TS and Allergies?

[kkver]

Ok this thread tells me the reason for explosion of tics of my son. Santa Ana winds kicked in so Cal and they brings in lot of allergies as they flow from east to west towards the ocean. He went out for some time and by evening He was constantly clearing throat . I was thinking it was allergy but the mag + cal provided some help .I guess i will have to watch this trigger as I had stopped Zertac after his Tics started as His allergy and Asthma doc suggested not to use it.

[faith]

Just curious about a few things concerning allergies .........

 

kkver,

did you ever start giving the zyrtec again as you stated above that you had stopped? Could you let us know how the allergy situation stands?

 

Itsme,

You stated your son tested high on grasses and trees? Does he get any allergy med? And do they seem to work?

 

Kim, does your son still take any allergy meds? How is that going for him?

 

Also, any one who uses zyrtec, claritin, etc.,-- was it prescribed because they had obvious respiratory allergy symptoms, and does it also help with tics?

 

Thanks

Faith

[kim]

Hi Faith,

 

Yes, my oldest son is still taking zyrtec and honestly, I don't think the supplements have made much difference in his allergies. I thought they were, until just recently, now...... I think not. It may just be the time of year, but he was back to square one, without his zyrtec. No tics, just itching and moody.

 

I did a stupid thing over the holiday weekend. We ran out. I called first thing Tues. morning to get a refill on his prescription (he hadn't had any since Sat. morning). By the time he got home from school, he was itching from head to toe, literally. He said "even my toes itch." The itching, was the only thing that tipped us off, to his allergies in the first place. He never had the classic symptoms of watery eyes, sneezing etc. I really believe the histamine was affecting his moods, at the time these allergies were discovered, with conventional allergy testing.

 

I think there was a discussion recently about corn and seasonal allergies. I wanted to mention that he was positive for corn pollen, along with mold, dustmites, every kind of tree grass and weed, cats, just about everything on the list

[faith]

Kim,

thanks. Okay, just to clarify, his allergy symptom is mostly itching (and you do believe you notice mood changes?). The zyrtec helps with those symptoms? I think what I want to know is if the medication (it is prescription, right?) has any effect on tics--I mean cause more due to whatever is in that allergy med? Did you ever come to feel that even though this helped with the itching, etc., that it blocked histamine response and thus he had less or milder (or none) tics?

 

I'm glad you and Patty were saying on the other thread about your experiences of waxing and waning, namely waxing being milder and shorter lived than before? That is something I constantly worry about. If I see something, I freeze in my tracks and am scared this will be the beginning of something bigger. So its good to hear that, it gives us more confidence and hope that it is possible to just have mild tics here and there and not be worried sick, and start to second guess all we are doing.

 

Now, just to note the method to my madness about this, the other day my son seemed to be making way more sounds than I was used to. And I noticed some eye twitching in the evening. Now, I accompanied his class on that farm trip I mentioned previously, and he was fine the whole time. Didn't observe anything in the tic dept. But after school, he was doing it so much more. (Now I don't think it had anything to do with the farm, although I could be wrong, all they did was learn about planting seeds, and the fields didn't have any corn planted yet.) BUT, I noticed his nose was stuffed up while reading before bed, and it got me thinking that my husband was mowing the lawn just as he was coming home from school, and then a friend was over and they were in and out. (I'm not worried about the stuffy nose, just putting two and two together and thinking that environmental allergies maybe DO increase his tics.) My suspicion is the freshly cut grass kicked up stome stuff? That was Tuesday, and he seems better now. So that's my story, and I'm wondering if some allergy type med would be a good trial for him, but wanted to know others experiences with that. Call me crazy, but he does have a neutralization spray, but I have mentioned before, somehow I don't like it, and was thinking THAT increased the tics, since it does have minute dilution of what he tested allergic to, and my feeling is that it takes time to become immune to it? so I havn't been giving it..............??? Any thoughts?

 

 

Faith

[kim]

Did you ever come to feel that even though this helped with the itching, etc., that it blocked histamine response and thus he had less or milder (or none) tics?

