Zoloft and TS

[Guest Robin]

My son is 8 years old. He has TS, OCD and Anxiety. He is currently on Bonnie G. promgram with moderate success. His Doctor took him off Paxil for his Anxiety attacks and put him on Zoloft. He started him out on 25mg and all seemed fine. When he increased it to 50 mg per day his tics increased. He has started a vocal tic and his neck tic is off the wall! He is also bending his torso to the side and back. The more tics he has the more anxious he feels in school. I dont know what to do anymore. I am so frustrated with the tics. I see his Doctor on Friday and would welcome any comments concerning this. Thanks, Robin

[Guest Jeff]

Hi Robin, We've had great success controlling our TS tics by eliminating artificial colors and flavors from our diets. If your son is eating things like Trix, Lucky Charms, or Cocoa Puffs for breakfast, drinking Kool-Aid or Hawaiian Punch, or likes to snack on Twizzlers or Jolly Ranchers, then you might want to try eliminating those kinds of things. Replace them with some all natural or organic brands - sometimes you have to go to Health Food Stores - like Krispix, or Barbara's cereals, 100% natural juices, and natural candies (check for local candy stores, or try looking on the internet (one popular one is Squirrel's Nest).

 

We've been following the Feingold diet (feingold.org) for nearly four years now. It was created originally to help children with ADD/ADHD, but has definitely helped many families reduce TS tics. Ever since we started, and as long as we don't deviate too much, the tics are not an issue. The hard part is staying faithful all the time, but it's certainly worth it. In those four years, my eyes have really opened to the effects that those additives have on children's behavior and health. My feeling and my hope is that someday those colors (red #40, yellow 5, etc, etc.) will be illegal. It's really a crime what those things are doing to our children. Parents think that they have a bad child, find themselves scolding and disciplining all the time, the children are getting in trouble at school, so they finally end up medicating, when maybe all they needed to do was stop feeding them gummy bears and those colored "power drinks".

 

Sorry to climb up on my soapbox, but like I said, after four years of having my eyes and ears open to my and other families' stories, I feel very strongly about it.

 

In any case, that's my 2 (or maybe 4) cents. I hope that you find a way to help your son with the tics.

Sincerely, Jeff

[Guest Robin]

Jeff, thanks for your response, I have been on the Feingold diet for 6 weeks with my son. We did see a small improvement after 2 weeks. His tics seemed to settle down and so did his anxiety. Then we started the Zoloft. Maybe its just the stress from school. Thanks, Robin

[Guest Jeff]

Hi Robin, That's great news! Give Feingold a few more weeks. Sometimes it takes up to 5 or 6 weeks to "detox" from the additives. In fact, some say the symptoms get worse during that detox period. But once they're cleaned out, it can be like night and day!

Have you visited the members Bulletin Board? It's a very active and helpful forum.

Best of luck. Jeff

[Guest Robin Owens]

Hi Jeff. do you limit the amount of sugar your children get. the Feingold diet is great except it seems like it allows alot of sugar, (corn syrup etc) I am glad to hear it can take up to 5-6 weeks. My son is convinced it is not working but we are sticking with it. He seems to have a problem with dairy products. He seems to get very hyper after milk, cheese. etc. I have started removing this from his diet a little each day but he is not happy about this. He feels like he is not "normal" having to be on the diet. It is espiecally hard for him at school with the other children eating fruit rollups and kool aid around him.

 

Are you aware of any increase in Tics because of Zoloft, Paxil etc. I have been searching the web and have found a few articles but was really looking for someone on Braintalk to have some insight into this. Thanks again Robin

[Chemar]

Hi Robin

My son was never on Zoloft...but he was on Luvox which is very similar......and YES it made his tics and OCD and just about everything far worse!!

 

I have never regretted the day we went med free and have seen ONLY positive results implementing things like Jeff has suggested and following the recommended supplement treatment.

 

why was your son put on Zoloft? I know many people do benefit from the meds so i am not just trying to put meds down....but, I dont quite understand why he went on to a med when he was doing well??

[Guest Robin]

Chamar, thanks for responding, My son went on Paxil 1-1/2 years ago for Panic Attacks. He started having them about 3 months before the tics appeared. His attacks were pretty bad.Twice we went to the ER for shortness of breath etc.

My son still has anxiety but not so bad. What else can i try for the Anxiety? He feels anxious alot 2-3 times a week. School is a big trigger for an Anxiety attack.

I would love to have him med free. He has OCD and when he feels anxious he is convinced he will stop breathing and die!!

 

Any ideas on supplements would be great. We are on Bonnies G program for his TS and OCD. I have seen a small improvement but nothing great. I constantly look on line convinced i am missing something. He does not mind the pills (15 per day) of the TS Plus control and 4 extra Mag taurate and also Omega supplemtns. I noticed on one of your other post you use Royal Jelly. What does it help. I am desparate for answers. The more anxious he feels the more tics he has. I want to help him so much.

 

Thanks again for all your help.. Rob

[Chemar]

Robin, i also just read your post on BrainTalk so i see why the Zoloft was introduced.

Although it is great that you are using Bonnie's supps, and should continue, i have noticed that there is less results with supps when there are also meds in the system.

 

My son's OCD and anxiety and depression were very severe......bothered him far more than the tics......but the meds just never really seemed to help and just brought a whole bunch of side effects.

 

He is on 5HTP now, which elevates seratonin and it has been a total change for him. He does also take other supps like inositol and GABA to help too, plus all the recommended TS ones

 

YOU CANT USE 5HTP WITH ZOLOFT OR ANY OF THE SERATONIN BOOSTING DRUGS THO AS THAT WOULD CAUSE SERATONIN SPIKING WHICH IS DANGEROUS.

