New here, need some advice please!

[MOMandDAD]

Hello, I've been reading through the forum to get some advice for my 9 year old son. First I would like to point out that he's always had a stuttering issue since he was little, he would get so excited about what he wants to say that his words doesn't all come out clearly. He's had the heavy blinking on and off now for years, but last nov. at a birthday party i noticed he started shaking his head! I had no idea what tics were at the time so I took him in to our pediatrician who told me that it was a tic. She said it would go away and not to pay any attention to it. So that's what we did, a week later the head shaking was gone. But then just 5 weeks ago we went to another birthday party, and sure enough the head shaking came back again! This time it seems a lot stronger than last time. It's really strange because there wasn't anything at the party that he doesn't usually eat, I'm thinking it could be the excitement of it.

 

Anyway here I am, it's really hard for me to look at him without tearing, I keep hoping I'll wake up one morning and this was all just a bad dream! I've read through this forum and followed some advice, I started him on Calm Mag, fish oil and epsom baths...(tried b-complex but had a bad reaction) but nothing seems to help so far. I've taken him to get an allergy test and showed sensitivity to wheat, milk, oats, nuts, grass, dust mites and dog dander. I started eliminating all the food sensitivities he has, it's been 3 weeks and still no change. We started seeing an enviromental doctor who will start his allergy drops next week, and has also recommended doing an alternative diet. I also started taking him to the chiropractor, he's had 3 sessions so far but I haven't seen any improvement in him at all.

 

I would like to know if there's anything I missed? Is there anything else I can try? He starts school in the middle of August and I'm so desperate to help him as I know how mean kids and sometimes adults can be! None of us wants our kids to get teased in school.

If anyone has any advice please let me know, thanks so much in advance...

[janey]

Hi there,

 

I'm new here too. My son, who is 8, had a blinking tic, then a throat clearing tic, and now he has a nose twitch. I've started my son on Natural Calm, B vitamins, and Omega 3-6-9. I've also added vitamin E and evening primrose oil. I've read that the amino acid Taurine is supposed to be good, but I'm not sure how much to give. I know that for my son, who currently has a nose twitch, that eliminating TV and Gameboy have had a great improvement. I've been reading that most TS patients had a great improvement when stopping electronics. Maybe your son can benefit from eliminating these as well???

[Caryn]

Mom and Dad,

Welcome! You will find a lot of good advice here. Just a thought about birthday parties and ticcing-- we saw the worst ticcing whenever our son attended parties as well-- wasn't until later on after reading some posts here about tartrazine (yellow dye #5) that I learned how damaging it was for my son. (Chemar wrote a beautiful post about it for me.) Do an internal search for old threads. I suspect your son is reacting to the food coloring that is so prevalent at these parties-- heck it is in the frosting, usually the juice cartons they serve, could be the pop if he's drinking anything orange, would be in the goldfish if they are colored. It is in all gummy bear candies, fruit chews, etc... Heck, I even found it in the store bought potato salad!!!!!!

Just a thought. My son doesn't touch the stuff anymore. We read all labels, and if I don't know, we avoid it like the plague.

Just my two cents.

[CarolynN]

Mom and Dad,

 

My son Daniel has had noticable tics since he was three. We have narrowed his sensitivites to four main things. Yellow 5, MSG (Huge problem for him and it is under many names. You may want to research all the names. I am realizing he has greatly increased tics after just one exposure for up to a week), Red 40, and High Fructose Corn Syrup.

 

I also wanted to mention we have had success in treating Daniels other allergies with a system similiar to NAET. My doctor in Phoenix does something called NEAT (they do more allergies in one session), but I don't know if anyone else across the U.S. does it this way. You can research NAET and see that it has been effective for many people.

 

Also my son Daniel is on Bonnie Grimaldi's TS-Plus and they have been very effective. If he is having reaction to B complex I don't know how they would do for him because it has A LOT of B's. You order them from her and she has a web page. The problem is getting it him. We mix it in peanut butter. It is the only thing we have found to disguise it's taste (obviously if a peanut allergy don't do this). We have tried making smoothies out of if but my son just does not do well with the smoothies.

 

Also my Naturopath put Daniel on the amino acid Glycine. It helps with dopamine regulation. You might want to ask your doctor if that would work for your son.

 

Also Shelia Rodgers book "Tics and Tourettes" has been very helpful and promising to me. Just reading the success stories settled my heart a lot. The main thing is everyone is "ticing" for their own particular reason and it is like a puzzle trying to figure out the pieces. You might want to keep a food log for him and catagorize how bad his tics are that day. With Daniel I notice an increase in tics within 40 minutes after he consumes an offending food. But there can be longer delays for some people. But the food log was very helpful in narrowing it down because you get a pattern. But also pay attention to environmental things like exposure to chemicals or even the smell of a scented candle can bring on tics in some people.

