Im looking for information to help lessen my tics

[jpen90]

I am 20 years old and have had tics pretty much my whole life with no advice or help from anybody including my family. When I was a kid tics started as a little hop/skip when i would be walking and have elaborately developed to sometimes very extreme facial twitching, opening and tensing of my jaw, finger, leg and back tensing. Although the tics dealing with my face are the most common, I have intense urges to tense up pretty much every muscle in my body depending on the situation. For example, whenever I am a passenger in a car for long periods of time, I feel an undying need to tense up my leg muscles and my toes to the point of them almost hurting. I do this because thats the only way I feel satisfied by really feeling that i am tensing up really well. This tensing up of my body goes on for hours so it has negative effects on my body in that its gotten really bad sometimes that I have woken up the next morning to soar joints and muscles, especially my knuckles and jaw. I feel like if i keep doing these things long term i may actually experience negative effects years form now when all of this strain on my body cant be healed as well. Ive tried for about 15 years to suppress them with my mind and it was pretty successful but VERY hard and in the end stressed me out more than just dealing with the tics.

 

I just found this site today and ive seen alot of useful information, but im interested in information about taking supplements like magnesium taurate, calcium citrate, and L- carnetine. I had no clue simple minerals and supplements can have positive effects so im really interestes in getting some calrification on this.

 

thanks

[faith]

hello jpen, welcome,

The best thing to do re these supplements is to use the search tool at the bottom of page to read posts of what others experience and dosage is. I don't use these for my son who is 10, but I think some here like magnesium taurate from Cardiovascular Research and you could buy that at the Vitamin Shoppe. Some of us like a magnesium powder called Natural Calm. magnesium seems to be calming and beneficial for those with tics. Just wondering why you chose these particular supplements? What do you presently do for your situation? any medications ever? Are you familiar with Bontech Supplements? They are an all in one supplement called TS Control for tics/tourettes that was developed by a woman named Bonnie Grimaldi whose son suffered from tourettes and it helped a great deal. Have your tics gotten less and less as you got older or remain the same?

 

Aside from supplements, you could also look into other things that you feel may "trigger" your symptoms, such as allergies and food sensitivities. Not sure what else you'd like to know, but feel free to ask any questions, there's always someone around that would be happy to help.

 

 

regards

Faith

[Chemar]

Hi and welcome

 

I have a link in my signature below on what helped my son

http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=687

We also have some helpful threads together here

http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=2459

 

Magnesium seems to be a key supplement for reducing tics.

Bonnie Grimaldi (who has a Bontech range of supplements) has also done research on the magnesium need which she has on her website http://www.bonniegr.com

 

Our administrator, Sheila Rogers, has written an excellent book on natural ways to treat TS and tics

http://www.latitudes.org/book.html

 

there is a lot of helpful info on the Latitudes website too

http://www.latitudes.org/index.html

 

hope that helps to get you started

[CarolynN]

Hello and welcome to the forum. I am so glad you have posted here. I am sure you will be real encouraged by so many people who have found help through doing things naturally. Meaning changing diets and using supplements. Here are some things I wanted to share with you.

 

We have been dealing with tics with my son since he was 3. I have posted on here many times about all the supplements he is on. The only thing I can say is he is almost 9 and pretty much tic free now. He is heading into the peak time for tics for his age and with all of the supplements and diet change I truly believe his intestional track and liver are getting what they need now to help process out what he could not do by himself prior which was food chemicals (MSG, food dyes, high fructose corn syrup). It takes time for the body to heal once on the right supplements.

 

I had put together my theory as to what was ultimately going on with my son's tics and why I thought Daniel was reacting to food chemicals a while back. Here is the link http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?...mp;hl=sulfation and also some follow up links to this post http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?...Carolyn+N\ and also http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?...hl=Carolyn%5C.N .

 

B6 has been a HUGE part of what helps Daniel. He get the 50 mg's from Bonnie Grimaldi's vitamins TS-Plus. When Daniel's tics get going I always give him an additional 50 mg's for two to three days.

 

The magnesium taurate has been very, very helpful too. The magnesium helps calm the nervous system. It is essential for a person with tics to get magnesium going in them. There are different forms of magnesium. You want to buy one that ends in "ate". For example magneiusm taurate, magnesium citrate, magnesium glycinate. The ones that end in "ate" absorb much better in the body. The other ones do not absorb very well at all.

 

Speaking of the TS-Plus vitamin for Daniel it has helped him so much. He has been on it since he was 5. I did not realize how much it was helping him until I tried switching to a different product and within a month his tics came back full force. Another time I tried cutting his dose in half, just to save some money, and he seemed fine for a while. Then again I think his body became depleted of the vitamins and minerals, from not getting enough, and the tics have came back. So I realized I could not "cheat" and try to save money. He is on the recommended dose for his wieght now and doing great. It is an expensive product but well worth it. The biggest pain is it is so many vitamins for him to take but it is such a part of his life and he realizes now the benefit of the vitamins which makes it so much easier.

 

Another thing that has been sooo helpful too is Glycine. Glycine helps the neurotransmitters run more smoothly. He gets anywhere from 2500 mg's to 5000 mg's a day. When he is has really bad tics I give him 10,000 mg's for several days in a row. I use Carlson brand glycine.

 

Another product that he takes that has been really good for him is NAC (N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine). I buy the Vitamin Shoppe brand generic form. He currently is on 600 mg's a day along with 1,000 mg's of vitamin C a day. The vitamin C is helpful when taking NAC to help prevent kidney stones from building up from what I have read. Although my doctor told me this really is not too great of a concern. But the NAC helps the body remove chemical toxins and other toxins from the body. It supplements the liver. The vitamin C is important one way or another for many reasons. But one primary reason is to lower histamine levels.

 

Back to the NAC I know of at least 2 other people on the forum who had really good success with the NAC. It certainly would be something to run by your doctor.

 

Have you tried giving her Benadryl or some other anti-histamine to see if her tics reduce? I know I and many others have seen a reduction in tics with Benadryl. Some people, however, will have an increase in tics when taking it but not for most. My thought is if you see a reduction in tics you know that her histamine levels are elevated which more then likely they are elevated one way or another.

 

The other thing that really helps is taking Epsom Salts baths. Use 2 cups of epsom salts in a bath and soak at least 20 minutes. I noticed with my son that I don't see a sudden reduction in tics after the bath it is usually a couple hours later.

 

I hope this helps some. Don't get discouraged. I have read way to many testomonies of people that once they figure out their triggers (perhaps it is food chemical, dairy products, wheat, environmental chemcials like scented candles, new carpet, chlorine etc.) and get the right supplements their tics greatly are reduced. Your body is sending you a signal and now the detective work starts. One thing I did with my son is I kept food journals of what he ate. I would rate his tics that day (I would break up the day by morning and night) and assign a number from 1 to 10. I cannot tell you how much this helped me. Within a few months I started seeing the pattern of what was causing his tics.

 

Have a great day and I pray you find answers real soon.

 

 

Carolyn N.