mom2a Posted June 6, 2009 Report Share Posted June 6, 2009 So last year I noticed that my son had a tic onset after swimming in chlorine pools. When he stopped swimming, they went away!!! Bingo...another trigger!! So this year we decided to try a salt water chlorinator for our pool to see if it would make a difference. Even though salt does turn into chlorine, it does so naturally vs. using the chemicals. We can also decide how strong we want the chlorine from the salt to be....I tend to keep it on the weaker side for my son's sake! We have had the pool up now for 2 weeks and so far....no tics!!!! I'm very excited about this!!! We are a swimming family and It would have been awful to have to keep that to a minimum. So be careful with the chlorine pools at parks and aquatic centers.....BIG TIC TRIGGERS!!! Salt water...so far....so good!!!! woo hoo!!!! we'll keep you posted if anything changes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chemar Posted June 6, 2009 Report Share Posted June 6, 2009 yes, I reported back in 2003 that one of my son's biggest tic triggers is chlorine. it is also documented on Sheila'sarticle about the ACN survey on triggers for tics http://www.latitudes.org/articles/finding_triggers.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tryinmybest Posted June 7, 2009 Report Share Posted June 7, 2009 Thanks so much for the Salt Water information. We also have a pool and I have been trying to decide what to do as I had noticed when my son would swim in an indoor pool he would have respiratory problems. This was before we knew about the ts and I think they were tics. Well we just opened our pool and I let my son swim for 15 minutes to see what happened. He has been having a snorting tic and it got a lot worse after swimming. I had been thinking about a Salt Water Generator and now I think we will get one for sure. What kind did you get and did you have it installed? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzan Posted June 7, 2009 Report Share Posted June 7, 2009 Hi, we don't have a pool and go to the YMCA all the time to swim. In the summers my girls swim every day. Yesterday after a few hours at the pool, my dd7, who is a PANDAS suspect but has not had any tics, was having what I would call in my former, non-pandas life, a muscle spasm in her wrist and then her thumb. It twitched for a minute or two and stopped. She didn't notice her wrist but did notice her thumb. Earlier she was saying she could not breath well. Of course I'm a little freaked about it. I'd say she's probably done this before but I never knew to pay any attention to it so I can't say what the circumstances were around it. Does this sound like a tic? Would it last only a short time and not reappear again for the rest of the evening? Right now, I do suspect that she is in the midst of a strep episode and she is on antibiotics. I'm so glad you have found something that seems to be working for your son! That is awesome news! Susan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2a Posted June 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2009 Hi, we have an above the ground 9 x18 pool......Is yours in the ground??? We bought our salt water chlorinator through INTEX....it works GREAT! We run it about every 2 days.....just enough to bring the chlorine level to a minimum.....my son hasn't had 1 tic so far!! He even told me how great he was doing!!! LOVE IT! I know pool stores sell them now too...they are becoming so popular!!! Good Luck, totally worth changing it out!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tryinmybest Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 Hello again, Yes we have an 18x36 inground pool. We just bought a hayward swimpure plus system. My husband is going to install it tomorrow. I hope it helps him. His nose has been running like crazy and his snorts have picked up since he was in the chlorine pool. I'll post after we have the system working and he has tried it out. I know others have wondered about this too. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2a Posted June 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 That is GREAT...You'll have to let me know if you have the same results.....what we do is keep the chlorine levels at the low end...the minimum amount....we only run our salt water chlorinator every couple of days....and just so you know on cooler days the chlorine last longer. We had a lot of learning curves with the salt water system but once you have it figured out it's like clockwork! Hope you guys have great results too!!! Erin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryn Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 slightly OT, my girlfriend just emailed me a couple of days ago after finding out that baby carrots are soaked in chlorine solution. This is why they get slimy and form white dew drops after being in the fridge a few days. They are actually made by a machine from large carrots and the chlorine is used to protect them from going bad-- as the skin has been peeled off. Gross, huh? One more thing we will have to avoid now. Thought I would share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chemar Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 yup....we dont use any of those peeled carrots as the chlorine in them is easy to taste and yup caused more tics for my son. I avoid any of those "ready peeled and chopped" veg how deceptive too that they use large carrots cut down and call them "baby" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boychildsmom Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 No wonder the baby carrots taste funky. I used to use the small bags in school lunch, but got complaints about the flavor--tastes like chemicals. No wonder. Eeeew. slightly OT, my girlfriend just emailed me a couple of days ago after finding out that baby carrots are soaked in chlorine solution. This is why they get slimy and form white dew drops after being in the fridge a few days. They are actually made by a machine from large carrots and the chlorine is used to protect them from going bad-- as the skin has been peeled off.Gross, huh? One more thing we will have to avoid now. Thought I would share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tryinmybest Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 I had no idea about the carrots! I thought I was giving my son something good for him. Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myrose Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 GOSH!!!!!!!!! When or where does it end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2a Posted June 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 Really good information!!! Thank you for sharing!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tryinmybest Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Hello again, My son has been swimming in our pool for the last four days, sometimes for a few hours. His tics have not increased and have been fairly mild compared to the end of the school year. I am so thankful that the salt water generator we just installed is helping. Earlier this year before the salt water generator his nose started to run after just ten minutes and his tics picked up. Glad he can swim again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chemar Posted June 27, 2009 Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 good to hear the salt pool is helping I know how very surprised we were to learn of chlorine's big trigger effect on my son's tics. It was way before I ever found Latitudes/ACN and shortly after he got his dx. He got out of the pool one time and was ticcing real intensely and then broke out into hives!! I started keeping a log of his bf and after pool tics/behavior. It became so clear how much of a trigger it was for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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