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looking for help in Vancouver, Canada


Krista

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My 8 year-old son suddenly began developing neck, shoulder shrugging, knees slapping together tics that have been continuing for the last 6 weeks. My family doctor has referred us to a pediatrician, but we can't get in until September 30. I have just finished reading "Natural Treatments for Tics and Tourette's" and wonder about a few things

1. Can anyone tell me the name of a good doctor in Vancouver who might knowledgeable about natural treatments for Tourette's.

2. I am interested in ordering B. Grimaldi's TS-plus supplements. Should I wait until my doctor approves before ordering them.

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My 8 year-old son suddenly began developing neck, shoulder shrugging, knees slapping together tics that have been continuing for the last 6 weeks. My family doctor has referred us to a pediatrician, but we can't get in until September 30. I have just finished reading "Natural Treatments for Tics and Tourette's" and wonder about a few things

1. Can anyone tell me the name of a good doctor in Vancouver who might knowledgeable about natural treatments for Tourette's.

2. I am interested in ordering B. Grimaldi's TS-plus supplements. Should I wait until my doctor approves before ordering them.

 

Just wondering if you have looked at the PANDAS information on this site?? You mention the "sudden" onset and this is very characteristic of PANDAS - it might just be worth having his throat swabbed (72 hour culture) and blood work taken for a strep titer test. This is something that your family doc. can do while you are waiting to see the pediatrician.

 

I wouldn't order any supplements until you have done the strep investigation and until you see the pediatrician - just my personal opinion though.

 

I can't help you find a good doc in Vancouver (sorry - I live in Winnipeg!) but it is nice to see another Canadian on here.

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Hi and welcome,

Char and Ronnas are from Canada i beleive Char is from Alberta and not sure about Ronnas she has not posted for awile but you can still see her profile if you want to send her a message. good luck.

 

Deanna

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Hi Krista,

 

Here's my 2 cents (free advice...worth what you're paying for it ;):) )

 

 

"traditional" MD's only really have experience with "traditional" pharmaceuticals. This means....the MD will recommend prescription drugs.

 

I'm assuming youre interested in "natural" treatments instead , if possible...why you are on this website..

 

therefore , the MD you will be seeing, in my guess, will either be:

 

A. saying "go ahead, try that "natural" stuff (wont hurt)....but here's what will really work": and give you a prescription

 

OR:

 

B. try to make you feel like the most negligent mother on earth if you dont start prescription drugs, and tell you all the natural stuff is "quack"...

 

 

If you wind up with Dr. B....politely listen....then leave, and search for a Dr. A. Sometimes it takes time.

 

 

From my experience (I'd like to be wrong on this one ! :P )....you will need to do most of the leg work yourself RE: "natural" treatments.

 

 

IN looking at "natural" stuff, consider 2 things:

 

1. Is it SAFE? ("first, do no harm") (I'm guessing most of the supplements recommended on this site are?)

 

2. Can I AFFORD it....(we honestly spent HUNDREDS of dollars a month on nutritional supplements...and , quite honestly, I didnt see much positive results from them. HOWEVER, in our case, we DID see results from food/allergan avoidance.....and, to be fair, others DO see results with supplements....but...it is NOT a guarantee....so, you do need to be realisitic, and look practically at your whole situation in deciding how to approach things)

 

 

IF you can afford the supplements....I'd say, "try it"....if it helps...great! IF not, then , you've already explored one path that you know isnt exceptionally useful in your case.

 

 

 

In my case....sigh...I spent about a year "figuring out' what to do....finally did find some success with food avoidance...spent another year or so DOING that....and....sigh...SOOOOOO difficult with a school age child.....one little "treat" from someone...and he's ticing all over the place........finally resorted to meds because they DID work (on motor tics), and it was SOOOOO difficult to manage the other......

 

 

((((((Hugs)))))) and best wishes!

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Hi Lauren,

what meds do use for the motor tics?

 

Deanna

 

Catapres (clonidine).

 

This was ? 15 years ago. I see on here someone mentioned "topamax"...that wasnt available back then. There was catapres, haldol, and maybe something like orapp?

 

Haldol (and others) can have "tardive dyskinesias" as a "side effect". These are funny tongue thrusting/lip smacking movements (involuntary) that these psychotropic drugs CAN cause ...and....the scarey part.....they can CONTINUE even if you discontinue the drug! So, I would be VERY cautious if considering a drug that has that as a potential side effect. Those drugs MIGHT be your only option....but I'd use them as a LAST RESORT....

 

From what I saw when I googled "topramax" there was no "tardive dyskineseia" mentioned....but you'd want to research all about it better.

 

For the catapres....the main side effect he had was sleepiness.....so we upped the dose as much as we couldwithout putting him to sleep....and, like I said, it still didnt really help the vocal tics.

 

So, eventually , decided to stick with it...the, I DECREASED the dose to the minimal amount that still suppressed the motor tics (one pill at bedtime usually).

 

I remember CAtapres has kind of a cumulative effect...so , the first day you've increased the dose....not too sleepy....but by day three....wow...VERY noticeable.

