Has anyone else found relief with Benadryl?

[bmom]

Has anyone tried the optimal dose shots or drops? I was considering those as allergy help.

Tribuano- do I understand you correctly? You have one child who is PANDAS and another child who tics due to allergies only part of the year? I am not asking to be nosy, yet I am trying to figure out if this could be the case with my son and husband. son-PANDAS where husband is due to allergies.

[trubiano]

Has anyone tried the optimal dose shots or drops? I was considering those as allergy help.

Tribuano- do I understand you correctly? You have one child who is PANDAS and another child who tics due to allergies only part of the year? I am not asking to be nosy, yet I am trying to figure out if this could be the case with my son and husband. son-PANDAS where husband is due to allergies.

bmom: You got it right! My 8 year old started having a neck/head bob 3 years ago in the summer and it lasted until around November that year. The doctors told me it was a childhood tic and he would grow out of it. When it stopped we were so happy and never thought about it again until it started the very next year, same time. Again we were told it was a childhood thing that would just come and go. It wasn't until my 5(6 now) year old started with all the weird behavior and tics that I started to question things. My PANDAS child started in Feb last year and so I was lucky to have all that info when the tics started again for my older son. I took him for allergy testing(against doctors ideas) and he was highly allergic to golden rod, grass, and molds. July-Dec is when they are all blooming and growing the most down here! They wanted to start him on allergy shots, but I'm afraid if we inject him with the things he is allergic to it might be even worse. So... I have been looking for something he can take that will help with the allergies during that time. I have tried some things our naturopath gave us, but they didn't help at all. I really believe both my children have allergy issues I don't even know about yet. After talking with my mother she all of a sudden remembered that I was highly allergic to all foods, even her breast milk. She said until I was three she had to special order rice milk for me and that chicken and green beans were the only table foods I could tolerate. It's funny she never thought to tell me this before! So, I'm getting an appointment for all my children and getting some food alllergy testing done.

[faith]

tlkinser, (this topic starter)

Could you update us about the Benedryl that you were inquiring about in the original post? Are you still using that? How did it go with the vocal your son was having back in August? Is that still an issue? How are things presently?

 

Thanks

Faith

[tlkinser]

Hi Faith,

My son is now 5 1/2 and is still ticcing. The Benadryl relief was short-lived. He seemed to be doing better overall last fall but since the holidays, he has been ticcing alot, both motor and vocal. I did all of the testing with our Environmental Physician last Sept/Oct but didn't really put anything into practice since he was doing well at that time. He even had strep and seemed to be ok. (His tics started last spring overnight during a course of strep).

 

As of Jan, he is on a dairy/casein free diet. (wish I was seeing more of an impact on the tics from this) His IgG results had dairy at 1,587 (severe) and casein at >2,000 (also severe). I have ordered his custom amino acid blend and will start that as soon as it arrives (this coming week?). He is taking coreomega, Brainchild Nutritionals, and I just started him on 250 mg of L-carnitine. I also gave him some Kid's Calm today. I also just received an email in response to my inquiry about Bonnie's supplements. I am going to give those a try since so many have had success here. We have cut out tv and computer time as of yesterday since he is so much worse in front of screen. My husband took the kids to Wal-Mart today and bought about 6 board games and lots of arts and crafts to keep us busy! Thank goodness we live in the south and the kids can play outside all year (most days). The no-screens is tough! Still considering taking him to FL to see Dr Murphy as I'm not sure about the PANDAS vs TS dx.

 

Anyway, thank you for asking about us. I still spend SO much time reading posts here, some dated years ago, just trying to find more info and those missing pieces that may help my son. Despite the tics, we are all doing much better than last summer. Some of that is due acceptance on my part. I think my stress level has set the tone around our house for the past 10 months. If I can relax a little, we all will be much happier. I know this is a long journey and we are only just beginning. In a way, I feel blessed that it started early for us (CAN'T BELIEVE I just typed that, lol); if this had started when he was older, I think he would be a lot more resistant to dietary modifications, and I think it would be harder to deal with other kids. At this age, most of the kids don't make fun of him- they are very accepting. If they grow up with him knowing he tics, I hope that those pre-teen years will be a little easier. (Wishful thinking, lol.)

 

I will keep you posted on our successes and setbacks with the amino acids and bontech.

 

tlk

[faith]

I tried the Benedryl (dye free) this past week on two different occasions, but it did not seem to help with tics one way or other.

 

Faith