Cat? Feedback on Muscle Tests? Drs in Washington DC area?

[QsMom]

I wanted to check in and give you an update on my son and ask for feedback on your experiences with muscle testing, cat, and alternative drs. in the Washington DC/Northern VA area. He was diagnosed with transient tic disorder last April and had mutiple complex vocal and motor tics. In August, we implemented Feingold and a casein free diet with reduced gluten. The results were dramatic and the tics "faded away" within a few weeks when we took away milk and associated products. He went about three months without any tics and that was such a blessing for all of us! During this time too his behavior, attention span, and ability to focus improved.

 

Two weeks ago after being sick with bronchittis, I noticed a few very minor motor tics reappear. They have a different feel than before - more ritualistic/OCD than random tics and are much more mild. They are also unnoticable to anyone but me.

 

I'm considering taking him to an environmental doctor to help me uncover if he has developed a new food sensitivty or an underlying health issue. The doctor that I am looking at uses the muscle test. I'm curious to see how effective/accurate this has been in diagnosing food allergies. Since my son is 5, I'm interested in this because he does not well with needles. I'm also curious does this help to diagnose yeast, ect issues? So, for those of you who have used muscle testing ... what can I expect? Can they also help to diagnose yeast, metals, and leaky gut? (Perhaps with a back up test before implementing treatment?)

 

A neighbor has used this dr for her son who has food allergies, and she said that in one appointment, the dr can tell her what her son's food sensivities are and she has been mostly right. It has taken the guesswork and need for elimination diet out for her. He does not have tics but has a series of other issues that are consistent with many kids with tics. Is this consistent with what you all have experienced?

 

Also- the jury is still out on how our cat has effected my son's tics. I'm curious if anyone else has seen cat as a trigger?

 

Also, anyone in the Washington DC/Northern VA area and have a suggestion for dr.s? I have called most of them personally, but am interested in any feedfack you might have- good or bad.

 

Happy holidays to all of you!

[faith]

Hi Q's mom,

In reading your post, you have sort of touched on a subject that I have been pondering about? Your above summary sounds familiar. So I'm gonna jump off your post to talk about this. ... You say you had taken out dairy and some other foods? How did you determine that might be a problem for him, just experimental? And you say he did well for about three months? How long did it take before you thought the dietary restrictions were helping and if indeed the fading of tics were due to this? Have you continued with this restriction up til now?

 

Being that you are wondering if you should do muscle testing to see if he "has developed any other food sensitivities", that is what I am often thinking about. And this question is for all to ponder (and please give feedback on) -- Since so many of us have reported good results with finding food sensitivities and intolerances and upon removal have felt it has helped with tics and possibly other issues--do you think its possible (or actually PROBABLE) that we develop different sensitvities at different times. Like I mean, its not just one thing and that's that? I know its been suggested that we can develop sensitivites to things we eat alot, and that's why the rotation seems to be important, so as not to develop intolerances. I don't really get that issue, but somehow I feel its important, so I want to find out more. ... Now in the past, I have eliminated things with seemingly good results. BUT, they don't seem to hold. And I have to admit, with the elimination of a major food group such as dairy and corn and yeast, it doesn't leave alot left that my child likes. So yes, I am guilty of feeding him some of the same things over and over, such as the same breakfast all week, or some form of potatoes almost every day, the same Pamela's gluten/dairy free cookies every day, etc. (and just to add, when he was younger, it was the same thing even before I knew about food intolerances and such, he was always a picky eater, so I'd give him the things he liked over and over) ..... SO, I am often wondering if I am doing more harm than good in the long run. I get frustrated, because I have defintively seen good results the time I learned corn was a high sensitivity of his and after a week of eliminating, he did stop the head shake tic he was doing at the time. And about two years back when I decided to remove milk and ice-cream when he had started an obvious vocal sound, I really felt it helped, for he did stop that within a week or so. BUT, after time, even though I do limit these pretty well, eventually the vocal and now an eye blink rears its ugly head. ...

 

So in short, my theory is something to this effect. We have an intolerance, then remove the offending item, it helps, but in time, somthing else develops, or the original one is not that much of a problem anymore? Thus the confusion and doubt? Could this explain part of the "mysterious was and wane". Farfetched? Reaching? Rediculous? Don't know. .... Has anyone here had multiple intolerance tests at different times and come up with different things? And did removing it help, even though it was something that wasn't a problem before? I am really tempted to have another Alcat test done to test my theory-all I have to lose is couple of hundred dollars .

