We eliminated tics with 100% organic diet!

[Pippi]

I am new to this forum, but I want to share our success story with eliminating 99.9% of tics with my daughter. I noticed my daughters tics last year, when she had just turned nine. It started with shoulder shrugging and throat clearing and blinking. It then moved onto hopping, jumping and arm jerking. She would often drop things and had trouble reading since she snapped her head back sharply and her hands jerked the pages until they tore. She would swing her arms and accidentally hit people in stores.

 

We did research, went to neurologists, tried supplements, gluten free, dairy free, cranio sacral therapy, etc. She had braces on her teeth, so we had them removed. No change.

 

Then one day this fall we went apple picking at an orchard. That day, and for almost two weeks afterwards, she had the worst tics ever. It got me thinking about pesticides. So we tried an organic diet. After two weeks on it, there was dramatic difference, but still tics. Then we realized: We had to do organic 100%, down to the spices and the soy sauce and vitamins. Everything that she eats or drinks has to be completely organic. And it works!!! Since we have tried this, she is essentially tic-free. When she has a tic, it is mild. Usually we can pinpoint it to a food she ate, like a treat at a school birthday. When this happens, we help her detox with an Epsom salt bath. We have been on this diet for 6 months so I am confident that this is not a matter of waxing and waning.

 

This diet is not easy. It's not cheap. It completely inconvenient. It means that we have to home-cook every meal. We can't eat out. Ever. We pack snacks, lunches drinks etc. Despite the inconvenience, I am beyond happy that we found the trigger.

 

I truly hope this helps someone else!!

[3bmom]

Thanks for sharing!

 

We found a big difference too. Went out for Mother's Day and made healthy choices but we came home with some irritability the next morning probably from hidden MSG.

[mar]

Pippi congrats and I totally agree with you. I had and have the same situation where diet completely helped my kids. You found the triggers and am so happy for you and your child! It is hard work but when you see results it is truly priceless and totally worth it! I do the same with packing and home cooked meals but the benefits are amazing.

[Sheila]

Pippi, your report on treating tics with an organic diet is very inspiring!

 

You were a real trooper to try several interventions and not give up.

 

It can be so helpful to have an experience that serves as a big wake up call, like the apple orchard (conventional apples being the #1 worst produce for pesticide contamination.). Imagine if you'd never gone there! Fortunately, you were the type of mother who put two and two together. So many others would have just moved on without making the connection.

 

As you no doubt know, pesticides are neurotoxins--so they should be avoided by everyone as much as possible, especially those with Tourette's.

 

So happy for your family! I'm sending you a private message (PM)

 

Sheila

[my2sons]

Pipi, did your daughter have food sensitiviites when you went 100% organic? Do you eat only grass fed, free roaming chicken, beef, pork, etc? We have been trying to avoid GMO's so we eat about 80 to 85% organic but I just read an article that even grass fed, free roaming meats are sprayed with a GMO corn based lactic acid when processed and that people who are trying to eat 100% clean diet are reacting to this. It is so frustrating trying to eat TRULY clean. It seems nothing is safe. I feel like every time I get a handle on my DS's diet I find out something harmful about some other food item and have to eliminate something else. My DS has a pretty limited diet right now. I want to feed him 100% healthy organic foods. He can eat so little now but I am scared to start adding back in the organic version of the things he previously reacted to: Oranges make him tic, blackberries make him extremely ADHD, he reacts to tomatos, corn, soy, dairy, coconut, cocoa, zuchinni, onion, chicken, turkey, eggs, tumeric, paprika, nutmeg, vanilla,bananas, papaya, apples, grapes, strawberries, green beans, brocolli, cashews, almonds. I guess what I want to know is did your daughter have food sensitivities and if so, did going organic make a difference there too? Did she ract to the non organic apple, but not the organic apple?

Edited May 16, 2014 by my2sons

[Pippi]

My2sons,

We are vegetarian, so I don't have any experience with organics meats. That's terrible that they are spraying them with gmo during processing, how frustrating!

 

We have found that we thought that she was sensitive to certain foods. We thought that she couldn't have dairy because she seemed sensitive. We also thought for a while that it was the gluten. Soy seemed to cause her to react. What we have found, is that it is just the pesticides, but not the food. She is so severely sensitive to pesticides, that even if she has a small exposure, she will tic. Fruit of all kinds is a big trigger, especially apples. She also has a huge reaction to potatoes that are non-organic. This includes potato flour in bread for instance. Corn is also a huge trigger. Nuts, as well.

 

Now she has no food restrictions at all. She can eat anything as long as it is 100% organic. If she accidentally eats anything that is not organic, especially fruit or potatoes, she will tic until it leaves her system, about two weeks. Some foods only cause her tics for about three days. Now that we have been extremely strict about her diet for several months, she seems to be healing and her body reacts less strongly when exposed to pesticides. Last summer her tics were constant and complex. The longest time between tics was less than two seconds. It was terrible. When we were eating mostly organic, we saw very little change. It wasn't until we went 100% until we actually saw a huge difference. It took a long time to realize what things we kept accidentally eating without realizing. Once we bought organic spices, and organic vitamins, etc, we saw that the tics completely went away.

 

What I realize is that since certain foods are treated with more pesticides than others, we started to think that it was those particular foods that were the trigger. What we found was that it was the pesticides themselves. She eats any kind of fruits, nuts, dairy, corn, eggs, vegetables, etc without reaction.

 

Also, we noticed a huge difference in her impulse control with no pesticides! I hope this helps!

[Chemar]

Once my son got the MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) diagnosis it explained SO much on why he was reactive to so many things that had chemical additives, and why we saw extreme triggering when he had been exposed to chemicals in food or the environment. It also explained his acute sensitivity to medications.

 

Going organic and additive free in our food and not using pesticides or other chemicals in our yard, home or toiletries made a HUGE difference, even before we knew what the cause of his reactivity was.

 

 

It's great to read your success story Pippi

[TeamTyrion]

Hi Pippi,

This is so inspiring! I love hearing success stories. Of note, I find it really interesting that it had to be 100% organic to make a difference. This really gets me thinking twice about my 80/20 rule, and all those times I allow us to go out to eat, and give in when people offer my son non-organic food.

 

Can you tell me what organic brand of vitamins/supplements you use? I don't think ANY of our supplements (fish oil, magnesium, B complex) are organic.

 

Thanks for sharing your story!

Edited May 23, 2014 by teamtyrion