Eye roll

[crazy]

It's been awhile since I have been on here regarding my 15 year old son. His main tic is eye blinking. I figured that he would begin to outgrow this by now but hasn't. He does take Trokendi along with Magnesium, B6 p-5-p. For the most part they are very mild and tolerable. Since puberty he does have tics everyday compared to before puberty. He has started a new tic, it sort of an eye roll. He looks up to the side or down to the side a lot! Not a good one to start the school year! Teachers are going to think that he is rolling his eyes at them. I remember reading in the past something that was helpful with eye rolls, I believe an amino acid. I can't find the information on here. Any information would be appreciated.

[lbee]

This may not apply to you. But I stumbled across this by pure luck and by golly it worked for me! My daughter had the worst eye rolling tic. Thank goodness it went away for many months but a few weeks ago it seemed to come back.

I also noticed at the time her eyes seemed red and just generally dry. (I also have dry eyes). I came across this article that discusses certain genetic mutations that don't allow vitamin A to be properly absorbed and b/c of that you can get dry eyes and so you need a vitamin A supplement. Since I had already run my daughters 23andMe I was able to check the SNP's and sure enough she had the exact mutations as in this article. So I pumped her full of carrots and sweet potato and liver And sure enough within a few days the eye roll disappeared..... Even my hubby was shocked.

 

I think her dry eyes were triggering her eye rolling tic. Could be a coincidence but the timing seems pretty unlikely.

 

http://suzycohen.com/articles/dryeyesolutions/

[crazy]

Ibee,

That's really impressive that you were able to figure it out. I've never found a specific trigger other than caffeine, stress, and lack of sleep.

I have read in the past that NAC, l-carnatine, and GABA can help with eye roll tics. I have no idea which to start with and dosages. My son I think would get adult dosages because he is 15 and 160 lbs.

He went to acupuncture last year, overall he had success. He is not willing to go at this time due to football practice after school. He is very competitive!

I'm a worried mom as usual. He starts school tomorrow with a strong eye roll tic and a slight lisp due to getting his braces off and needing to wear a retainer for 2 weeks both day and night. Not a great combo for a tough guy like him. I have wondered if getting the braces off made him tic.... I would think the opposite. Anymore input on possible supplements would be great.

[Chemar]

Hi

Have you had his eyes tested? My son had strong eye rolling as one of his earliest tics and when he began wearing prescription glasses it really helped a lot. Also avoiding fluorescent, flickering and flashing lights helped.

 

Many parents have also reported that removing dairy helped eye tics, but that was not the case for my son.

 

Magenesium(supplement & Epsom baths) and accupuncture really were his "go to" treatments when tics ramped up....

[lbee]

We had DD's eyes checked a couple times before we knew eye rolling was a tic....this was how she started. The doctors found nothing. We too reduced screen time as well.

 

Chemar, did acupuncture actually reduce the tics? Or did it just help alleviate the discomfort from the tic repetition? When I inquired about acupuncture, the practitioner did ask me what the 'cause' of her tics were.... was it neurological, autoimmune, nutritional? He said the nature of the cause guided the treatment.... I wasn't sure how to answer him since we can't really know the cause.... so I stopped looking into it. But I would like to revisit it.

 

How old was your son when the tics really subsided?

[crazy]

He had an eye exam in July and his prescription stayed the same. He does wear contacts. What is a good dose for magnesium? He takes 220 mg. of Magnasorb, higher doses in the past gave him loose bowel movements.

 

I do feel we had general success with accupunture. He went once a week for several weeks. I began to notice a difference somewhat early in the process. He was embarrassed to go and told no one. The clinic does not have very late hours so he is not willing to leave football practice early to go. The one thing I noticed is he flared up with tics within hours of the appointment and was better by morning. Once he had improvement we spread out the appointments. He stopped going in the spring when baseball started and was fine. At the first appointment she did ask a lot of questions to help determine the points for the needles. Every time after that she did a quick rundown on what issues he may be having.

