Jump to content
ACN Latitudes Forums

DAN doctors and tics


Recommended Posts

hello everyone,

 

quick question to any of you who have gone to or see a "DAN" doc - we have chosen one (Dr Bradstreet) and i am wondering if i should have searched for one who specifically was an "expert" in tics, or does it matter? in other words, yes i want my sons whole biology explored and I believe the protocol is great for any kid with neurological issues (my child doesnt have autism PEr SE), but i wonder if i am wasting money not finding someone with a specialty in tics (tho that isnt my son's ONLY issue) or whether the "protocol" is good enough to address any bodily issues going on, be it tics, emotional issues, OCD etc.

 

Anyone who has used a DAN with any opinions? thanks.

 

Also, meant to post here about how after exactly one year of being 99.99999999999999% tic free (2 twirls and maybe a few eye blinks), my son now has tics again, not as severe as a few years ago, but every few days or two to three days ina row now has a breathing tic and some head bobbing, along with lots of twirling. This is about 1 and a half months after the year mark. I have little to no speculations as to why this is....during the year of being tic free he ate some junk here and there as he has recently (at easter) and tics did not re appear.....so not convinced on the food angle though we always continue an all natural diet of mostly whole foods. Hence our new journey beginning in a few weeks with DAN to get some specific info on my sons body and what we have been overlooking as possible contributors to his symptoms as i know that just taking out artificials most of the time is not the end all, be all answer! Just funny how seems like 50% of the time my son will eat a candy bar or a hot dog or some god awful food and have NO resulting symptoms, and the other 50% does APPEAR to have symptoms, or is coincidence? I would be more comfortable with these musings if i could employ a more scientific method beyond this observing and not really knowing what factors are at play. not a coincidence though, im sure, that my sons stomach complaints, whiich he had a few years ago and then improved, are now back on an almost daily basis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Chemar,

 

he complains of what sounds like acid reflux, ulcer type pains, and nausea. he also has been vomiting once in a while ALL liquid vomit (sorry to be graphic). The stomach complaints are at random times, even when he has not eaten for a while that day.

 

thanks

 

I dont know specifics on DAN docs as we havent ever used one but am interested in what kind of stomach complaints your son is having?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

airbucket,

 

I don't remember your son's age. Since your son has been tic-free for about a year until now. If you have not done anything new & different. Maybe it is a waxing cycle due to puberty.

 

The stomach tic you described sounds more like something else.

 

Hope your Dan dr. helps.

 

Pat

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hi airbucket!

okay, this is a very good time to put on your thinking cap. If you have had a good period of time with hardly any tics, and now things have started to return, can you look a little harder at what he may have consumed that he hasn't had much of before? I know it could be like finding the needle in the haystack, but I can relate to the having bad foods with seemingly no real reaction as opposed to other times, so one never knows if it is all coincidence or not. But I would urge you to look closely at something that might be in the Easter candy or something he had that he doesn't usually have. Does he have chocolate before this? Did he eat alot of jellybeans (colors galore). maybe some additive or coloring that triggers this for him. Maybe it is not anything in particular, but my feeling is still that there are certain ingredients (or even a "combination" of ingredients, in other words, okay when consumed alone, but not in conjuction with some other offender) that may be a contributor to triggering tics for some kids.

 

So my point is that now that you have gone a while with him not ticcing so much, just try to look closer at what he could have had just prior to the new tics that may be an aggravator. Lots of water and epsom baths can speed up the riddance of that thing, IF it is something he's eaten. I don't say this is all definitely true, but its the only way to figure it out. I have lots of suspicions for my son, and I have figured out some things, but apparently there are way more than one thing for my guy, so my goal is just keeping things mild enough and keeping out the obvious offenders, which for seems to be fruits (salicylates) and colorings. I am still persuing NAET, so my journey and approach has veered off the beaten path right now, but I want to stick with it, I needed a different approach. I am tackling the food groups one by one until I see something interesting happen. As I've said before, I will certainly report any feedback that may be helpful.

 

let us know if you find anything interesting.

 

Regards

Faith

 

ps. as far as Dan docs are concerned, I have gone to one about three years ago. I think it is certainly worth persuing, although what they do is much of what we've learned here. The first step is usually the elimination diet, and then seeing if anything settles, and then one by one introducing the food groups to see. They'll give you vitamins, but again, it may not be one size fits all, and I ended up not really liking the combination of vits for my son. We also tried the methyl b12 shots thru our Dan, but again, this did not seem to be the answer. The only thing I would say is try it, and see, but the approach is going to be be similar wo what we know already, and much of what the protocol is for autistic kiids. that's about all I can say. We went in as an allergy patient as our doc was an allergist as well, so we did have the environmental panel done too, and this helped because then we paid thru insurance as opposed to out of pocket for the visits. I followed what was recommended, but ultimately we kind of dead ended there as there was not much else to try, unless I wanted to go with the chelation, which he did not even talk about, I probably would have had to urge him. So all I can say is try it and see what they have to say, but it will be hit or miss just like everything else. just my two cents.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Chemar,

 

he complains of what sounds like acid reflux, ulcer type pains, and nausea. he also has been vomiting once in a while ALL liquid vomit (sorry to be graphic). The stomach complaints are at random times, even when he has not eaten for a while that day.