 

Yes Faith, I do think controlling histime levels are MAJOR for my oldest son. Directly or indirectly he is much better when he is not an allergy mess! Again, I'm just a little disappointed, and that's probably not realistic, that the allergies haven't lessened.

 

It seems like everything takes time in this whole process. Nothing happens overnight, so you can't say that any one thing like allergy control, digestive enzymes, extra mag (although it looks like many are getting fast results there) vitamins, fishoil, raising zinc levels etc. really did the trick. By the time you are thinking how well they are doing, the phrase "outgrowing" starts creeping in. I don't believe that at all, especially looking at my youngest son. We have seen no increase in tics at an age when you might expect it. My 14 year old made it through the last couple of years quite well too.

 

I really believe that the knot that forms in your stomach when you see tics flairing, will never completly go away. It's just the fear of the unknown. I get a little more comfortable every month though! But you have to remember, I have a son who still doesn't eat anywhere near normally, and that is as big of a concern as tics. Sometimes, it's actually harder, since his tics were blinky, shoulder shrugging gentle tics. Only one period of head shaking and whole body type tics (abdominal ). That was the lowest point in my life, honestly. He appears to be more chemically sensitive, and less seasonal allergy sen. than older son.

 

Faith, if you are thinking that your son is reacting to things like freshly cut grass, you might want to try a little Benedryl. When the boys Pediatrician kept telling me that oldest son was itching from winter dryness, and he would feel better in the spring, when doors and windows were open, I gave him Benedryl for a while. It did help. I know you want to know if it helped tics, and again, I can't say that I remember tics being the big problem at that time, but I wasn't focusing on that either.

 

I remember one night, he was itching so bad, and he whipped one of his school books across the room, and asked me to leave the room. He said "this is embarassing." He was rocking on two chair legs (you know how kids tip on desk chairs) just sort of rocking and holding his head. It scared the daylights outta me. That's when I picked him up from school and marched into the Dr.s office, and demanded a referral to an allergist. It makes me furious to think back on, even now. Sorry, getting off topic here!

[faith]

Kim,

thanks for that reply. Yea, I guess that's what I'm trying to figure, if using something like Benydryl would help out with histamine response, if that's what is happening. Being that it is a med, I don't want to cause any other problems. Just as a note, I had a follow-up visit with our naturopath and I mentioned about that experience of the day with more tics after school and my husband cutting the lawn, and I specifically asked if allergies and histamine response could have an effect (trigger) the tics, and she said "absolutely". So, I mean, I know that we all are slowly learning that, but it was good to hear my own doc reiterate that for me, because we had never really talked about it. Right now, we are going to do the wait and see, but she did tell me of a natural product that she uses there (called D-Hist, I think) that as she explained that works on stopping the mast cells from releasing histamine in the first place, rather than the way an "antihistimine" works. Forgive my explanation, but that was the gist of it.

 

I like what you say about not one thing being the answer for all of this -- I have to come to understand that all these things we talk about are all things that seem to be important and the easiest way to explain it that our kids bodies need to be in balance, and anything that may compromise the immune system or agitate the nervous system is what we need to work on. Could be so many things, the human body and its systems are quite complex. That is why there are so many areas of concern and so many topics to touch on--there are so many things in today's world that are having adverse effects on our health. So when a newbie signs on and doesn't know where to begin, sometimes I don't even know what to tell them, because it all depends on what is the key for their child--in other words--what are the issues that are causing an imbalance or compromising their immune response? I am still on this path myself. On the outside, it may look like they are perfectly healthy, but obviously the tics are a "symptom" of something awry, and yea, it is a bit of challenge to find what it could be......

 

Now I AM getting off topic And I am so glad to hear you state that your boys have seemed to sail through the last couple of years without too much strife, although they do have mild tics here and there? Again, that should help us all to breathe a little easier (although not sure I ever will ) that someone who is dilligently practicing what we preach is having a positive effect.

 

Faith