Can I vent?

[ilovedogs]

I've been really good about what I'm feeding my son. Keeping him away from additives, preservatives, food colors, vanillin, MSG, soy sauce, etc. This has been going on for over a month. I've been giving him a cal/mag supplement and omegas for 2 months now and I've seen NO CHANGE in those darn tics. Nothing! They still come daily, some days more than others, but still there! I thought maybe the omegas were causing trouble so I took him off of them 3 days ago and have not seen a change. I've even switched 'some' of our meals over to gluten free hoping to start reducing our gluten intake. Not sure if we're ready to go 100% on that one, yet. I just feel like ds is getting frustrated with all the changes I'm making and he sees no change.

Also, the tics don't bother him. They seem to bother me more than anything so I wonder if I'm doing all of this for myself!? But, then I remind myself that I'm still improving his health along the way. It's just so hard to tell him NO all the time when things weren't like this just a few months ago. Can anyone else relate???

 

I just feel like I'm going in circles. I tried the epsom salts in the bath but I thought I saw increased tics the days after, but then again that could just be a waxing thing!??? Again, it's so confusing to me!

 

I'm planning on adding taurine to his supplements and then eventually try Bonnie's. But, I wanted to do one supplement at a time for now so that I could see if there is improvement.

 

I guess I just need to know that eventually I will see results. That this will not all be in vain. I mean, how long does it take to see a change, just a change? I'm not talking a complete cessation of tics but just some sort of positive result that I can cling to?

 

I'm sorry if I'm going on here but I just don't have anywhere else to go! My friends don't understand and my husband just figures it's no big deal and that he'll outgrow the tics so I should stop worrying, etc. Thanks, all for listening!

[Nan]

Hi ilovedogs,

 

So sorry about what you are going thru. I am quite new to all this myself, so I really don't have many suggestions. I did want to pass on some cyber hugs and hope you ride thru this rough patch soon.

 

-Nan

[Chemar]

((((((((ilovedogs))))))))

 

I think we can all identify with having felt that way

 

the only way we were able to correctly implement the dietary and supplement modifications we made was a step at a time

 

when I first started out on the nutritional/supplemental plan, I was so eager to "fix" things that I sometimes pushed to hard and did have my son become resistant to the changes when he wasnt seeing the benefits.

it wasnt till we started just gradually adding and removing and keeping the journal on what helped and what made things worse that a pattern emerged

 

if there are still artificial sweeteners, dyes and many of the other chemical additives in your child's food, then you are likely going to see mixed results nomatter what you try ......

those triggers work against the good stuff, as does an underlying issue like candida and other GIT problems, PANDAS or other infection/autoimmune issues etc

 

we found things began to fall into place once we had done our best to minimize the triggers. That was when we saw the marked and improvement

[faith]

Hi ilovedogs,

May I ask what exactly are the tics your son is having right now? Is it just the blinking/winking? Anything else? Let me see if I can suggest anything. I am by no means an expert at getting a handle on things myself, but giving up is not an option. The things you are doing can only be a good thing in the long run.

 

If you don't mind, refresh me a little. How old is your son and when did he start the blink tics, just a few months ago? Could you tell me what supps you are giving at the present time? I know you've mentioned about the playstation, does he still do that or not for now? Could you try just giving the magnesium without the calcium? Sometimes I find when I give the least amount of supps, things seem better for my son. For some reason, I think I've found B's seem to agitate my son's tics and he seems better when not using them. Are you giving a multi that might have that in them? When we used a high potency mult from our DAN, I did not necessarily thing he did better.

 

Also, I'm guessing you have a dog? If so, have you noticed any correlation to his exposure to the dog and ticcing?

 

This whole thing is not easy, don't I know, but somewhere along the line you will be able to figure out what the best plan is for him.

