Tics and use of essential oils?

[cmontgom]

Hello,

I'm new here and first time typing a message.  My wife and I have 3 children ranging from Highschool, Middle School and our youngest 8 year old son in 3rd grade.  My oldest two kids have no signs or issues with tics, etc..  However my youngest son over the past summer shortly after school ended started showing signs of small motor tics.  We didn't think much about it at the time.  Annoying as we thought it was becoming a bad habit.  As the summer went on we noticed new facial tics, heading jerks and eye twitching.  Then straining his right hand and arm would begin seizing.  We would take him to his pediatric doctor who ran blood work and say all is well and he's healthy.  Which left us frustrating.  The tics they would say he would just grow out of it likely.  Then a couple weeks before the new school year for 3rd grade were to start his tics got even worse.  We could tell his focus was getting bad from being focused on his tics.  Shortly after we met with a Neurologist.  Our son went through a series of questions and motor function tests to determine if he had Tourette's or chronic tics.  She ruled out Tourette's be said he has Transient Tic disorders.  On a scale of 1 to 10 she said he's about a 6.  Said he would eventually grow out of it most likely but time would tell.  We mentioned things like foods as we started noticing that when he ate things like hot dogs or pizza his tic activity seemed to be much worse, etc...  She said I assure you foods has nothing to do with tics.  What do we know, we're not doctors or neurologists....So we were disappointed but thought at least it's not Tourette's or it could be worse.  She wanted to put him immediately on Guanfacine.  We were uneasy and worried about side effects but thought they are the experts.  Each dose is a pill cut in half.  She wanted us to give him one dose (half pill) each day for a week.  Then starting week two increase his dose to twice per day.  Then week 3 give him 3 doses per day (1.5 pills per day).  The first couple of days we noticed over a weekend he was more tired than usual.  Fell asleep in the middle of the day. (That never happens).  But on day 4 he woke up and we noticed not a single tic.  He went to school and no tics.  The next several days he had no tics whatsoever.  Then we started week two and after a couple of days of his increased dose of twice per day his tics came back out of nowhere and worse than ever.  We called the Dr. and we were told if 1 dose worked then we just need to scale him back and keep it at one dose.  We did that for weeks and his tics kept getting worse.  Kids at school were starting to make fun of him and his social well being was going down hill fast.  Prior to this he, of all my kids, loves school.  Extremely social and has many, many friends.  All teachers know and love him.  One of those kids who just stands out for how good natured and great.  Then he doesn't want to go to school.  Comes home crying everyday.  His tics eventually got so bad and intense that it was debilitating.  He could barely walk.  The entire right side of his body would tic and cease up and stop him in his tracks.  His foot would curl, his leg would get stiff, his arm and hand would cease, his head would turn and neck tighten, eye would close and his tongue would stick out.  All at the exact same time and would start happening every few steps or every 8 seconds or so.  We cried every night feeling hopeless. On the real bad days we kept him home from school.  We researched the internet looking for anything.  We came across several blogs where people were using Essential Oils for them or their kids and with much success.  We have a friend who sells Young Living brand essential oils and contacted her.  She told us testimony she has received from many of her clients that have tics and a few that have TS have seen major decrease of tics to almost no tics using Essential Oils.  My wife and I were skeptic but we would spend almost anything at this point.  The friend gave us some free samples that she said her other clients use to try.  Those oils are as follows:

Peace & Calming Oil:  One drop at night

Lavender oil:  One drop at night

Stress Away oil:  One drop in the morning

Valor Oil:  One drop in the morning

Vetiver Oil:  One drop in the morning

Within 3 or 4 days of using these oils every day, he woke up getting ready for school and we noticed his tics dropped by over 90%.  He's been on them now about 5 weeks or so and still has small tics but most people don't even notice.  In fact we took him to an occupational therapist to help us with the remaining tics which is not a much less noticeable head but nothing like it was.  Leg and arm tics and hand or eye strain or tongue tics have not been seen since.  In fact the occupational therapist said had we not pointed his remaining tics out, she would not have noticed he had any.  After speaking with the OT we realized she does nothing to help solve the tic issues.  So that was our first and last visit there.  Currently still doing the essential oils mentioned above and still give him the one dose (half pill) of Guanfacine per day.  But we still noticed some days his tics would be more often or a little worse than other days.  Still trying to research we again notice after eating foods like hot dogs, pizza, etc.. that his tics are more noticeable and frequent.  We were thinking there might be a link to foods with preservatives, MSG's, additives, etc..  Still remembering all our doctors have told us that has no link to tics and TS.  But we notice and started doing research.  My wife found a blog or groups of moms on line regarding TS and tic disorders that also discuss essential oils and also food related.  One mom had a recommended book "Natural Treatments for Tics & Tourette's" by Sheila Rogers DeMare which we ordered immediately and have been reading for the past couple of days.  Since Sheila is the author it led me to this website.  I now have hope and realize all our doctors have failed us completely.  We are starting to make more note and attention to foods.  We started buying organic foods and less sweets and junk foods.  We had already cut out hot dogs and pizza.  Now we are going much further and reading ingredients.  Our next step in to make an appointment with an Allergy clinic and see what foods and environmental issues he is allergic to.  This book has given us much hope.  