 

I can tell you even with the vitamins and the NEAT treatments if Daniel is still exposed to MSG or one of the other's I mentioned we still get a reaction but not as much as we used to.

 

Hope this helps. I am off for a weeks vacation and wondering how we are going to do the whole avoiding certain foods since we are going to a family camp where they feed you. It will be interesting.

 

Carolyn N.

[MOMandDAD]

Hi there,

 

I'm new here too. My son, who is 8, had a blinking tic, then a throat clearing tic, and now he has a nose twitch. I've started my son on Natural Calm, B vitamins, and Omega 3-6-9. I've also added vitamin E and evening primrose oil. I've read that the amino acid Taurine is supposed to be good, but I'm not sure how much to give. I know that for my son, who currently has a nose twitch, that eliminating TV and Gameboy have had a great improvement. I've been reading that most TS patients had a great improvement when stopping electronics. Maybe your son can benefit from eliminating these as well???

 

 

Hi Janey,

 

Thanks for the reply, I was also thinking of starting my son on Taurine, I think I read somewhere not sure if it was this forum or another that they were giving their son 500mg of Taurine, I was going to go out today and pick some up at GNC I will ask how much to give a child who's 8 and 10, will let you know as soon as i can. I'm so glad your son is doing well, I will try to eliminate electronics as well. He also seems to do it alot while he's eating, so I'm not sure what that's all about.....but thanks again for the reply, hopefully we can all fight through this....

[MOMandDAD]

Hi Caryn,

 

Thanks for the advice, we also stopped giving him anything that had any artificial color or preservatives, but so far no improvement. It gets a little frustrating because I want so bad to find the cause of it but it's like nothing seems to work right now. But hopefully I'll be able to figure it out, with a little more investigating. Thanks again...

[MOMandDAD]

Mom and Dad,

 

My son Daniel has had noticable tics since he was three. We have narrowed his sensitivites to four main things. Yellow 5, MSG (Huge problem for him and it is under many names. You may want to research all the names. I am realizing he has greatly increased tics after just one exposure for up to a week), Yellow 40, and High Fructose Corn Syrup.

 

I also wanted to mention we have had success in treating Daniels other allergies with a system similiar to NAET. My doctor in Phoenix does something called NEAT (they do more allergies in one session), but I don't know if anyone else across the U.S. does it this way. You can research NAET and see that it has been effective for many people.

 

Also my son Daniel is on Bonnie Grimaldi's TS-Plus and they have been very effective. If he is having reaction to B complex I don't know how they would do for him because it has A LOT of B's. You order them from her and she has a web page. The problem is getting it him. We mix it in peanut butter. It is the only thing we have found to disguise it's taste (obviously if a peanut allergy don't do this). We have tried making smoothies out of if but my son just does not do well with the smoothies.

 

Also my Naturopath put Daniel on the amino acid Glycine. It helps with dopamine regulation. You might want to ask your doctor if that would work for your son.

 

Also Shelia Rodgers book "Tics and Tourettes" has been very helpful and promising to me. Just reading the success stories settled my heart a lot. The main thing is everyone is "ticing" for their own particular reason and it is like a puzzle trying to figure out the pieces. You might want to keep a food log for him and catagorize how bad his tics are that day. With Daniel I notice an increase in tics within 40 minutes after he consumes an offending food. But there can be longer delays for some people. But the food log was very helpful in narrowing it down because you get a pattern. But also pay attention to environmental things like exposure to chemicals or even the smell of a scented candle can bring on tics in some people.

 

I can tell you even with the vitamins and the NEAT treatments if Daniel is still exposed to MSG or one of the other's I mentioned we still get a reaction but not as much as we used to.

 

Hope this helps. I am off for a weeks vacation and wondering how we are going to do the whole avoiding certain foods since we are going to a family camp where they feed you. It will be interesting.

 

Carolyn N.

 

Carolyn N.

 

Hi thanks so much for the advice, I wanted to ask you about the NAET treatments, is that an alternative to allergy shots? meaning if you treat with NAET for allergies does that mean there's no need to do any allergy shots? I was looking at the NAET website and found a few around my area, I will definitely look into this and hope that they can help. Thanks so much for your help, and have a great vacation, I hope your son does great there. Oh just one tip, my enviro doctor advised me to stay away form any kind of hotdogs as it is full of really bad preservatives such as nitrate. Since you're going camping thought I would let u know, thanks again!