 

Faith

[Caryn]

Have you done any IgG testing or candida testing? For us it helped to have something to rely on as 'evidence' when we started our food restrictions. We did not get noticeable positive results for quite some time, either. The changes were ever so gradual over time. I agree with Chemar that a journal would best benefit you and your son. What does he eat a lot of? Crave? Start there with possible triggers. Let him eat them with gusto and then see if he tics more. Then give him three days of complete avoidance and see if there is a wane in tics. Do not try to take away everything at once. I agree with Chemar that this will cause resistance.

Have you reduced the sugars? Vinegars? Fungals (mushrooms, peanut butter)? If he is eating a lot of processed stuff and has candida issues it may be contributing.

 

Also, does your son eat fruits and veggies? Before you eliminate stuff like wheat, milk, and corn by-products it would be good if he had an established habit of grabbing, say, an apple or banana at snack time, or perhaps was willing to sample some broccoli or peas at dinner. When you decide to cut out a food like say, milk, you could begin the process by giving him a glass of say half milk and half rice milk until he welcomes the taste changes. Over time he will accept the new food/drink and may even prefer it. (Tigger hates the taste of real milk now)

 

Gluten issues often times will bloat the tummy and cause a child to develop a poor appetite. Food allergies/intolerances usually present with dark circles under the eyes, mood swings, tiredness, tummy ache, headache, and in more severe cases, a poor complexion or a 'washed out' face. Honestly, we did do different elimination diets and nothing really worked for Tigger until we had proper testing done.... and then STRICT adherence to the diet for almost a year. Like Chemar mentioned, to heal the gut it takes time and patience. For us it helped Tigger that we all went on his diet together, even Daddy. This took away that feeling of restriction, at least at home.

Caryn

[ilovedogs]

Hi ilovedogs,

May I ask what exactly are the tics your son is having right now? Is it just the blinking/winking? Anything else? Let me see if I can suggest anything. I am by no means an expert at getting a handle on things myself, but giving up is not an option. The things you are doing can only be a good thing in the long run.

 

If you don't mind, refresh me a little. How old is your son and when did he start the blink tics, just a few months ago? Could you tell me what supps you are giving at the present time? I know you've mentioned about the playstation, does he still do that or not for now? Could you try just giving the magnesium without the calcium? Sometimes I find when I give the least amount of supps, things seem better for my son. For some reason, I think I've found B's seem to agitate my son's tics and he seems better when not using them. Are you giving a multi that might have that in them? When we used a high potency mult from our DAN, I did not necessarily thing he did better.

 

Also, I'm guessing you have a dog? If so, have you noticed any correlation to his exposure to the dog and ticcing?

 

This whole thing is not easy, don't I know, but somewhere along the line you will be able to figure out what the best plan is for him.

 

Faith

Faith,

I've seen 3 tics so far with him(all started about 4 months ago): hard eye blinking, eye winking on the left side, and a head tossing (like trying to get his hair out of his eyes as his hair is growing out now....I think it's the new thing with boys these days). He is 9 and he has not played on his playstation for about 2 weeks now. I stopped giving him the multi about 1 1/2 weeks ago and have purchased the kids' calm so that I can give him magnesium without the calcium for now.

BTW: I'm not giving up(despite how I wish I could!) , I'm just frustrated!

So, currently we are giving him just the cal/mag/zinc/vitamin D liquid supplement from Floradix. I have removed the multi and the omegas from his supplements for now. I also purchased taurine but have not started giving it to him yet.

Yes, we've had both our dogs since before our son was born and they do not sleep in the bedrooms. He and I both have seasonal allergies but nothing more than minor runny noses and some sneezing. I also have a HEPA filter air purifier set up in his room and I do think it's helping with his allergies as he's not waking up all snotty, KWIM?

I am planning on getting him tested in the next few months for allergies and food sensitivities, etc.

[ilovedogs]

Have you done any IgG testing or candida testing? For us it helped to have something to rely on as 'evidence' when we started our food restrictions. We did not get noticeable positive results for quite some time, either. The changes were ever so gradual over time. I agree with Chemar that a journal would best benefit you and your son. What does he eat a lot of? Crave? Start there with possible triggers. Let him eat them with gusto and then see if he tics more. Then give him three days of complete avoidance and see if there is a wane in tics. Do not try to take away everything at once. I agree with Chemar that this will cause resistance.