 

thanks

 

I dont know specifics on DAN docs as we havent ever used one but am interested in what kind of stomach complaints your son is having?

 

 

do ask them to check into a possible Crohn's or some form of IBS

 

my son's symptoms started in a similar way and we had almost 2 years of mis-diagnosis so the situation got a lot worse

 

good news is that even the Crohn's has gone into remission for my son with correct diet and supplements :)

 

let me know if you need more info

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Chemar,

 

he complains of what sounds like acid reflux, ulcer type pains, and nausea. he also has been vomiting once in a while ALL liquid vomit (sorry to be graphic). The stomach complaints are at random times, even when he has not eaten for a while that day.

 

thanks

 

I dont know specifics on DAN docs as we havent ever used one but am interested in what kind of stomach complaints your son is having?

 

 

do ask them to check into possible Crohn's or some form of IBS

 

my son's symptoms started in a similar way and we had almost 2 years of mis-diagnosis so the situation got a lot worse. a correct dx would have saved him a lot of agony and brought faster healing

 

good news is that even the Crohn's has gone into remission for my son with correct diet and supplements :)

 

let me know if you need more info

Link to comment
Share on other sites

p.s. re the stomach pains,

 

just to mention by the way, that my son was having some stomach pains every so often and upon examination did not seem to be any real problem except possibly constipation, which I did not believe since he seemed to be going okay, but the doctor 's assessment was that it would be very uncommon for something to be wrong with a young child in the way of serious ailments (hernia, ulcer, etc.) and urged me to give him Miralax, stool softener for several days to get him a little more going and sort of clean out. I did not believe this to be true, however, I did the Miralax for three days and he has not had a pain since. :)

 

Faith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hi faith! nice to talk with you again!

 

i am trying to put on that thinking cap. the thing is Faith, and this is was has been so frustrating for me, is that there have been MANY times over the year and years that my son has eaten junk and had NO reaction/ensuing symptoms and other times when he has eaten junk and has appeared to have a reaction. So, i dont know how to interpret this. Does it mean that his body has no fodd/additive/color etc sensitivities and the reactions i saw were just a timiing coincidence and were just his brain chemicals going wacky? or was it the case that he reacted to the junk food? but then WHY would his body react sometimes and not other times??

 

specifically, over the year of being tic free (and i truly mean FREE, no head bobs, no eye rolls, no jerking), he had times of eating junk, like at the county fair, at Xmas plenty of candy and cake, one day at school had ice cream, etc - so over that year he indeed had times of junk and STILL had no tics. The only consistent thing i did during that year was gave the same kind of magnesium supplement everyday. The tics which came back a few weeks ago came back while he was STILL on the magnesium, so what should i think about that? that i gave it to him for too long (one year) and his body had TOO much mag?? that the mag had nothing to do with the tics after all? i dont know. other than that, we havent gone back to a non natural diet, he is still eating pretty much the same foods and no junk except for on easter he did. the only think i can think of is that we were doing a yeast free diet for 2 months during the tic free period, but it wasnt that intensive. This is exactly why i am going to a DAN now, because i need to know what his specific body makeup is, what he may be lacking in, what he may have enough of, what he may be unbalanced in, through the DAN testing that i cant get through our pediatrician and dont know how to get without a DAN. anyhow, i just feel like i dont have enough info about my sons body. All i have known over the years is that he has a ulcer, gastritis, duodenitis, plenty of tummy troubles, and came up with 2 of 7 genetic positives for gluten intolerance in a blood test.

 

so, what he had just prior to the new tics are things he has had over the last year, here and there, maybe a handful of times, and had NO tics after. so why would he have tics after eating candy now at easter and have had none last summer when he ate candy at a birthday partty? this is why i cannot figure out his triggers. but thats where im hiping the DAN comes in for us - exploring things i cannot alone just deduce through trial and error. the DAN i chose specifically because of his experience and openness to everything, and not obssessed with just autism.

 

you know, sometimes i wonder, maybe its just bodily grwoth and changes affecting his neurology and has nothing to do with food? i dont know.

 

so your son has allergies, hence the NAET? how long have you been doing it for? did you get any specific testing done with your DAN? youve pursued the yeast path?

 

thanks faith, always interested in your comments and how your son is doing!

 

hi airbucket!

okay, this is a very good time to put on your thinking cap. If you have had a good period of time with hardly any tics, and now things have started to return, can you look a little harder at what he may have consumed that he hasn't had much of before? I know it could be like finding the needle in the haystack, but I can relate to the having bad foods with seemingly no real reaction as opposed to other times, so one never knows if it is all coincidence or not. But I would urge you to look closely at something that might be in the Easter candy or something he had that he doesn't usually have. Does he have chocolate before this? Did he eat alot of jellybeans (colors galore). maybe some additive or coloring that triggers this for him. Maybe it is not anything in particular, but my feeling is still that there are certain ingredients (or even a "combination" of ingredients, in other words, okay when consumed alone, but not in conjuction with some other offender) that may be a contributor to triggering tics for some kids.