 

MomandDad (Catherine)

[janey]

Hi Mom and Dad,

 

I've just had a reply from Chemar and she recommends 250mg of Taurine for my son who's 55lbs. She was using 500mg for her son who was 100lbs.

 

Hope this helps!!!

Janey

[MOMandDAD]

Hi Mom and Dad,

 

I've just had a reply from Chemar and she recommends 250mg of Taurine for my son who's 55lbs. She was using 500mg for her son who was 100lbs.

 

Hope this helps!!!

Janey

 

Thanks Janey, did you buy the Taurine already? The only ones I saw out there were capsules, I guess we would have to open it up and put half of it in something because each capsule is 500mg.

[Jeff]

Hi MomandDad, If he's reacting to the artificial colors, as my daughters and I do, then it could take 2-4 weeks of "cleaning out" before you see results. Our results came after a couple of weeks, and they were dramatic!

Another website to look at is feingold.org.

Hang in there.

Jeff

[Chemar]

sorry I am so late replying here..work plus family bereavement has me very short on time at present

 

you may also want to look into the magnesium taurate tabs that are made by both Bontech as well as by Cardiovascular research as they contain both magnesium and taurine

 

My son was around 130 lb when we started taurine at 500 mg per day, which was given with his cal:mag:zinc (800:400:25 then and now 1000:500:50)

 

It is the working TOGETHER of magnesium and taurine that is mportant so do be sure you arent just giving taurine with no mag

 

gotta run...will try to post more later

 

Cheri

[janey]

sorry I am so late replying here..work plus family bereavement has me very short on time at present

 

you may also want to look into the magnesium taurate tabs that are made by both Bontech as well as by Cardiovascular research as they contain both magnesium and taurine

 

My son was around 130 lb when we started taurine at 500 mg per day, which was given with his cal:mag:zinc (800:400:25 then and now 1000:500:50)

 

It is the working TOGETHER of magnesium and taurine that is mportant so do be sure you arent just giving taurine with no mag

 

gotta run...will try to post more later

 

Cheri

[janey]

Hi Mom and Dad,

 

I've just had a reply from Chemar and she recommends 250mg of Taurine for my son who's 55lbs. She was using 500mg for her son who was 100lbs.

 

Hope this helps!!!

Janey

 

Thanks Janey, did you buy the Taurine already? The only ones I saw out there were capsules, I guess we would have to open it up and put half of it in something because each capsule is 500mg.

 

 

Hi MomandDad,

 

I've also only seen it in 500mg. I can't find it in a capsul that I can just open. In the past I've tried crushing pills and pudding them in something thick. He starts gagging on that. I'm going to search the internet today to see if I can find it in a powder form. I think I've been at the Vitamin Shoppe every other day since I found this site.

[MOMandDAD]

Hi MomandDad, If he's reacting to the artificial colors, as my daughters and I do, then it could take 2-4 weeks of "cleaning out" before you see results. Our results came after a couple of weeks, and they were dramatic!

Another website to look at is feingold.org.

Hang in there.

Jeff

 

 

Thanks Jeff, have you done any allergy treatments as well? NAET sounds very promising I think I'm gonna look into that a little bit more.

[CarolynN]

Yes, the NAET is an alternative to allergy shots. When you start looking into it you start thinking "how can this even work it seems ridiculous?". Remember I am using something called NEAT (the vowels are switched in the acronym) which was developed by a differant doctor in the Phoenix area but it is very similiar. With my NEAT program it is a series of 4 visits. They use a computer and a "sensor" for lack of better word to see what you are allergic too. Then they do some accupressure at the end of the treatment. I will tell you that I am not seeing the results from my NEAT program for the chemical type foods that I had hoped (for example, MSG, Yellow 5, etc) but have seen the results for other types of foods for example dairy and corn. However, I have read some amazing testomonies about the NAET program with drastically helping with MSG sensitivies. I am considering going to a NAET doctor to see if they might have more success with helping out with the MSG sensitivity.

 

At least with the NEAT program, in Phoenix, you have to go in for "tune ups" every so often depending upon the individual. It may be once every two months or maybe once a year it just depends on how well you body holds the treatment. I cannot tell you if with the other program, NAET, if this is the case. Perhaps it is a more permanent???

 

You can read a lot more about NAET (which is widely available across the U.S.) in books written by Dr. Nambudripad who developed the program. I will tell you one big draw back to the NAET verses the program I am doing is there is a lot more visits. I think they only desensitize you to one or two allergies a visit. Where my doctor does a lot at once.

 

Hope this helped more then confuse you.

 

Carolyn N.