Have you reduced the sugars? Vinegars? Fungals (mushrooms, peanut butter)? If he is eating a lot of processed stuff and has candida issues it may be contributing.

 

Also, does your son eat fruits and veggies? Before you eliminate stuff like wheat, milk, and corn by-products it would be good if he had an established habit of grabbing, say, an apple or banana at snack time, or perhaps was willing to sample some broccoli or peas at dinner. When you decide to cut out a food like say, milk, you could begin the process by giving him a glass of say half milk and half rice milk until he welcomes the taste changes. Over time he will accept the new food/drink and may even prefer it. (Tigger hates the taste of real milk now)

 

Gluten issues often times will bloat the tummy and cause a child to develop a poor appetite. Food allergies/intolerances usually present with dark circles under the eyes, mood swings, tiredness, tummy ache, headache, and in more severe cases, a poor complexion or a 'washed out' face. Honestly, we did do different elimination diets and nothing really worked for Tigger until we had proper testing done.... and then STRICT adherence to the diet for almost a year. Like Chemar mentioned, to heal the gut it takes time and patience. For us it helped Tigger that we all went on his diet together, even Daddy. This took away that feeling of restriction, at least at home.

Caryn

Hi Caryn,

The only food my son eats on a regular basis is pizza. He is a pretty good eater and will try all vegetables I put in front of him. He is partial to carrots, peas, zucchini, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, and even eats spinach if I cut it into slivers and mix it with rice or orzo pasta. We have never been the type of family that ate doritos or ring dings. My son has NEVER had a Twinkie in his whole 9 years. But, I did allow HFCS in the form of sodas when we ate out and I allowed hot dogs and deli meats with the nitrates. I've switched us over to nitrate free meats and I now buy Blue Sky or Hansens sodas.

I have not tried dairy free for him but he's not a milk drinker, never was. He gets his calcium from cheese and yogurt and supplementation, and sometimes Breyers ice cream. I still have a 1/2 gallon of milk sitting in the fridge that's over a week expired and it's 1/2 full. No one in this house drinks milk very much and we don't even add it to our teas or coffee.

He's also not a huge peanut butter eater, either. Right now I've got him hooked on my BLT sandwiches, I make them with the Applegate Farms bacon. I think he was just happy that I was allowing him to have bacon!

Also, my son doesn't have the allergic shiners, no mood swings (he's the most level kid you'll meet), he's never tired during the day and sleeps like a rock at night. I'm really looking forward to getting him allergy tested to see if I can get some answers but right now I'm trying to put aside the money for it!

[Caryn]

The only food my son eats on a regular basis is pizza.

 

(Tigger was that way too, prior to the IgG. As a matter of fact, the last 'worst' wax on occurred during a pizza party at our church last St. Paddy's day.)

 

He is a pretty good eater and will try all vegetables I put in front of him. He is partial to carrots, peas, zucchini, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, and even eats spinach if I cut it into slivers and mix it with rice or orzo pasta. (That is great).

 

We have never been the type of family that ate doritos or ring dings. (Neither were we. The worst I ever went were goldfish back then were to give him goldfish or cheerios, graham crackers).

 

My son has NEVER had a Twinkie in his whole 9 years. (Neither Tigger, and he doesn't even know what pop/soda is or tastes like).

 

I allowed hot dogs and deli meats with the nitrates. (Me too, back then).

 

I've switched us over to nitrate free meats and I now buy Blue Sky or Hansen's sodas.

 

I have not tried dairy free for him but he's not a milk drinker, never was. (Dairy proteins are in a slew of things)

 

He gets his calcium from cheese and yogurt and supplementation, and sometimes Breyers ice cream.

