medication and supplements

[seekhim]

Hello,

My name is Robin. My 9 year old son began having tics involving arm jerking and shoulder shrugging. They were minimized drastically after supplementing with flax oil, magnesium, zinc and a B-complex vitamin daily. We also do massage, chiropractic, epsom salt baths daily, Tai Chi, and hypnotherapy combined with biofeedback.Thanks to all of the information we have recieved on the message board here.

My son began head movement that was annoying him and giving him headaches. We already took him to a doctor who did not want to try medication but explained that clonidine was available to our family. when the head movement began we decided to try clonidine.

Truth be told, I am scared of the med. we give our son half of a 0.1 mg tablet each night. I want to try l-carnitine because he is making a throat clearing noise and making a hmmm sound. This is all the time,but so slight others do not notice.my son is chewing lots of gum because it stops it. he said it annoys him. I also gave him pycnogenol over the weekend then surfed the web and came across information it could potentially interact with any type of medication to reduce blood pressure, so i did not give him any more.

Most others do not notice his tics. he can hold out on them but when he does he will have a sudden full body tic..it looks like a seizure. he will ususally be angry or extremely nervous. it has only happned twice.

I know most people on this board only use supplements. Does anyone have information on what supplements are safe to take with clonidine and which are not? is there a forum where people use medicine and alternative together? All we intend to use is clonidine. At this point tics are not bad enough to warrant a stronger med.. most tics are linked to emotion it seems. He is a strong boy who keeps everything inside and when his tics get really severe we know that something is wrong. we make him talk and then the big tic goes away and the small one comes back which will be thrat clearing or a slight head nod.We homeschool but cannot keep him from the world. There are normal stresses like football try outs which i know is a big source of the tics now and will be right before every game.

Thanks so much! this is a great place to come to.

[patty]

Welcome,

 

Sorry that i don't know much about using medication and supplement. But i would like to suggest craniosacral therapy to you since it has helped my son alot with the head/neck tic.

 

According to your post, your son's tics are minimal, why did you decide to use clonidine? Have you tried using magnesium creme on the neck for the head movement? I find this also helpful for my son.

 

Good luck!

 

Pat

[seekhim]

Welcome,

 

Sorry that i don't know much about using medication and supplement. But i would like to suggest craniosacral therapy to you since it has helped my son alot with the head/neck tic.

 

According to your post, your son's tics are minimal, why did you decide to use clonidine? Have you tried using magnesium creme on the neck for the head movement? I find this also helpful for my son.

 

Good luck!

 

Pat

Hi Pat,

I guess when i describe my son's tics as "slight" it means it is not noticable to others. I have asked and they don't notice until i ask. the head movement is ongoing,but it is slight. We have chose the clonidine because because he complained of headaches.

also it is still difficult at this point to be completely objective about the tics. I just do not like seeing them. The same as any parent. but we were comitted to no meds until our son asked for them. The head movement bothers him more than arm jerking and shoulder shrugging. He hardly notices arm jerking or shoulder shrugging. I guess at times it is slight and then he will have a few moments of what looks like a whole flurry of tic activity . I suppose this is from holding off most of the day. i am still trying to figure it all out.

Is craniosacral therapy the same as chiropractic ? We go once per week and have everything adjusted. if it is not then what is cranisacral therapy?

also I did not know there was a magnesium cream available. where could i purchase this?

Thanks so much! i hope i am responding correctly. today is the first time i have posted.

[Chemar]

Hi and welcome

 

here is some info on drug/supp interactions that may be of help

http://healthlibrary.epnet.com/GetContent....;chunkiid=33801

 

we make our own magnesium sulfate cream . making it is real easy . you just dissolve 1/2 cup epsom salts in a just enough hot water to dissolve (dont use too much water!) and then blend into any aqueous base lotion or creme. stir before use.

 

the creams are also available for sale via Kirkman labs and others, but they put other ingredients in that I personally dont like