How is your son doing now?

[MLee]

Hi Chemar,

I was wondering how your son is doing now with TS as an adult? How does he manage it? And if it got better as he got older, what was the age your saw things change?  Thanks! 

[Chemar]

Hi @MLee

My son does well now and his tics are so minimal that hardly anyone would notice them. Even when they are triggered now - they are nowhere near what he once had in his preteen years! His tics started to improve as soon as he stopped the pharma rx meds, started specific supplements/nutrients, avoided things that triggered his tics. As he passed the teenage pubertal years, there was a continued improvement in the overall tics. He has a good job, works hard, nice apartment. Well adjusted, and, having dealt with TS since childhood, he is a more compassionate and empathic person toward others. He feels TS gave him a lot of insights he may not have otherwise had.

Number one tic trigger still seems to be stress - which is often harder to control in this stressful world - and so he continues to create and play music to relax, plus he has a set up that allows him to unwind with video games that is not triggering for him.

He has maintained a healthy organic diet, and avoids any food additives that have always triggered his tics (artificial colors, flavors, chemical fillers, MSG etc etc)  He also still avoids other environmental things that he has long known were triggers for his tics (eg chlorine pools, flashing lights, artificial fragrances/perfume etc). He continues to take certain supplements that work well for him. Experience has shown him that these are important to his overall health and well being, as well as to keeping TS symptoms minimal.

Hope that answers your question :)

[MLee]

Thank you Chemar. So happy for him that things are going so well! It’s also nice to see that things progressively got better as he got older. What a hopeful post. Thank you!

[Katreya]

I think that's lovely that he has seen the positive in that he is a more understanding and empathetic person due to what he went through. What a champ that's the best we can hope for, that they can take the learning from such an experience and channel it positively! 

[MLee]

I agree, the positive that he is a more understanding and empathetic person is wonderful!
 

For the supplements he took was it due to bloodwork showing deficiency? We had some blood work done recently and some deficiencies popped up. We are now working to increase those thru supplements and it seems it is helping. Can that really be happening? Wondering if you saw such a thing. 

[Chemar]

@MLee yes, we had many tests, including bloodwork. We saw Integrative Physicians.Yes, the rapid improvements in my son after we began corrective nutritional and other specifically recommended supplements was remarkable, especially as he had actually been in a negative decline after we started the Rx drugs the Neurologist had prescribed.

It was through ACN (then a magazine) that I learned about the alternative ways to approach tics & TS and I will forever be thankful for Sheila's dedication in providing this info.

If you look at just the first post in my looong thread started in 2004, you can see more detail of what we did.

https://latitudes.org/forums/topic/687-the-treatments-that-have-helped-my-son/

[MLee]

Thank you Chemar!

How rapidly did you see changes?

Edited October 7, 2022 by MLee

[Chemar]

@MLee

The effects were varied with some as soon as a few days to a few weeks+

This was over 20 years ago so that's about as specific as I can be.  Adding  a magnesium supplement and Epsom Salts baths was most notable in calming some of his more severe tics. We added other things gradually on the advice of our Integrative Physician, and continued to see increased improvements. This was in conjunction to removing what we began to identify as tic triggers.