 

I still have a 1/2 gallon of milk sitting in the fridge that's over a week expired and it's 1/2 full. No one in this house drinks milk very much and we don't even add it to our teas or coffee.

 

He's also not a huge peanut butter eater, either. Right now I've got him hooked on my BLT sandwiches, I make them with the Applegate Farms bacon. I think he was just happy that I was allowing him to have bacon!

 

Also, my son doesn't have the allergic shiners, no mood swings (he's the most level kid you'll meet), he's never tired during the day and sleeps like a rock at night. I'm really looking forward to getting him allergy tested to see if I can get some answers but right now I'm trying to put aside the money for it!

 

Does/did he have problems with bed wetting?

 

If pizza brings on added tics it sounds like a trial GFCF diet may be worth the risk. It can't hurt. Sodas and pizza are sugary and pizza of course is yeasty. He may have a problem with candida that would be helped by a GFCF low sugar diet. Just a thought. You could try it for a couple weeks to see if it makes a kink in the tics at all before you invest in the IgG testing. (I know it is costly.)

[ilovedogs]

Caryn, just to answer your question on the bedwetting: Never have had a problem with this before, ever! He was potty trained at 3 and I can count on one hand how many accidents we've had.

I do not see an increase in tics after pizza, either. He just had some last night and I haven't seen him tic at all today. Some days I don't see tics until later in the day, though.

[faith]

ilovedogs,

it sounds as though you are really doing many beneficial things. But I hope you don't mind me saying, it really sounds like his tics are pretty minimal. I can understand frustration, honestly, but please forgive me, but since you say you don't really see much blinking and not until later in the day, then I really think many would consider that pretty good. I think you said he does better when not using the playstation, so maybe that is something you could keep away for another two weeks and see what happens. Also, the head toss may not be a tic but just a "habit" that he does as you say his hair is growing. Maybe if you cut it away from his eyes, he may not feel the need to do that. Sounds pretty basic, but that really happened with a friend of mine's son, he was doing some eyebrow raising thing and looking up, and my friend says he was only doing it when she was yelling at him or when his hair (bangs) got too long. That was a at least 3 years ago and he does not have any tics now. Also, one other thing, there is the possibility of some type of eye allergy. I don't know exactly, but I have another friend whose son was checked by an opthamologist and they found that certain times of the year he was blinking and it was an eye allergy which I think they gave drops for. Maybe an opthomology exam might be a good idea.

 

One other thing I want to throw out is being he's only had tics a few months, and he is already 9, it is very possible this is just a common transient tic that kids do. Tics are common in kids and I believe it is said that about 20-25% of kids have tics sometime during childhood. It is just when they last more than a year, and have a vocal, that it is classified as tourettes. That may never happen. But all the things you are implementing will certainly only benefit his health. Do you have any tics or ts in the family?

 

sorry, I didn't mean I thought you were giving up, I meant that to read that I still have difficulties, but it wasn't an option for me.

 

Faith

[ilovedogs]

ilovedogs,

it sounds as though you are really doing many beneficial things. But I hope you don't mind me saying, it really sounds like his tics are pretty minimal. I can understand frustration, honestly, but please forgive me, but since you say you don't really see much blinking and not until later in the day, then I really think many would consider that pretty good. I think you said he does better when not using the playstation, so maybe that is something you could keep away for another two weeks and see what happens. Also, the head toss may not be a tic but just a "habit" that he does as you say his hair is growing. Maybe if you cut it away from his eyes, he may not feel the need to do that. Sounds pretty basic, but that really happened with a friend of mine's son, he was doing some eyebrow raising thing and looking up, and my friend says he was only doing it when she was yelling at him or when his hair (bangs) got too long. That was a at least 3 years ago and he does not have any tics now. Also, one other thing, there is the possibility of some type of eye allergy. I don't know exactly, but I have another friend whose son was checked by an opthamologist and they found that certain times of the year he was blinking and it was an eye allergy which I think they gave drops for. Maybe an opthomology exam might be a good idea.