 

Okay guys, gimme what ya got.....

 

Faith

[QsMom]

Faith- Thanks for responding. I removed milk products based on a food journal I kept in the summer. A clear pattern emerged when we looked at how heavy doses of milk effected my son. When we eliminated milk to confirm the suspicion, the results were fast and remarkable. Within days, the tics were lighter and less frequent, behavior was more agreeeable, dark cicrles under his eyes lightened. Over the course of a few weeks, the tics went completely away. We've continued being casein free since that time with little to no infractions. So since mid September, no tics at all.

 

I did not do a rotation diet and in hindsight maybe should have. My son eats a variety of vegetables but is probably heavy on corn, eggs and rice because of the number of foods that have those items in them.

 

In talking with a friend who's son has food allergies and many associated health issues (no tics) she explained to me that her son developed different sensivities at different times. The dr. could help her through muscle test determine what the issue was. When she eliminated the offending food, his various symtoms went away. She explained that he ahd yeast issues (they are since cleared) and now leaky gut which is causing her son's allergies/sensitivies to change if he gets too much of one food.

 

It seems that if the muscle testing really works as she explained, it would save me a lot of guesswork, heartache and would be well worth the expense. It took me about 2 months to expose the milk issue. I also feel like the tics coming back (even though very mild) are confirmation of an outward sign that something is going on inside that I still need to figure out.

 

Any suggestions/insight on this and Faith's theory are greatly appreciated.

[bmom]

We did take our son to a natural path and had the muscle test done. She said he had no food allergies and only allergic to dust after testing him on numerous items, but he was having such allergies along with the tics and had asthma as a younger child so I feel that allergies are a big part of his problem. I have had him tested by IGE and that showed many allergies to trees, and other things that the muscle test did not show. He also came back slightly allergic to beef according to the IGE. My next step is the IGG although he is is doing pretty well so I haven't done it yet. SOOO, I guess what I am saying is that the muscle test did not seem to show much and was not that informative to us. It could be the Dr., it could be that food doesnt affect him, yet I just dont know. Insurance covered it and does not the IGG so we tried it along with the NAET. He is doing well- a few things pop up once in awhile. Supplements seem to really help and I think sickness and tv seem to be his big problems. I just think that the IGG may show something as my husbands family is allergic to many foods. You could give it a try though. I know my husband did it and said he just could not hold his arm up during the dust one. The leaky gut is one thing that I have been researching and it does say that when the person gets exposed to too much of one item- he becomes intollerant.

[Caryn]

Faith,

I bumped Claire's food elimination survey thread as I found it very enlightening. If you have the time read through everyone's posts. There were a lot of similarities there among participants. As you know we've had great success with the diet. I have noticed a recent increase in symptoms and I believe it is candida related. (We did the candida diet initially and I slowly phased it out. We originally used Threelac but then switched to a regular probiotic and sometimes even just cultured foods.) I also slowly began to allow gluten free sweets and BOOM, the symptoms started to resurface. I re-read Claire's thread and have done further research on Candida. I suffer from it myself and I have a theory that I may have passed it on to Tigger while pregnant. I wonder if that, coupled with his gluten intolerance, has been the main two contributers to the onset of his symptoms. I have since gone back to the candida diet (no sugars and yeasty GF breads) but will allow for sweets over the holidays as Tigger is only four and I don't want to totally ruin his Christmas. He has symptoms of a candida flare up at the moment (red around the anus) that I am currently treating topically. I have also re-ordered the Threelac. I think I was remiss to stop the Threelac after only four months. I think it is an excellent product and will go back to it for at least a year this time, perhaps indefinitely. I don't believe the other probiotics have the same 'kill' potential as Threelac, and I also think that I erred in thinking we had kicked candida so quickly the first time. The trick is to keep it under control and not feed it and thus create 'rebound' effects. We saw almost immediate results after initially starting the candida diet and Threelac. When we also began the gluten free aspect we saw NO ticcing at all. It is so hard to do the diet, and there are times when we have slip-ups, but I really think it is worth it. I am starting to see a direct connection to candida here and will let you know how things go as we backtrack again.