 

The other useful thing with catapres was that it DID work fairly quickly...e.g, in a couple of days, you'd see results.

 

It's also a pill used by many to control blood pressure (apparently in higher doses)......so I felt pretty comfortable in that it had been around for awhile and used by alot of folks.

 

Plus , it was a drug sometimes used for ADD....and my son did have some of the "distractibiltiy" components of ADD....although I dont know that the catapres did anything to help that at all, really.

 

 

 

BEST WISHES!!

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My 8 year-old son suddenly began developing neck, shoulder shrugging, knees slapping together tics that have been continuing for the last 6 weeks. My family doctor has referred us to a pediatrician, but we can't get in until September 30. I have just finished reading "Natural Treatments for Tics and Tourette's" and wonder about a few things

1. Can anyone tell me the name of a good doctor in Vancouver who might knowledgeable about natural treatments for Tourette's.

2. I am interested in ordering B. Grimaldi's TS-plus supplements. Should I wait until my doctor approves before ordering them.

 

Hi Krista, we live in Vancouver, actually just a little south of there by White Rock. Our son started eye blinking then shoulder/leg arm jerks, then some neck jerks etc.....this happened when he was 7. He is now 10 and has been mostly tic free for 2 years. We went to a Dr at Childrens Hospital that specialized in TS, but did not help at all in my opinion. We did the natural route, had him tested for lots of things and currently he takes the TS plus as well as Natural Calm Mag. Our biggest breakthrough was putting him on Gluten Free diet and removing all artificial everything. He has some eye blinks, but I am thinking it may even be light sensitivity. I use to post here a bit, I am so glad to say he is doing great, thanks to the people on this forum.

He went back to school today, could have been an issue with all the stress etc of starting again after a busy summer, but he was good. Two years ago to the date he had his last body tics, it was his first day at a new school, I remember some tears that day. Just after that we started Gluten free diet for him and that has changed him. When he has some, he will get mild eye blinking or nose twitching, but no major body jerks.

Please feel free to send me a personal note, I would be happy to discuss in more detail.

Lenny

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Lenny,

good to hear from you and hear things are well.

Do you do anything else besides gluten free, (corn, dairy, etc?) . Did you start the TS vits when he first started with tics? how long on the vits before the tics waned and stayed away?

 

Thanks

Faith

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Lenny,

We have a similar story, only our son started ticcing at age 3 and was tic free after about a year on the diet. We had to eliminated wheat, gluten, corn and all artificials. We do an antifungal diet to maintain his recovery. He is now 6 1/2 and has not had a wax on in over a year. (Last wax on was due to eating three freeze pops at school loaded with high fructose corn syrup and artificial colors). So I agree those things made a huge difference for us too.

We also have light sensitivity issues that peak and ebb on occasion. I have guessed it was related to zinc deficiency. My son was also dxd with pyroluria and that is stress related and will cause depletion of zinc, b6, and magnesium. We did get him polarized sunglasses and when he has a day where the light seems to bother him I just give him a larger dose of zinc until it eases off. His symptoms are not blinking but a really bothersome squint and inability to fully open his eyes in broad daylight.

Just thought I would share. Our stories are almost identical.

Caryn

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Lenny,

good to hear from you and hear things are well.

Do you do anything else besides gluten free, (corn, dairy, etc?) . Did you start the TS vits when he first started with tics? how long on the vits before the tics waned and stayed away?

 

Thanks

Faith

We just do gluten, but limit his dairy to cheese and yogurt. Junk food is mostly Whole Foods stuff now, it is amazing how he doesn't even ask for the junk anymore. We ended up starting the Bonnies just after he had his last body tics two years ago. The next phase was gluten free about a month after. I can tell when he has anything he shouldn't now, he will get a eye or nose or some other minor facial tic that take about a week to subside.

Lenny

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Krista,

Hi, welcome to the forum.^_^ Sorry I haven't posted yet but, I have been busy with my kids starting school. I live in Canada as well. I have not found alot of doctors or ND doctors where I live so, I am so thankful for this forum and the help others on here have given me. You could start out by giving some magnesium to your child. It seems to help tics with some children. Also you might want to see a DAN doctor to help you run some tests and help guide you to help your child. There is a good DAN doctor in Vancouver BC,(DR.Anita Bratt). She seems to know what she is doing and her staff it great! My son is on the TS-Plus and it has helped him. Not as much as I would like but, it has helped him and when I don't give him the ts-plus his tics increase. You can email anytime, even if it's just to vent.. Char...

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Krista, if you are indeed in Vancouver: - There is an absolutely excellent neurofeedback practitioner in Van. It's Dr. Paul Swingle, author of Biofeedback for the Brain. No, it's not flaky. We did NFB through a clinic in Toronto, and my son is a different kid. NFB gently trains the brainwaves back into a normal pattern. Drug-free, but quite expensive. To me, it's not worth it unless you are doing it with someone who is top in the field. At least call Swingle's office and get more information, or read his book.

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