 

One other thing I want to throw out is being he's only had tics a few months, and he is already 9, it is very possible this is just a common transient tic that kids do. Tics are common in kids and I believe it is said that about 20-25% of kids have tics sometime during childhood. It is just when they last more than a year, and have a vocal, that it is classified as tourettes. That may never happen. But all the things you are implementing will certainly only benefit his health. Do you have any tics or ts in the family?

 

sorry, I didn't mean I thought you were giving up, I meant that to read that I still have difficulties, but it wasn't an option for me.

 

Faith

Hey, Faith,

I thought the same thing about the hair tossing thing! I've already checked on the eye allergy thing with the eye dr. and they've also said it was a tic and that everything was great with his eyes! I forgot to mention that he was doing a throat clearing over the summer( (I had originally attributed it to allergies) for about 3 months. At the time I didn't think anything of it, but now I'm starting to tie it into the eye tics.

 

You're right about one thing: all the things I'm implementing will definitely help his health overall anyway. Oh, to answer your question: there are no tics or TS in either family. My father in law is obsessive compulsive(undiagnosed) according to my mother in law. My husband is ADHD and had LD's as a child.

 

I didn't think you were saying that I was giving up....although, that would be the easy way out wouldn't it!

Thanks so much for your help!

[ilovedogs]

Hi ilovedogs,

 

So sorry about what you are going thru. I am quite new to all this myself, so I really don't have many suggestions. I did want to pass on some cyber hugs and hope you ride thru this rough patch soon.

 

-Nan

Thank you, Nan!

I've gotten some great feedback already, thanks!

Bonnie

[patty]

Hi ilovedogs,

 

Everyone here has given you great advice.

 

Just want to let you know, when my son first had the acute onset of tics, nothing seemed to help. In fact, as time go on, he had added various tics. However, things start to turn around as his nervous system started to calm down due to a comprehensive approach of change via diet, supplements, emotional health and various treatment plans.

 

I understand it is frustrating in the beginning, esp you feel like you are trying so hard and would like to see results. Unfortunately, with tic triggers, it is a trial of error and a process that you have to go thru. For some it is pretty obvious, while some are are not as obvious. As for my son, it was very hard to make a connection. But once you find out what works for your son, things will be much more manageable.

 

Good luck.

 

Pat

[Calicat]

Hi ilovedogs,

My daughter also has the throat clearing and eye winking/blinking, plus sometimes sniffing, though none at all right now (I see a single wink every few days maybe), thank goodness. I, too, am trying to figure out if there is a genetic connection or not. We have a couple cases of undiagnosed mild OCD in our family (I'd say mother and sister for sure, and maybe a couple other very mild traits in other people). So, you and I have lots of similarities. I wish I knew for sure if having only the OCD link, and not the Tourette link per se, would be enough to say it could be genetic Tourette syndrome. Nobody has ever given me a straight answer on this. And, now that my daughter has experienced tics, if someday HER child has tics, then would we say it is genetic Tourette syndrome? What if it those tics were only caused by gluten intolerance, or artificial additive intolerence, or pyroluria, or something like that? THEN is it genetic Tourette syndrome? That intolerance could genetically be passed to her own child, but is it Tourette? Sorry for being confusing, but my mind entertains a lot of what ifs.

 

Calicat

[Calicat]

Oh, one more thing...

About your frustration with all you're doing and not seeing results/patterns emerge...

You mentioned you have the taurine, but have not given any yet. Certainly it may not work for everyone, depending on their body's particular needs, but I have to say that taurine was the ONE supplement that gave instant results for us. I saw a huge decrease in one or two days (throat clearing in particular). So, I think it would be worthwhile for you to give taurine for a couple of days as a trial. If you see a huge decrease, YAY! If not, maybe it is not one of the supps you will need. For most supplements, I would recommend giving a much longer trial, but for taurine, it may be worth a quick shot in the dark just to see what happens.

 

Good luck,

Calicat