My question is for Sheila DeMare and any others with regards to essential oils.  Has any formal testing been done to confirm the effectiveness of Essential Oils in use of reducing tic disorders and TS?  Has essential oils helped anyone else in this forum?

Sorry my story is so long!  I just found myself typing and going on and on reliving the whole experience!  I'm so glad we found this site.

Thanks!

Chris

[Chemar]

Hi Chris and welcome.

I am sure Sheila will respond as soon as she is available, but just wanted to mention that my  son (now in his late 20s) did find tremendous relief for his OCD and related Tourettic tics from Jasmine Oil.  My son was diagnosed 20 years ago with severe TS, had horrid reactions to assorted medications, but was greatly helped by nutritional supplements and dietary/environmental modifications along with acupuncture etc.

Very interesting that you are seeing positive results with Essential Oils! I look forward to your future updates and hope things continue to improve

[cmontgom]

Thank you Chemar for your response!  I've seen others in other blogs mention Jasmine Oil being effective. What exactly does the Jasmine oil target and affect to help?  Also the friend we bought the essential oils from, her husband has severe ADHD and struggled to function in college.  Medicines made him a zombie and many mood swings and felt terrible.  She researched and learned from others about using essential oils for ADHD.  She said that the 4 or 5 oils he used helped him tremendously and has been using them for the past 15 + years with little issue with ADHD.  

 

[supermom13]

I keep reading about essential oils. Do you apply the oils on your son? 

[MLee]

I haven’t heard about essential oils and their benefits. How do you apply them? I’m so happy for you that the essential oils are working!

Regarding food, we had a naturopath doctor (ND), do a food intolerance test. It is a simple blood test that tests for food intolerances (IgG).  The test she ran was FoodStats Antibody Assessment by US BioTek Laboratories.  It tests 96 foods. Gluten, dairy, eggs and sugar are big ones for us and it helped to removed them. Keeping a food diary helps too and writing down reactions to food. You’ll hopefully  start seeing a pattern with some foods. Gluten takes awhile to get fully out of the system. We are watching salycilates too.   

Epsom salt foot soaks or baths help.  

We also have just started seeing a functional neurologist and they have been giving my child exercises. It seems to be helping but it’s too early to know for sure as it’s only been a few weeks.

For us, it’s been a multi-tiered approach based on things I’ve read on this wonderful forum  

 

 

 

 

[tropea22]

Hi cmontgom,  

Do you apply a carrier oil before the essential oils?  Where on the body do you apply the oils?  Do you rub them in or let them absorb on their own?  

Thank you.

 

[cmontgom]

On ‎9‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 6:15 PM, supermom13 said:

I keep reading about essential oils. Do you apply the oils on your son? 

Hi Supermom13.  Yes I apply them to my son.  Essential oils are all natural.  I apply one drop of each per day.  Stress Away, Valor and also Vetiver one drop each in the morning before he goes to school.  Lavender and Peace & Calming one drop each before he goes to bed.  Except for Lavender, the others are a mix of different Essential Oils.  Young Living is the brand we are using and more details can be found on their site I'm sure.  I've also ready other blogs on this site of people using Jasmine essential oils.  I'm looking into that one.  

[cmontgom]

1 hour ago, tropea22 said:

Hi cmontgom,  

Do you apply a carrier oil before the essential oils?  Where on the body do you apply the oils?  Do you rub them in or let them absorb on their own?  

Thank you.

 

Hi tropea22,

I'm not familiar with a carrier oil.  But since I only apply the essential oils only I guess I do not use a carrier oil.  We apply the oils using one drop each.  They're pretty strong so one drop is all I'm aware is needed.  We apply 3 of the essential oils in the morning every day.  See as follows:

Stress Away:  Rub it up and down his spine.

Valor:  Rub it in the middle of the small in the back of his neck just below his hair line.

Vetiver:  Rub it on his big toe before putting his socks on.

We apply 2 of the essential oils before he goes to be.  See those as follows:

Peach & Calming:  Rub it in on his back.

Lavender:  I can't remember if it goes on his chest or on the small in the back of his neck.  My wife usually puts the bedtime oils on.  

