other info on gluten & dairy free if you scroll down to diet: http://www.danasview.net/parent3.htm#diet

 

Here's a link with many other links to gluten & dairy free diet information: http://www.cbcutah.net/New%20Patient%20Res...GFCF%20Diet.htm

 

There are several other good webpages too, but I hope this helps for you to get started reading up on things so you have some ideas of what to fix.

 

As for national conferences, the National Tourette Syndrome Association does have conferences every two years. That last one was in April of 2006, so the next one won't be until 2008. I've been to three of them. In my personal opinion the TSA conferences are good for getting general information about what tourette syndrome is, how to deal with it, and making connections with other individuals/families, etc. However, in my personal opinion they are not a good source for learning about natural treatments like we do here. Hopefully they will eventually catch on to what our group here discusses and has had good results with.

 

Carolyn

[Cum Passus]

shga,

 

Welcome!

 

I'm sure this will be easier for you then some of us who had the TS explode overnight. Wanted to share some of the food ideas that my son ate during his 3 weeks of no egg, wheat, dairy. Does your son like fruits and vegys? My son ate salads with cold organic chix, and homemade dressing. We grilled him chix legs and wings the night before school and he ate those also, cold.(like a picnic) He loves babyback ribs so also grilled that with homemade BBQ sauce. He would eat those off the floor if he had to, he loves them so much. Stocked up on fruit from costco, and made lots of fruit salads. My husband and I would spend Sundays making a big batch of pancakes froze them and heated them in the mornings for breakfast.(used non wheat flour) Oatmeal with raw honey and cinnamon he ate it but always a last choice. Doesn't care for oatmeal much I would mush some bananas in it sometimes too. Made homemade smoothies for dessert. Did the Rice Dream ice cream too.

 

Good Luck,

C.P.

[shga]

Wow, I am so glad to have found you all. What amazing response time and amazing suggestions. I am headed to the grocery store now. My son is a fruit junky fortunately but I read in Sheila's book that apples and oranges may not be good for TS any experience with this as he loves both?

[Cum Passus]

shga,

 

Our Integrative Dr. had oranges excluded but I'm not sure why, it was from a comprehesive elimination diet guideline she uses for all her patients. Not sure about the apples, but the golden delicious is low in salicylates.

That reminded me of homemade spiced apples I baked for him. Yummy warm with the Rice Dream. Also did a snack of avocado smashed he could only eat potato chips with it. Oh yes homemade hash browns good too if he likes them.

 

I'm sure I'll think of more,

C.P

 

ps. If you want to know how I prepared anything let me know.

[Laurensmom]

My primary goal is to make sure my son stays a happy, well adjusted kid and that TS does not make him depressed.

 

That of course is an excellent goal.

 

So, I got up this morning ready to start by omitting milk products, dyed foods, wheat, eggs, juice drinks, etc from his diet as well as the family. I thought we would tackle this together. I had no idea what to fix for breakfast or to pack for his lunch. I thought we would try this for two weeks and see what happens. Does anyone have a food plan to share or a website that I can go to for what to give my son to eat?

 

If you feel there is merit to the idea of cutting these foods, you may want to try a "zone" type diet for your family? http://www.zoneperfect.com/nutrition_getting_zone.aspx I don't know that I'd rush into it as it can be a bit of an adjustment? You may want to start slow by eliminating one food group at a time?

 

I am also intrigued by the supplements but again do not know which to use or how much to give him. He also suffers from a mild case of OCD. We currently have him taking a half a pill of Zoloft a day for the OCD in hopes that if it alleviates some of his stress the tics might decrease as an added bonus. The Zoloft seems to be working well for the OCD. He says he does not have any "thoughts" anymore. As to if it is helping the tics-I do not really know. So taking into consideration he is on Zoloft does anyone have any suggestions about the mulitvitamins, magnesium, vitamin c, etc? I plan to clear all this through his psychiatrist.

 

I'm glad that the Zoloft is helping. Inositol is a natural supplement found to be very helpful for OCD if you ever decide to go another route.

 

My son also loves to play Playstation and computer games so I dread trying to put a halt to that. Any suggestions? I thought maybe I would sit down with him and aks him which he would rather-video games or no tics and put him in control. I am going to ease into this but I am game. I look forward to ckecking in with this group on a regular basis from now on.

