12 year old ticing in shoulder- follow up to previous

[annag]

Hello, everyone. If you remember I posted a month or more ago about my 12 year old daughter who developed constant twitching in her shoulder blades (like wings flopping) at the end of August and with its constant movement, also experienced a lot of pain because of the constant movement of muscle. Prior to that, at the end of 2006 she had a fell while ice skating, then had a very bad virus, and immediately afterwards developed a twitching in both of her legs. At that time, we thought it was because of the fall, went to the orthopedic doctor and physical therapy for about 2 months, eventually it went away, although occasionally there is a tremor in a leg. Besides this we never saw anything else, she is a happy child, who was also nervous about starting middle school in Sept. When twitching began in shoulders we tried everything, 2 neurologists, who suggested more and more drugs to make her comfortable, we did not give any, we did cat scans, igg, xrays of spine, etc, biofeedback – 6 times, physical therapy 6 times, acupuncture 6 times and massage therapy 6 times so far (helped alleviate the pain), chiropractor 2 times. Chiropractor told me that she is misaligned and that is why she is ticing. Funny to note that everything that insurance does not cover seems to help more than the services they cover. I tried supplements magnesium with calcium, taurine, omega 3 for over 2 weeks and did not see any changes. About 1 week ago we went to the homeopath. In addition, in this office they do manual integrative therapy. Their website is http://www.centerimt.com/what.asp. I don’t have anything concrete to report yet, but after going thru extensive questionnaire and manual feedback, I was told that when she was sick with a virus, the bacteria remained in her stomach (forgive me for not being precise here) and it is traveling up her spine and manifesting itself in the nervous system making her shoulders contract. I was given homeopathic medicine and was told to place her for at least 2-4 months on strict 100% gluten free diet. In addition, I have scheduled weekly appoint for this manual integrative therapy. It was interesting to note that their approach is a focus on wellbeing on the whole body and the energy/balance. I must say that since we tried all the traditional medical specialties already, where for the most part we have either been offered drugs or been looked at like we have 2 heads, I am willing to give this a try. I am curios, I know a lot has been posted here about gluten free diet, but has anyone taken this approach with homeopath as well. Please give me your feedback. I’ll keep you posted on the progress, if any. In a meanwhile, I can not even begin to express how helpful this site has been to keeping me somewhat sane. Thank you all!

[Chemar]

thanks for your update annag

 

do keep us posted as you never know when your experience can help another

 

all the best

[Caryn]

I don’t have anything concrete to report yet, but after going thru extensive questionnaire and manual feedback, I was told that when she was sick with a virus, the bacteria remained in her stomach (forgive me for not being precise here) and it is traveling up her spine and manifesting itself in the nervous system making her shoulders contract. I was given homeopathic medicine and was told to place her for at least 2-4 months on strict 100% gluten free diet. In addition, I have scheduled weekly appoint for this manual integrative therapy. It was interesting to note that their approach is a focus on wellbeing on the whole body and the energy/balance. I must say that since we tried all the traditional medical specialties already, where for the most part we have either been offered drugs or been looked at like we have 2 heads, I am willing to give this a try. I am curios, I know a lot has been posted here about gluten free diet, but has anyone taken this approach with homeopath as well. Please give me your feedback. I’ll keep you posted on the progress, if any. In a meanwhile, I can not even begin to express how helpful this site has been to keeping me somewhat sane. Thank you all!

 

We did try chiropractor and acupuncture initially with Tigger, and IMO it did not seem to make a tremendous difference in his condition. We also did an elimination diet at the same time. We quit doing chiropractor and acupuncture and stuck it out on the diet for six months. At about month five we saw great improvements in our son. We have introduced all of his initial allergens back into the diet except wheat and corn. Ticcing has not completely stopped altogether as he will resume after ingesting allergens. If gluten intolerance is a problem I think the gluten free diet will clear up the condition without the additional treatments (we do follow the dietary recommendations posted here: vitamins, fish oil, probiotic--all this is important as someone who is truly suffering from gluten syndrome will have many deficiencies as a result of malabsorption). If gluten syndrome is truly the cause of your daughter's shoulder tics then she will need to be gluten free for more than two months, and possibly gluten reduced or gluten free for life. We made the mistake of going gluten free before pursuing proper testing for gluten intolerance. Studies have shown that gluten can act as a neurotoxin for certain people with genetic predisposition. (Dr. Rodney Ford says 1 in 10 have gluten syndrome, new studies suggest 1 in 133 have celiac). Once your daughter goes gluten free the antibodies will diminish and you will not know the exact possible cause of the neurological phenomena. Look into Enterolabs and consider possibly ordering a genetic screening and gluten sensitivity test prior to beginning the gluten-free diet. This will give you peace of mind, and a clear idea of possible causation. It is not uncommon for gluten intolerance to run in families.

Hope this helps.

Caryn

[Chemar]

I do just want to comment here that chiropractic treatment and acupuncture have been a BIG blessing to my son. The tics can really mess up skeletal allignment and that in turn can trigger more.

 

And nothing brings my son more instant relief when he is in waxing mode than an acupuncture session...

[Caryn]

I added another post under specific carbohydrate diet a minute ago that talks about gluten free diet and candida. Maybe this will help to explain better my last post. I reread it after reading Chemar's post, and I apologize if it sounded like I was 'discounting' chiropractor and acupuncture care. That is far from the truth. We visit the chiropractor for several things, and I believe that acupuncture is good for improving liver function and allergy symptoms, as it did for my father's friend who had mercury poisoning.

However, in our case, I believe my son's symptoms were related to his gut issues and that for his specific healing we needed to heal the gut with probiotics and diet. Look at some of the symptoms that are on the web page I posted and see if they are true for your daughter. http://candidapage.com/cccomp.shtml

 

I was an infant and small child that took a heavy amount of antibiotics long term to keep me healthy as I had a congenital kidney problem that was not discovered until I was 6 years old. As a result gluten and candida issues have plagued me on and off for most of my adult life (and I was unaware of it for most of my adult life too). Candida produces a waste product that can cause neuropathy as the body does not properly dispose of it naturally; it just accumulates. Taking probiotics are essential, even when you are feeling better. Some experts claim molybendum is essential to break it down and dispose of it. This is also part of our treatment through Pfeiffer. I am a perfect example of someone who would stop taking the probiotics when I was feeling great and go back to eating whatever I wanted, only to bring it all back on again. Candida is hard to kill. It causes lifelong episodes of hard to fight illnesses that other people just bounce back from. And if you are gluten sensitive it only exasperates your problems even more. I urge anyone who is giving long-term antibiotics to look into gut related issues, just to see if MAYBE, just maybe, there is a connection between the pandas/pitands flareups and the gut. Your doctor sounds like he/she is making just such a connection. This is encouraging. I think there should be more studies done on TS, tics, and the proliferation of candida.

 

Caryn

[sunshine9]

I do just want to comment here that chiropractic treatment and acupuncture have been a BIG blessing to my son. The tics can really mess up skeletal allignment and that in turn can trigger more.

 

And nothing brings my son more instant relief when he is in waxing mode than an acupuncture session...

 

Hi Chemar,

 

Your posts are so helpful for a novice like me, thank you!!! How old was your son when you started acupuncture? my daughter is 9.5 yo

sunshine9

[Chemar]

hi Sunshine

 

my son was 10yo and tho initially nervous...he was so pleased with results and that the needles didnt hurt, that he now ranks it as his favorite treatment! He is 18yo now