The mentioned oil types are from the brand "Young Living".  We rub in the oils with our finger.  I'm not promoting any particular brand.  We just happen to know someone selling this brand.  From what I can tell there are many brands and cheaper ones can be found on Amazon, etc..  Young Living is one of the more expensive essential oils. My understanding in researching the cheaper oils versus the more expensive oils is the cheaper oils and brands will use a plant or seed multiple times to extract the essential oils where as the more expensive oil brands only use the plant or seeds one time for a much higher potency. 

Using these oils were the first real noticeable differences we seen with our son and reducing the number and level of his motor tics.  I'm still hoping for a response from others who have more definitive or technical answers or if lab tests have been performed with results on the use of essential oils for TS and tics.

I will also say finding this site a few days ago has really helped in giving us what we felt we already knew about foods.  We would start to notice every time he at hot dogs or pizza that his tics would increase dramatically.  So we stopped feeding him foods like this.  After finding this site and reading the book mentioned in my original post above we are convinced foods with MSG's, artificial sweeteners, preservatives and other additives are causing his tics.  We have been buying mostly organic foods now and have seen really good results.  We are making an appointment with an allergist physician as well to look at food allergies he is allergic to.  Let me know if I can answer any more questions.  We're all in this together!

[cmontgom]

On ‎9‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 10:07 PM, mlee said:

I haven’t heard about essential oils and their benefits. How do you apply them? I’m so happy for you that the essential oils are working!

Regarding food, we had a naturopath doctor (ND), do a food intolerance test. It is a simple blood test that tests for food intolerances (IgG).  The test she ran was FoodStats Antibody Assessment by US BioTek Laboratories.  It tests 96 foods. Gluten, dairy, eggs and sugar are big ones for us and it helped to removed them. Keeping a food diary helps too and writing down reactions to food. You’ll hopefully  start seeing a pattern with some foods. Gluten takes awhile to get fully out of the system. We are watching salycilates too.   

Epsom salt foot soaks or baths help.  

We also have just started seeing a functional neurologist and they have been giving my child exercises. It seems to be helping but it’s too early to know for sure as it’s only been a few weeks.

For us, it’s been a multi-tiered approach based on things I’ve read on this wonderful forum  

 

 

 

 

Hi mlee,

Thank you for your response and details.  Please see my response above to Tropea22 on how I apply each of the oils we use on my son. I was a skeptic but we really have seen some amazing results.  After finding this website and reading Shelia's book, I believe the real root cause is food related as you mention.  However the oils seem to naturally relax the tics and helps a lot.  But again we are new with this and thankful we found this forum.  We are planning an appointment with a local allergist to run tests similar to what you mention above.  I will see if we have an ND doctor and look into the food tests you mention.  I'm like you as we are doing a multi-tiered approach and things we have learned in this forum and in Shelia's book.  Thanks again for your reply!

[tropea22]

Thank you cmontgom, I appreciate your help.

 

[jmmorgan44]

Hi Chris - I just wanted to thank you for your post. My husband and I are going through something similar. Our 7 year old son was recently diagnosed with transient tic disorder. His tics are eye rolls and head twitches. While we are still very early on in this process and continue to learn more and more each day, it was frustrating to leave our appointment with our neurologist last week with no recommendation of what we could do to help our son. I've been doing some research on some more holistic approaches we can take, and was so glad to see your post and read up on what's been helping your family. I hope your success continues - this post gave me a lot of hope!

[MAMA3]

Hello, 

This is my first time on here. Chris is my husband & I wanted to give an update on our son. He is now 9 years old & I'm happy to say his tics are now under control, with only occasional motor tics. We are so thankful for sites like this. Otherwise we would have never known to restrict his diet & try essential oils. I have several friends who have reached out after my recent post on social media & they are also seeing positive results with changing diet & applying essential oils. I spend much more time at the grocery store checking labels on anything that is processed foods. I buy mostly fresh fruits, vegetables & all natural meats. We can always tell if our son eats something that is not within his diet. His tics are almost instantly much more visible & it takes a few days to get him back to normal. We are so thankful everyday to have our happy go lucky son back. We know that he may always have tics, but it’s so reassuring to know that it is controllable with something as simple as diet changes & his daily half tablet of  Guanfacine. I have said from the beginning I will always make sure he has a normal, happy life, no matter what. It is possible. My son is a reminder everyday. 

Edited May 26, 2019 by MAMA3

[WorriedMum]

Thank you so much for your update.

My daughter has started ticcing recently and we are out of our minds with worry. I can’t sleep and it is all I think about it.

She sounds similar to your son. She has a mix of tics and the most scary one looks like a seizure where she locks into a ball with her tongue sticking out. It can last up to 40 mins where she remains in that locked state. The less scary but still worrisome tics are motor and vocal.

