Any recommended integrative doctors to help children with Tourette’s?

[4AHAA]

Hello Latitude community, we’re new here. Really hopeful to ask:  What doctors have really helped any of your kids with Tourette’s? I’m assuming they would be integrative doctors? My daughter is 8 with Tourette’s, we have taken out gluten/ dairy/ dyes/ folic acid and try to eat clean. We take quite a bit of supplements too. But we know there’s still more we’re missing as my daughter still suffers from tics and hyperactivity. Thank you kindly for all your help and words of wisdom 💗

[Chemar]

Hello 4AHAA

It's good that you have already started on the right path for your daughter!

We did have most help by having an integrative MD as well as a holistic team that complemented her guidance.

Once we kept a journal - it became a lot more clear to identify what our son's tic triggers were, and what environmental, dietary and nutritional supplement measures helped, in addition to other treatments that were beneficial. Honestly, it surprised me how clear some triggers were that we might not have noticed-eg my son's extreme sensitivity to chlorinated pools that would set of a tic storm!

There's a wealth of helpful info documented here over the years, so do keep using the search feature for specific things, and also take a look at some of the pinned threads that might be of assistance to you. And remember- there are never any questions not worth asking as you seek answers to help your child. So many people have so much experience to share.

 

[Sheila]

Hi 4AHAA--Welcome to the Forums! I love the suggestions Chemar shared about keeping a journal -- and also what her family discovered about pool chemicals.

I'm sorry you are dealing with tics in your daughter. As Chemar noted, you've taken a number of positive steps already.  I see you still have concerns, though. Have you noticed any improvement with the changes you have made so far? 

One area that is frequently overlooked is the role of chemicals that can be aggravating or toxic to the nervous system and can result in inflammation and tics. This could be a missing piece -- from air fresheners to cleaning products, along with the potential of other food intolerances and allergies.   

Please let us know where you live, OK?

Also, I'd be happy to talk with you to see if, together, we can figure out what type of practitioner might be most helpful for your daughter. 💗🌺  

 
 

[4AHAA]

Hi Sheila and Chemar, Thank you very kindly for your thoughtful responses. Yes I do feel she’s improved a lot since we’ve been started that path I mentioned. Although since she’s started school again (3rd grade)  her tics have greatly increased which I’m assuming is stress or anxiety. (Probably lots of toxins in the cleaning products used at school too) Most people would not know she has Tourette’s. We do notice she tics a lot when it’s time to sleep like when she’s in her bed and we’re reading her a story and singing her a song. So I do feel it’s when she’s tired.  She also tics when reprimanded, so anxiety over that too. But now that school is back in she’s been ticing a lot more randomly throughout the day then when we typically notice her tic. Although she doesn’t tic after going into chlorinated pools, her nose is always sooo runny after and for a day or so after that I think she is definitely allergic to chlorine. 
 

we are seeing an integrative doctor whom we are doing a gut zoomer test with to test her microbiome, But I was hoping to find integrative doctors and holistic practitioners that specialize or have helped children with tics/ Tourette’s before as our integrative doctor seems to know what she’s talking about but she doesn't specialize in helping tics/ Tourette’s. 
 

Thank you Sheila, I would love to chat with you, if that’s your personal email you’ve emailed me with then we hopefully can continue our conversation there. As far as household products go, I’ve always used products in the home that have rated well in ewg skindeep or think dirty app because my husband is a cancer survivor and we try to avoid toxic products.  Granted I still keep some bleach, stainless steel cleaner and grout and granite treatment on hand as once in a great while I need to use them but have not used them anytime recently. I did just realize the seventh generation laundry detergent I was using isn’t in the green, so I just switched to another brand. The last two years since reading different books on health and Tourette’s have really helped us clean up what we were eating so we are trying to have food now that are very simple ingredients that we recognize and know are healthy. Last week my husband got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis so we are even more motivated to make sure we were eating whole foods and organic which I’ve always bought. I think stress and him eating out too much on the road put him in the position that he is now unfortunately. But at home, I always made sure fruits and veggies are organic, but now we are also avoiding all the vegan cheeses with all the added oils and such. We do not have a whole house water filter system, so we do have chlorine in our water. Just thought of that on the subject if chlorine. I would like to find a doctor that would do a really good food sensitivity test with her, because I kind of feel that taking out all the things we have just perhaps isn’t enough, or finding out what is making her body tic with reactions to stress and tiredness. Definitely there is always room for improvement as some things we thought we clean/ healthy, weren’t as good as we thought. Just realized my husbands native deodorant isn’t as clean as we thought it was with added fragrance, so we can try switching that, I may have never looked that one up on skin deep come to think of it as it was recommended by a friend to be very clean and affordable. Anyway, sorry for such a long response, maybe there’s more I’m missing? 
 

Thank you so much again for listening to us and making helpful suggestions. Always room for more, thank you!