[Chemar]

 

 

Chemar, did acupuncture actually reduce the tics? Or did it just help alleviate the discomfort from the tic repetition? When I inquired about acupuncture, the practitioner did ask me what the 'cause' of her tics were.... was it neurological, autoimmune, nutritional? He said the nature of the cause guided the treatment.... I wasn't sure how to answer him since we can't really know the cause.... so I stopped looking into it. But I would like to revisit it.

 

How old was your son when the tics really subsided?

 

Yes, acupuncture actually reduced the tics (and OCD too) We knew my son was dealing with hereditary TS

 

My son's tics were very severe initially (age 9-10) until we started natural treatments (around age 11) and they had reduced significantly within a year after that. They have never totally subsided, but most people who did not know him before do not even know he tics, that is how mild and insigificant they have become.

[lbee]

 

 

 

Chemar, did acupuncture actually reduce the tics? Or did it just help alleviate the discomfort from the tic repetition? When I inquired about acupuncture, the practitioner did ask me what the 'cause' of her tics were.... was it neurological, autoimmune, nutritional? He said the nature of the cause guided the treatment.... I wasn't sure how to answer him since we can't really know the cause.... so I stopped looking into it. But I would like to revisit it.

 

How old was your son when the tics really subsided?

 

Yes, acupuncture actually reduced the tics (and OCD too) We knew my son was dealing with hereditary TS

 

My son's tics were very severe initially (age 9-10) until we started natural treatments (around age 11) and they had reduced significantly within a year after that. They have never totally subsided, but most people who did not know him before do not even know he tics, that is how mild and insigificant they have become.

 

I think I will look into the acupuncture again. Right now her tics are mild. No one would know. I have no idea for certain what's going on with her. In February her tics were extremely noticeable. We tested positive for strep and we started abx. She flared dramatically after each dose until all the tics/ocd calmed right down and most went away. Of course, I also started diet interventions at the same time.

 

So while I strongly believe her triggers are infectious ... I do have a maternal aunt who had terrible tics and trichotillomania when she was young and said she outgrew it in her 20's. Her kids (my cousins) have nothing (maybe a little add). So I know we must have the genetic predisposition for it.... But I can't 100% say for certain if it's genetic TS or PANDAS... though the docs all say it's PANDAS.

[crazy]

Well I'm back again due to my sons eye rolls. They are really intense. I have no idea how he can see. He is not dairy or gluten free, I assume they aren't a trigger since he has gone months without tics while consuming those foods. He is a typical teenager and I have lost control of his diet, he just doesn't care. He is starting to lie a lot and is having some anger issues. He has plenty of stress but that is hard to remove. He hates his father (my husband), they are not very nice to each other. After 20 years of marriage I may need to leave him, he is an awful father. That's an entirely different story!

 

I really need advice on supplements that can help detox the junk food out of his diet, he won't take magnesium baths anymore. I also could use advice on supplements that have helped with eye rolls.

 

Please help, this is tearing me up. 😰

[Guest]

My son who was about 12 at the time started out having the eye roll. I took him to a neurologist and was diagnosed with a tic disorder and he told me he would grow out of it when he's done going through puberty. Just today I stumbled on an article regarding children with a gluten allergy and how many of them have different types of tics. Not long after his tic problems were addressed, he was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. As I look back now, the tics seem to diminish and some stopped completely after I put him on a gluten free diet. Though the neuro doctor put him on Guanfacine, I cant be 100% sure the gluten free diet was more a benefit to him then the meds. After reading up on the possible tie between tics and gluten, In my opinion it's totally possible that his first signs of gluten allergy were his tics. There are so many kids that have different reactions to gluten and that was one of them.

 

Regarding kids with tics and going to school, I highly suggest you contact the principal and the teachers and inform them of the situation. We had a 504 meeting, a tic disorder is considered a disability and they will call together all the people involved in your child's day. If they need extra time for work they will give it to them, they even will let them step outside the classroom until they feel comfortable in continuing their class work. My son didn't need that necessarily but with the eye roll I didn't want them to think he was being disrespectful. My son is 14 now and only every once in awhile do I see an eye roll. I will be contacting his doctors and might look into taking him off the meds.

 

Btw, this is my first time here and trying to respond to a post I sure hope I got it figured out..

 

Best to All,

Cheri