Confusion on Diet And Supplements

[emma1]

I am sorry to be asking so many questions of the board. I have tried to do a lot of research, but this is all so confusing. And, of course, you want to fix everything right away!

 

My daughter has elevated strep titres, so the doctor is suspecting PANDAS, but she is 16 -- so it is confusing to me, because I thought she would be too old. She started this week on antibiotics, and last week on Zyrtec (for seasonal allergies). I've had her on magnesium, zinc, fish oil, inositol, and probiotics for a few weeks. Could I start Bonnie's vitamins too -- or is that too much too quick. Do Bonnie's vitamins help if the tics are caused by PANDAS?

 

Also, on diet, where do I start? We have never noticed any of the "typical" symptoms of food allergy before. I haven't noticed more ticcing with certain foods, but I could be missing something (16 year olds don't always let you know what they are eating!). She also doesn't have any of the typical signs of a yeast problem, but I know a lot of people have undiagnosed yeast problems.

 

If I were going to try to "clean up" our diet to try and diminish the tics -- where would I begin?

 

I am also confused about what type of doctor I need to help us -- environmental, infectious disease, allergist, other? I am sure I am missing something important -- please feel free to make any suggestions.

 

Thanks for any help -- honestly, the more I read, the more confused I get. And it seems really difficult having this start when my child is already 16 -- so much of her life is so "independent" from me!

[faith]

Emma1,

Given your daughters age it is highly possible that this tic is a transient tic and it will pass just as it came. The supplements you are trying right now are good ones to start with, and I would stick with that for at least a month before adding the bonnie's vits. There could be lots of stuff that your daughter does not tolerate well and I think if you go to fast, you will not know which way is up.

 

As far as the PANDAS issue, if there is a relation, did the doctor who did the test give you a reccomendation on what to do next? I think its great that he is the one who just have the antibiotics without a song and a dance. If you want to explore that further, I believe an Infectious Disease doctor is one who should be versed in that issue. I'm guessing you live in or near a large city? I would just look in the yellow pages and make some inquiries over the phone first before making an appointment.

 

Also, try to cut down on obvious artificial things like caffeine, aspartame, candy with food dyes, high fructose corn syrup, and possibly dairy could be an issue. You will have to experiment to see.

 

P.S. have the antibiotics seemed to have any effect so far?

 

Faith

[Chemar]

Emma

 

I would personally follow the leads on PANDAS rather than transient tics, based on elevated strep titres

That isnt to say that you are not dealing with transient tics...only that the strep titres do seem to be pointing to possible PANDAS

 

We have PANDAS parents here who have reported good outcome using Bonnie's BonTech supps (Ronna for example) but I do believe that with any root cause of tics, the supps only work optimally when the root is correctly treated, which , if you are dealing with PANDAS would likely be the antibiotic treatment ( which btw azithromycin seems to be best)

[emma1]

Thank you Faith and Chemar! I appreciate both of the opinions.

 

Chemar -- I have probably spent 4 days reading your posts alone! Seriously, they have all been helpful. We just found out about the high strep titre -- it was totally a surprise. I was disappointed when she didn't just stop the tics when she started the antibiotic, but I guess I shouldn't have expected so much. I was shocked though when after a day on the antibiotic, she started to tic more! Someone said it could be artificial something in the antibiotic -- and the amoxicillin is pink!!

 

It made sense to me (who knows nothing!) to try and build up her immune system as well as have her take the antibiotic. I have also been giving her probiotics to combat yeast that could be caused by the antibiotic. However, this is all just me -- all the doctor said was give the antibiotic for 10 days and then we will check the strep titre again. If it goes to normal -- do we stop antibiotics? She is taking two amoxicillin 750 mg per day -- does anyone know if that sounds right?

 

Our doctor said he wanted to start with amoxicillin to see if that took care of it. He said some kids need more than a single round of antibiotics, and so wanted to keep zithromax to try next/later if needed. Does that make sense to anyone?

 

Thanks, thanks, thanks!!!!!!