I find myself watching her all the time on high alert. I am so worried about her. 

We have removed gluten and dairy from her diet but it has only been a few days. 

I am interested in the oils. Did you add Jasmine in the end? 

[cmontgom]

Hi WorriedMum,

My wife and I know exactly what you are going through. My son in the beginning had similar facial seizure and tongue sticking out. It would lock in that position for a few seconds and repeat the process every 10 seconds or so. I’m so sorry your family is going through this and especially your daughter. So many people don’t understand how this affects the entire family.  How old is your daughter and when did her tics begin?  Hopefully you have read our posts above and see the steps we have taken. We have not used a jasmine oil although the oils we use might have some jasmine mixed in but I’m not sure. Of the oils we use I personally believe vetiver is the most effective. But they are all natural and can’t hurt so by all means I recommend trying different ones and monitor results. I highly recommend using good quality oils as they do vary of purity and potency. Cheaper ones are not as pure and effective. Essential oils I believe really are helpful. However I strongly believe the biggest help is diet related. We had to start from scratch and monitor our sons diet and watch the effects of foods and drinks. Processed meats are the worst. Especially hot dogs. They trigger the worst of his tics. You have to consider all ingredients in your daughters diet. From artificial sweeteners, food colorings, msgs, gmo’s, preservatives, etc... High fructose corn syrup is another ingredient we stay away from. We have a completely natural diet or as close to a natural diet as we can. Our son does not have gluten or dairy problems. He drinks milk and eats breads. He eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich almost daily (natural peanut butter and jelly). However if he eats a regular cheese pizza he will break out in tics. But for some reason a gluten free pizza does not bother him at all. No idea why. That’s part of the process of removing and reintroducing foods to your daughters diet and monitoring their effects. He is also still on his medicine guanfacine. We have slowly cut his dosage to a half a pill. It’s a very low dose. We cut the pill in half and give it to him every night after dinner. My wife crushes it and puts it in a spoonful of milk or water. Over the summer break while school is out we tried recently lowering his dose over a course of time a quarter dose and then removed it completely. A few days after going to no medication we noticed some of his tics returning. Not anywhere close to as bad as they were. But enough that we made the decision to put him back on half a pill. He’s pretty much back to normal. 

Why some people are sensitive to not non natural or non organic foods or chemicals, I don’t know. It probably means it’s not natural for humans to consume chemicals and additives so commonly found in our food chain. For our neurologist to say foods have nothing to do with my sons tics was shameful. It is known that chemicals can have affects on your neurological system so why would they think eating chemicals added in our foods would not have similar effect. Too many people think it can’t be as simple as changing your diet or environment. But in most cases it is that simple. I’m not saying that is the case 100% of the time but by far most. 

I truly hope this is the case for your daughter and you see results from your research and diet monitoring. Let us know if you have any questions and by all means post any updates. What you find might help someone else here. I’m happy to say that my son is still doing great!  He recently went to a friends birthday party a week ago. Even with us explaining not to have birthday cake. He did eat a small piece of cake. No surprise to us he showed signs of tics. Nothing really bad. But it took a couple of days to get out of his system and he seems back to normal. 

There is hope!  We all look forward to hearing from you!  

[WorriedMum]

Thank you so much for replying to me. I really appreciate it. It is very hard to find positive updates on the web. 

My daughter is 8. She started a very mild throat tic about eight weeks ago. All information said it would pass and not to draw attention to it. So we didn't and it did pass.  Two weeks after the tics came back but this time (about 10 days now) with the frozen limb/tongue ones. Then locking her hands like a dog begging and stamping her feet. Also blowing. Her latest one is sucking her stomach in and out which really hurts her after a while. It feels like there is an alien in my child. It is so hard to watch my usually calm, sweet child hurt like this. She knows she is doing it. I worry about her when she is out of my sight. Is she doing it in front of her friends? Will they make fun of her? How can this strike so suddenly at this age? How will this affect her confidence? What will life look like for us from now on? These are the thoughts racing through my head every night while I toss and turn. She usually gets worse at night which doesn't help.

She does have a dairy intolerance so she was low on dairy anyway. I figured no harm to try the gluten until I wait to see a specialist and we are trying to give her mostly natural foods. 

I have started since Saturday supplements of:

Magnesium, Probiotic, Omega 3, Vit B/C/D. I also have a relaxing oil that you use on the tongue. 

I will try the oils you recommended. I am so glad your son has shown such improvement. Well done to you and your wife for figuring this thing out for him. I am sure it wasn't an easy journey. I hope to be in your position this time next year.

Thank you again for replying and for your wife for updating. I really needed hope today.