 

So my point is that now that you have gone a while with him not ticcing so much, just try to look closer at what he could have had just prior to the new tics that may be an aggravator. Lots of water and epsom baths can speed up the riddance of that thing, IF it is something he's eaten. I don't say this is all definitely true, but its the only way to figure it out. I have lots of suspicions for my son, and I have figured out some things, but apparently there are way more than one thing for my guy, so my goal is just keeping things mild enough and keeping out the obvious offenders, which for seems to be fruits (salicylates) and colorings. I am still persuing NAET, so my journey and approach has veered off the beaten path right now, but I want to stick with it, I needed a different approach. I am tackling the food groups one by one until I see something interesting happen. As I've said before, I will certainly report any feedback that may be helpful.

 

let us know if you find anything interesting.

 

Regards

Faith

 

ps. as far as Dan docs are concerned, I have gone to one about three years ago. I think it is certainly worth persuing, although what they do is much of what we've learned here. The first step is usually the elimination diet, and then seeing if anything settles, and then one by one introducing the food groups to see. They'll give you vitamins, but again, it may not be one size fits all, and I ended up not really liking the combination of vits for my son. We also tried the methyl b12 shots thru our Dan, but again, this did not seem to be the answer. The only thing I would say is try it, and see, but the approach is going to be be similar wo what we know already, and much of what the protocol is for autistic kiids. that's about all I can say. We went in as an allergy patient as our doc was an allergist as well, so we did have the environmental panel done too, and this helped because then we paid thru insurance as opposed to out of pocket for the visits. I followed what was recommended, but ultimately we kind of dead ended there as there was not much else to try, unless I wanted to go with the chelation, which he did not even talk about, I probably would have had to urge him. So all I can say is try it and see what they have to say, but it will be hit or miss just like everything else. just my two cents.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wow

 

my son has had serious gastro problems since 3 yrs old! and he was endoscoped and they found an ulcer at merely 5 year old! the doc was shocked, i still dont know what that means that he had an ulcer.they found other multiple areas of inflamation and irritation in his stomach. my son was constipated but now he goes regularly, i presume because of the mag.

 

p.s. re the stomach pains,

 

just to mention by the way, that my son was having some stomach pains every so often and upon examination did not seem to be any real problem except possibly constipation, which I did not believe since he seemed to be going okay, but the doctor 's assessment was that it would be very uncommon for something to be wrong with a young child in the way of serious ailments (hernia, ulcer, etc.) and urged me to give him Miralax, stool softener for several days to get him a little more going and sort of clean out. I did not believe this to be true, however, I did the Miralax for three days and he has not had a pain since. :)

 

Faith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will ask that Chemar. I know the ulcer is not misdiagnosed, but i believe it is gone now. he was Dx with duodenitis, (SP?) and gastritis. his stomach complaints appeared to cease at the same time that we did a fairly dairy free and yeast free diet. i do believe from what ive read that this gastro probs are resolvable with natural remedy - diet, supplements, enzymes etc.

 

i know in my heart something is at the root of the stomach issues, with the inflammation they found, inflammation is a red flag of a bodily imbalance.

 

thank you, i will ask you more as it comes to me.

 

do ask them to check into possible Crohn's or some form of IBS

 

my son's symptoms started in a similar way and we had almost 2 years of mis-diagnosis so the situation got a lot worse. a correct dx would have saved him a lot of agony and brought faster healing

 

good news is that even the Crohn's has gone into remission for my son with correct diet and supplements :)

 

let me know if you need more info

Link to comment
Share on other sites

airbucket,

I hear what you're saying. Only thing I could think of is that you say his stomach problems seemed to cease after the dairy and yeast free, even if it was not that strict. Perhaps when he just cannot take too much accumulation of the yeast building up, hen the tics start? Is it possible that you beat a yeast problem and now it is growing back? so when he starts with the stomach problems, it is a clue that things are starting to deteriorate. I find it very ineresting that your child could be so tic free for almost a year. I have never had even close to that. So that to me is more telling that something is going on, I really don't think (just my opinion) that tourettes would stay away that long. I might have said he had some very mild times in kindegarten (this is five years ago), but it did not stay that way for us, there is always something going on. That is why I have decided to persue NAET, I don't know that he has allergies, I am just doing the testing and treating whatever he tests weak to, because I needed more direction, and am hoping I will discover something here. He has been treated for a few months now, but I feel need to go on for there are still some major categories to tackle, such as additives, colorings, virus, fruits (this one I always strongly suspected), I am seeing some neck thingy tonight and wouldn't you know I gave him some cantaloupe yesterday, which he rarely has fruit. So I am just going with my gut, I have nothing else. It was way too hard eliminating food groups for him, so I needed another approach.

 

I think you are doing the right way with the Dan right now, for he may be able to guide you on what you feel your child's problems are, it is certainly worth exploring that avenue. Let him know about the yeast angle and the stomach diagnosis, there may be something there that weakens his gut.

 

good luck.

Faith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...