Caryn

[Pamela Kay]

I have done a bit of researching on NAET and read many "testimonials". In my search for a doctor close by who practices it I found one who does something similar but according to them improved. It is called A/sert. My son started in Sept. and was found to have an allergy to Corn, which the allergist found too, and wheat/gluten. I never really wanted to even experience with the wheat/gluten route since I was already dealing with corn. I just did not want to limit his diet anymore. After this Dr's diagnosis I decided to limit it by taking out much of the bread in his diet. He always had sandwiches packed for school lunches I started packing turkey or ham slices. His behavior became much more agreeable and while he does have a hmm tick now he does not do any head shrugging etc. (I am afraid to type that out in fear that now it will happen!) His school work is also improving yet again. He still wets the bed at times but I am pretty sure that is a result of his allergies. We do keep most corn away from him but at times he may have take out pizza or A-1 with his steak.

 

So while I don't know if this muscle testing is the result of his improvement I certainly don't want to stop now. I guess some could say he is just maturing. Oh and he also was put on l-glutamine tablets three times a day until the bottle was gone.

 

I hope this has helped in some way.

[Toms_Mom]

Faith,

I have been thinking along the same lines as you-dropping the milk seemed to eliminate all tics for a couple of months - then did the intradermal testing and he came up allergic to corn and sugar- then did the IgG and he was sensitive to 14 foods including milk. I want to get to the bottom of this and the underlying problem- The foods he is sensitive to are the ones we eat the most of and I have a feeling they will keep changing if we don't rotate and figure out how to heal his leaky gut. I am assuming he has a leaky gut. Is there any test to confirm this - does anyone know?

 

I was becoming so overwhelmed with the menu planning and trying to bake with no eggs, sugar, milk, butter, yeast, or wheat, corn or oats. Then having to rotate the remaining flours- nothing was turning out good and my son was getting really cranky and tired of the diet. I was also worried he wasn't getting enough to eat. So this past week I gave in and we had turkey subs one night and pizza another night( he hasn't had pizza since July) and we had oatmeal for breakfast yesterday. I am giving him the AFP Peptizide enzyme before every meal and (knock on wood) he hasn't had any reactions to these dietary infractions. From what I have read the enzymes help heal the leaky gut and can allow you to have these foods with (possibly)no reactions and over time you need less enzymes and eventually after 6-12 months you can eat the foods with no enzymes. I would like to ask HAS ANYONE HAD THIS EXPERIENCE ? I also realize probiotics and other supplements help with healing the leaky gut as well and we are working on adding everything in.

 

I am so worried right now because I want to do the right thing and am not sure if I am and with no doctor guidance I am always questioning myself. I am still rotating his foods, but am wondering do you still need to rotate if you are using enzymes? Anyone having success with enzymes or healing the leaky gut please write in! Also does anyone know how you actually diagnose a leaky gut?

 

Thanks, Mary

[Caryn]

Hi Mary!

I just want to quickly comment--

I am so worried right now because I want to do the right thing and am not sure if I am and with no doctor guidance I am always questioning myself. I am still rotating his foods, but am wondering do you still need to rotate if you are using enzymes? Anyone having success with enzymes or healing the leaky gut please write in! Also does anyone know how you actually diagnose a leaky gut?

 

Thanks, Mary

 

I re-read the thread that Claire started and have also been researching a bit in regards to the GFCF and Specific Carbohydrate diets for kids with autism. What I find is a commonality-- certain foods cannot be reintroduced, (like the milk and the gluten) for kids who have shown marked improvements on the GFCF diets, because eventually over time the child suffers a 'rebound effect' that may not show its ugly head until months after reintroduction. I read one mother's testimony that her child regressed after a few months of eating a regular diet and did not recover to the original level of success for over a year and a half.

I have read that candida can play a very strong role in the development of multiple allergies, as can gluten intolerance. I have noticed myself with Tigger that since I reintroduced sweets in the form of Gluten free goodies his symptoms have snuck back in again (just yesterday I noticed a candida rash on his bum). I am going back to the basics again as I believe I erred in stopping the candida cleanse too early in order to give him a more 'social' diet. (four months of hard work). We are between a rock and a hard place, aren't we?