 

 

Royal Jelly is a wonderful general purpose nutrient but is especially good for TS etc as it has a high B vitamins content. We started my son on it as he had a severe jaw clenching/tooth grinding tic and our doc suggested the Royal Jelly and it worked!!

 

The best brand is BeeAlive http://www.beealive.com/index.cfm?aID=0

 

but if we run out( or because of our need to stay in budget) I also use the NOW or Royal Gold brand successfully

 

Let me know if you need any more info

[Guest Jeff]

Hi Robin,

We don't worry about the sugar at all, but Yes, we do see behavioral reactions from corn syrup. That has been the most difficult to eliminate - it's in so many foods!! In fact, we've resigned ourselves that we'll just have to live with some of the corn syrup and its consequences - otherwise we would hardly eat anything!! I am considering supplements/fish oils, etc., to help counter those reactions that come from the cs. Actually, some people have been able to eliminate cs pretty successfully. Post on the bb and ask for a list of non-cs items. There are a couple of people who keep an updated list of non-cs products.

Be careful not to try to eliminate too many things at once - for example, the dairy. The guidance is to go Stage 1 first for several weeks. Then, if you are still seeing reactions, you can start to focus on some of the other items. Trying to do everything all at once would be really overwhelming for everyone.

Yes, I hate when my children feel that "they" are the problem rather than the additives. I try to remind them that it's the additives that are the problem - we are lucky that we know about it. Many other people are affected by them too, but they either don't know it, or they are not willing to make the effort to stop eating them. And yes, there are many people who can eat these additives with no apparent reactions.

After several years on the diet, we allow ourselves to deviate once in a while. We know that we'll react for a while, but we can clean ourselves out and get back on track.

Can't tell you anything about side-effects of medications, as we haven't ever had to go that route. But I have seen several posts on the feingold bb where parents have seen increased tics as a result of meds that their children were on. I guess they are often a type of stimulant (even Ritalin), and that can bring on tics in a child who wouldn't have them otherwise. I know if I have more than my one cup of coffee in the morning, I'll grind my teeth for a day or two...

Take care. Jeff

[Chemar]

The current ACN Newslatter has an informative article on ZOLOFT

here is the Newsletter link

 

http://latitudes.org/cgi-local/mojo/mojo.c...223856&list=acn

 

and here is the link to go direct to the ACN article

http://www.latitudes.org/articles/zoloft.html

[Guest lynn]

Just chiming in on this that my son took Zoloft when he was about 13 and if he missed a day or two he would complain that his head had strange sensations. They sounded like seizures of some kind. We got him off it as soon as we could. Now he uses 5HTP and it works great. My neighbor said Zoloft made her "head spin." L.

[Claire]

hi Jeff ---re Fiengold...I went to the site you mentioned, and couldn't really figure out the diet. I saw the list of additives that she opposed--is that as specific as she gets, or is there more? She didn't have tics on her list of symptoms, but I do believe that everyone has their triggers, so whatever works for some may work for others!

 

It is marvelous that this worked so well for your family! How bad/frequent were the tics before doing this (mild?)

 

 

--Claire

[Guest christie]

Another food plan to combine with the others -- SCD - specific carbohydrate diet http://www.scdrecipe.com/

http://www.scd.freeuk.com/

 

This is a great food plan for autistic kids and for those with TS and gut disturbances.

 

Also, I was put on Zoloft and other neuroleptics at age 27. I was on them for 10 years and when I went off them my health fell apart. I have spent the past 8.5 years recovering from those meds. I wish I would have had all the alternative options first, as I would have made very difference choices back then.

[Sheila]

Dear Jeff--ACN is a big supporter of the Feingold diet--and we have run several articles on it in Latitudes. At the same time--and I've discussed this with Feingold director Jane Hersey, we emphasize that while some kids are incredibly better with removing the substances the Feingold program recommends in Stage I or II, many of our readers for autism, Tourettes, ADHD and learning problems also need to watch their sweets intake--not only because a percentage may be allergic to sugar or high fructose corn syryp, etc., but because of neurological reactions related to candida albicans in the digestive tract, which feeds on sugars of any kind.

 

There could be people who would benefit from the Feingold program, but because they are eating foods with sugars, or other items they are sensitive to (like if they have a wheat allergy)--or because they have had an environmental exposure they aren't aware could affect symtpoms--assume the diet isn't working and they give up. I believe it is important not to over simplify things.

 

The imbalance in the intestinal tract caused by candida albicans, fed by sugars and other items, can increase intestinal permeability and allow neurotransmitters and neurotoxins, produced in the gut, to enter the system and head for the brain. This is a serious problem for many. We may want to let our kids eat sugars or yeast-containing foods, but that is not always advisable, depending on the situation.

 

Just thought I should add this to the discussion! Sheila

[Claire]

Hi Shiela,

 

Jeff and you both mentioned high fructose corn syrup I believe. Is that a particular trigger, or is it just that some people don't realize it is a sugar?

 

Also, given that 'everybody else eats sweets' (my son gets them at school and aftercare--it is unbelievable to me how they keep doing this), what is your view of sugar vs artificial sweeteners (not nutrasweet, but splenda, malitol, sorbitol, our even stevia)? I am not asking from a long-term cancer potential standpoint, but from a neurological or tic trigger standpoint in general. Though I suspect it may vary from person to person, have you noticed that this is a common trigger?

 

 

 

Thanks!

Claire