 

I would definitely put him in control, and tell him that every kid is different. As others will note, tics for HIM may have nothing to do with tv/video games? But, you can certainly see if he wants to experiment? I'd say the more you can let him lead and give HIM choices the better. I always tell my daughter "the tics don't bother me, unless they bother you." You can also share with him some of the stories you read and ask him if he's willing to alter his diet to see if he has a reduction in tics?

 

Just to be clear, haven't read the ACN book as of yet, and I am a bit of skeptic on some of these solutions. And, as such, my perspective may differ from some? But, I respect any parent who's primary goal is "to make sure my son stays a happy, well adjusted kid" and I think that's the case for all of us.

 

[Ronnas]

I believe quite strongly in food sensitivities but obviously it was a huge key for us in the beginning. Every child is different though and what works for one may not be the answer for another. In our situation milk (casein) was a trigger for tics FOR SURE! Not only does dairy increase my son's tics, he also became hyper and "weepy" with dairy. Corn, eggs and chocolate were also triggers, he seemed fine with gluten. In the beginning I chose to do a single food elimination diet...this takes more time but was much easier to deal with. Basically I would eliminate one thing for about 10 days and then reintroduce and see what his reaction was. We ended up eliminating milk, corn, eggs and chocolate for about a year and got rid of any other junk (fruit roll-ups etc.). After that time we reintroduced things slowly...for example, eggs at Sunday morning brunch only etc...and then corn slowly etc. We re-introduced dairy last and he does tolerate it now as long as it is not too much...pizza is ok now once in awhile and milk with cereal etc...although I would never give him chocolate milk or tons of ice cream for example. I just stay out of the "junk" aisles at the grocery store, my kids don't miss what they don't see!

 

TV/video games was also a trigger, but it was easier to eliminate these as my kids were younger. We do have a PS2 but the kids are so busy they just don't have much time to care whether they play it.

 

We did also use supplements, essential fatty acids (not fish oil), probiotics etc. It was all a bit of work at the time but I was blessed that he could swallow pills easily and was not a picky eater at all.

 

Anyways, my advice would be to take it all a bit slow, make only one change at a time, keep a diary because after time goes by it is hard to remember what you have done and when.

 

Take Care,

Ronna

[Chemar]

hi again

 

just a couple of additional things to note

 

if he is on zoloft , he certainly can take vitamins and minerals, but should avoid things that also increase serotonin, as the zoloft is already doing that....so Inositol, 5HTP, st john's wort etc usually taken for OCD and depression should be avoided

 

also,there are some documented cases of zoloft actually CAUSING TICS, tho from your post it would seem that the tics started some time before he started the zoloft

 

when it came to elimination of things, my son was really amazing in how he worked with me on this. thankfully for him, regular food was not a problem, tho we did do some elimination of first dairy and then gluten just to be sure ( we also had food and environmental allergy testing done)

 

it was crystal clear that artificial food additives set his tics and OCD off big time and so his compliance on that elimination was relatively easy

 

altho certain types of screen stuff does make him tic more (flashing, explosive light changes etc) there I allowed him to make his own choice. I ensured that he has LCD monitors and daylight lamps to minimise the impact. But his tic response to screens is relatively mild compared to other triggers...and the stress it caused him at the thought of having to eliminate was greater than the tic factor and so he self regulates on this..........choosing what he plays/watches with more care and not doing so for long stretches

 

He very seldom goes to the cinema, as that is a far bigger trigger for him than TV or computer monitors

The combination of the darkened room with flashing screen, loud sound and all the chemical and perfume smells that exist in the theatre are a major trigger for him

[Cum Passus]

shga,

 

If you get organic tapioca (in a blue box ) called "Lets do... organic." there is a recipe for tapioca pudding made with coconut milk on the box. I had a hard time with the after school snacks and the pudding might be helpful. This sounds weird but my son ate hamburgers after school. Just the patty with lettuce, tomato, onion,and mustard no bread. We grilled more then a dozen froze them and heated when he was hungry. It helped because he had to rush off to baseball practice, and that held him over until dinner.

 

C.P.