Now it is important for me to mention that not all kids with autism benefit from the GFCF diet, just as it is true that not all kids with TS have multiple food allergies. (I use Autism as an example because it seems to be more widely researched than elimination diets for TS. At least there is something to go on other than parent testimony. I do agree with you that the crux of the problem (at least in our case) is the leaky gut. Gluten intolerance plays a huge role in that, and the symptoms of G.I. are nearly identical to that of candida syndrome. Both are toxic to the system.

I'm not sure I have any answers for you, Mary. I just want you to know that I feel like we are in the same boat here.

Caryn

[faith]

Okay, I am not done beating this horse, I really think alot of us here need more understanding of the food intolerance issue and how it works. ... I started re-reading about food intolerances, I know I had some info on that....I think I was thinking about this because my son's vocal was waay down from Thanksgiving until this past week, even the teacher noted it. Sometimes I just do something randomly like when I see his symptom waxing, I try to look at something he may be having too much of, so I stopped giving him his everyday banana in his cereal. He started doing better after that. Cooincidence? Don't know. Well, he did good up till now and this past week I was hearing the vocal again, so it got me thinking, and I realized I bought blueberries (oh, they HAD to be on sale!) and he had them for several days in a row -- is this a salicylate issue? See what I mean, it could be anything, but somehow I have always been of the gut feeling that food intolerances are the force to be reckoned with. ... and yesterday we moved an armoire from our den to our kitchen, and my husband cleaned out stuff from the bottom cabinets and goes, "here, you havn't looked at this stuff in about a year, throw it out". So, no I am not that type so I look through the junk and papers, and what is there? -- a fat little folder with all my info on food intolerances, salicylates (the bananas and blueberries), enzymes......coincidence? I think not .... sometimes we are led in the direction we need to go....

 

Caryn, thanks for your input, I am familiar with the thread by Claire (it was in the fat little folder ) Also, why do you think your son's issue is candida, was it from testing, I forget? I mean, sometimes we think the child is okay on some foods because they don't show a quick reaction, but could it be from the build up over time when getting something regularly? Like the banana thing for me, even though banana is supposed to be low in salicylates, maybe getting one everyday for a long time is over the threshold? Have you ever explored the salicylate and phenol issue?

 

Mary, I too have wondered where the enzymes fit in, and I have them in the cabinet and tried it for a couple of weeks, but when I got frustrated with everything around Thanksgiving, I stopped giving them too -- I just stopped everything except magnesium, the b12/folic acid, and probiotics, which btw, my gut feeling is that they are VERY important and beneficial.

 

Pamela, did your son have the treatment for the corn and such, or did you just remove it? Are you still persuing that? Please keep giving us any info that you find.

 

bmom, with the naturopath and NAET, did she say she was testing for intolerances or real allergies? Did you go through the basic stuff first, like some say needs to be done? I don't know, I would think something would show up.

 

Q's mom, do you still practice the Feingold diet? Also, did the friend's child who used NAET seem to find relief from any symptoms (what were they?) upon treatment for things he tested for? Is that the doc you will use if decide to go for it? And about the cat, we have one too, and I did alot of pondering on that too. I do take some precautions, but I just feel that if that was a big issue, it would show up all the time, like constant bad tics, because they are around the cat all the time. We've had her since before he was born, and he has had times when tics waned considerably, so, I just don't know.

 

Thanks all, and if anyone else has any ideas ,experiences or knowledge, we sure can use it!

 

Faith

[bmom]

Faith, When my son first broke out into major ticcing we were scurring to every type of Dr. possible and I was reading this board and trying to compute whatever info I could at the time. We do not have a Enviro Dr. here, but my friend who has an autistic son recommended a naturalpath. She did do the muscle test and only performed NAET on the dust and sagebrush as that is what he showed an allergy to. He still has allergies and was having some very bad nasal, etc problems so I took him to an allergist after that to test him-also to see if the test would correlate with what the naturalpath said. He did RAST and IGE which showed more trees and other things. Still no food with the exception of slightly beef. Naturalpath said not allergic to dogs and cats, but Rast said yes- so I am not sure about the muscle test. I think that there is something there, yet I find it hard to believe he was only allergic to 2 things and after NAET he was still having trouble allergies. I was just wondering Faith if you have taken your son to an Enviro Doc or DAN. Do they guide you on this? Is it the probiotics that you think are important? Did the Enviro say this? Anyone with more info on the enzymes would be helpful. I am considering these.

