Stress Question

[mommyof2]

good morning.

 

i have been reading and see that as i always thought, stress is a big factor on tics. My son puts himself under way to much stress and I do find the tics escalade when he is having happy excitement as well. We started him on Natural Calm with Calcium, B6 and grape seed extract. we also give him a Vitamin C tablet each day and took his chewable multivitamin away-not sure if the artifical colors had something to do with it. He i s a very good eater and drinks a glass of V8 fusion each day to get extra fruit and vegetables. And happily have seen some good results. He is not completely tic free but I am able to watch him for a span of time and see his beautiful calm face. He does lift his eyes a bit her and there but does not scrunch up his face like he used to. He was constantly having a tic. Now my question is have you found a herb or product that would help him get his anxiety down a notch. he is a very excitable child, good and bad. I know the Natural calm works for this but wasn't sure if there was something else that had good results also. I would just love to find a way to teach him to deal with the everyday stress he feels, you know like his sister at him and wanting to do things he doesn't...he just bursts into tears or just yells... i explain to him it is not worth getting so excited but next time all over again.

 

Thanks for any input and THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL THE INFORMATION SO FAR...MY HUSBAND AND I ARE SO HAPPY TO SEE THE CHANGES WE HAVE SEEN SO FAR...

 

Mary

[Chemar]

Hi Mary

 

Epsom Salts baths can be very calminative

 

Bach's Rescue Remedy is also good to help calm stress

 

GABA is often recommended for stress, but one should check the dose for children

 

There is also Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which can be very beneficial

[patty]

Mary,

 

My son used to get very frustrated and angry in stressful situations. What works for us is we do role play and we talk about a better way of working things out. It took months for him to learn and keep his frustration under control but it sure has paid off for him. He is much calmer & happier, and i believe it indirectly helped reduce his tics.

 

Patty

[Jeff]

Mary, One of my daughters would have unexplainable irritability and/or emotional over-reactions. We finally traced those reactions to Corn Syrup. We discovered that many families were seeing the same types of reactions to CS. Finding that link and reducing her intake of CS / High Fructose CS really helped avoid some of those reactions.

It comes in many disguises, too..., like Dextrose, Maltodextrin, and more... Very hard to completely eliminate it, but we were able to eliminate some of the bigger sources, like pancake syrup (switched to 100% maple), sodas (switched to brands made with cane sugar), ice creams (many of the Breyer's brands use sugar, not CS), some organic cereals, etc.

[faith]

Now that you mention that, Jeff, I think (or bet) that eliminating the high fructose corn syrup (and whatever else) has probably been beneficial for my son in terms of high irritability and mini melt downs when he didn't get his way. I havn't totally focused on that since I was overwhelmed with his tics at the time, but again, now that I am looking back, I think he seems to not have those type episodes anymore--guess I was chalking it up to getting a little older. But other than the tics (which are pretty well stabalized right now, thank God), he seems to still have fussy habits that seem to do with sensory issues that drive me crazy (like being fussy about what he wears and just set in "his" usual way of doing things), so if anyone has any insight on what could help that, it would be welcome!

 

Mary, also I mentioned on other posts that inositol is supposed to be a supplement that could help with anxiety, and our naturopath has given that to us to further help with anxiety, but I have been experimenting and put it on the back burner for now since things are pretty good, and I get nervous if I see any extra tics, then I think its from that. I'll keep you posted if I try it soon. Also, massage therapy could be helpful if you wanted to try that, maybe you could find a local therapist who deals with children, or a chiro who does cranial massage. I havn't done either, but it is something you could explore if you think you need something extra.

 

Faith

[janey]

Now that you mention that, Jeff, I think (or bet) that eliminating the high fructose corn syrup (and whatever else) has probably been beneficial for my son in terms of high irritability and mini melt downs when he didn't get his way. I havn't totally focused on that since I was overwhelmed with his tics at the time, but again, now that I am looking back, I think he seems to not have those type episodes anymore--guess I was chalking it up to getting a little older. But other than the tics (which are pretty well stabalized right now, thank God), he seems to still have fussy habits that seem to do with sensory issues that drive me crazy (like being fussy about what he wears and just set in "his" usual way of doing things), so if anyone has any insight on what could help that, it would be welcome!

 

Mary, also I mentioned on other posts that inositol is supposed to be a supplement that could help with anxiety, and our naturopath has given that to us to further help with anxiety, but I have been experimenting and put it on the back burner for now since things are pretty good, and I get nervous if I see any extra tics, then I think its from that. I'll keep you posted if I try it soon. Also, massage therapy could be helpful if you wanted to try that, maybe you could find a local therapist who deals with children, or a chiro who does cranial massage. I havn't done either, but it is something you could explore if you think you need something extra.

 

Faith

 

 

Hi Faith,

 

I just tried Inositol powder with my son in addition to all the other supplements, and after about a week I noticed that he's much less moody and agreeable. I'm not sure if it's just a coincidence, but for now I'm going to keep it in his regime.

 

Jane

[mommyof2]

Thanks for all you inputs...really appreciate it. Oh my the pancake syrup...wow i will have to keep track of that...funny thing is during school I made my son eggs and mini pancakes 2 times a weeks and home made pancakes 2 times and blueberry muffins once. I have been lazy this summer and letting him just eat cereal, oatmeal or poptarts. He love the syrup and when he has eggs he even puts it on them. I had not noticed alot of outburst this summer at the sound of No and thought he was finally growing up...funny thing Monday he had eggs for lunch at my moms with syrup and on Tuesday and Wednesday I made pancakes and eggs at home and all three days we had a big explosion at the sound of bed or a No...wierd..

 

I will have to try the epson salt baths more often, we did once but he usually likes to get showers. I had done the Cranial Sacral for a while but it was really expensive and when we started to do it with the chiropractic and cranial to be able to run it through my insurance, but still had to pay 60.00 per treatment...I did not see any changes, seemed worse at times.

 

I also do the sitting down after a blowup and explain to him what the blowup cost him, usually punished from something he enjoys, and how much better it would have been to just do what he was asked, such as turn off the tv or time for bed...but i haven't given up still try.

 

I will have to check the inositol and see if that helps at all.

 

again thanks

mary

[kim]

Since pancake syrup was being discussed, I wanted to add that my oldest son was not crazy about 100% pure maple syrup, so I was looking at the lables on the reg. syrup and noticed that every single one on the shelf contained sodium benzoate.

 

This just seems like a preservative that might be a good idea to stay away from, even in small amts. if you have neuro. issues to begin with!

 

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