[Caryn]

Hi All,

I will quickly add a note and then post later when I have more time. I suspect the candida because I stopped the Threelac when we ran out and replaced it with a different brand that had different strains (mainly acidophilus). I posted my concerns to Dr. Rodney Ford via email and he responded that it is best to change brands on the probiotics to make sure that all stains are fought against so as to avoid overgrowth of one strain that is not directly affected by certain probiotics. I believe the Threelac was exactly the right probiotic for Tigger and when I stopped it and switched brands I think we stopped fighting those strains. We were also using a probiotic in chewable form and when I read the label I noticed that it was made with corn

I am very good about reading labels, I don't know what was up with that.

But why I think candida is an issue is because Tigger got a flare up around his anus recently. I treated it with a salve I bought through wiseways herbals, black walnut tea tree salve, and this helped to clear it up. (He still has it, but it is much better today.)

After I start the Threelac again I will let you all know the progress. I just got the shipment this afternoon.

Basically I've slowly been adding sweets since just before Halloween and even though I am doing the gluten free I have been baking bread with yeast in it. I have since stopped that because I read that if your child tests intolerant to baker's yeast/brewers yeast on an IgG test than this means there is quite probably an overgrowth issue. (Tigger did on the Alcat). The symptoms of candida syndrome are very similar to the symptoms of gluten syndrome. I went gluten free with Tigger (as did the rest of us here) and have felt much better. I noticed myself that when I eat the gluten free breads with yeast I have similar symptoms as when I ate gluten. I think in our case we have problems with both. I used to think I was allergic to chocolate because I would get sluggish and a bad headache afterwards, but when I eat gluten-free chocolate nothing happens.

Q's mom,

One thing about allergy testing---

I just want to quickly mention that if the test does not measure delayed intolerances (such as the Alcat) than problematic foods will not show up if they do not cause an immediate allergic reaction.

Caryn

[faith]

bmom,

we have a DAN doc (who is also an allergist/environmental doctor) however, I am sort of dead-ended with him presently, as we have done all I think we can do through this doctor, in terms of anything new I mean. We had the environmental allergy testing done with him, blood testing (also titers), supplements suggested, basically covered all the bases that they do, but alot if this I still have to research on my own and have had to fill in the blanks with a naturopath who guided me on the Igg (alcat) testing and heavy metal testing, etc. I still have to have follow up visits with the DAN because he is the one who gives us the B12. As far as the probiotics, neither one has told us to use them, I just do from all my research that began here, and I just feel its beneficial, sort of a necessary precaution. Even if yeast is not an issue, I think we all benefit from friendly flora. I have read some inferences here recently where some were questioning if probiotics could be a problem - I'm not sure I agree with that. ... As Caryn has inferred, perhaps it just wasn't the right one, or did not contain enough strains. Caryn, we too have yeast as a high intolerance, so I guess good I'm covering that base.

 

Faith

[Pamela Kay]

Faith-

 

For the most part we have eliminated corn but since corn is in so much I know that he does consume some. We, well I guess I should say I decided to go ahead with the a/sert. My husband is not fighting me on it but at the same time he is not crazy about the idea either. It is $45 a visit and my son needs to go 23 times. That will be the entire course of treatment. He was already treated for corn and yeast once but the doctor said that many times they need to be treated a couple times for problem areas. I don't think I mentioned this before but he was also muscle tested for heavy metals and found antimony was a problem. Antimony is commonly found in flame retardant materials like childrens pajamas and mattresses. I find this to be very interesting because recently my son stayed the night at my parents house. I sent him that night with pajamas and the next day was pajama day at school. Basically he wore pajamas for 24 hours. That night when we picked him up he was ticcing bad for the first time in months. No food was different as I sent safe foods for him to eat. Usually he just wears underwear and a t shirt to bed. So anyway after researching that whole aspect I can't believe that there are so many chemicals in mattresses and pajamas. Honestly I think there is a lot more harm in chemicals in clothing/mattress then the chance of catching on fire. On a side note there have been questions as to baby mattresses and the link to SIDS.