On the right track for beating TS symptoms

[giulia]

Hello!

My son Luca has been going through a variety of motor tics since age 2. The past September was his very worst month, with tics involving his head, face, eyes, mouth, shoulders, arms, leaving him in a very agitated state, and unable to sit still long enough to complete his homework. At this state I feared that Luca had Tourette Syndrome, and started researching for hours every night, after putting my 3 kids to sleep.

 

Looking back now, he was also at times ansy and impatient, in an unpredictable manner, together with his off-and-on tics. One of those tics was clearing of the throat, ALL THE TIME, for about 3 weeks.

 

At the beginning of Sep. I started Luca on 2 supplements: flax seed oil, and magnesium. His symptoms seemed to get worse instead of better, so upon my departure for a one week business trip to Italy I told my husband to NOT worry about giving him any pills. By the time I came back, his tics (which were a "10") had decreased to almost nothing (a "2").

 

I had ordered a kit to have him tested for delayed allergies (LRA by ELISA/ACT), so I had his blood drawn and sent off the kit. A week later the results came back. He showed "strong reactions" to:

 

Orange, Red #2, Flaxseed/Linseed Oil, Methylene Chloride, Romaine Lettuce, Vinyl Chloride.

 

"moderate reactions" to:

Chocolate, Rhizopus nigricans, red grape, Chloroform, Green #3

 

I also sent off a chunk of hair to test his "metals toxicity level" and the results showed a borderline high copper level, with all other levels being normal (I still don't know what to do with this piece of information).

 

Since receiving the results, I started making lots of changes, as you might imagine, especially since I realized he has always ingested LOTS of red grapes, orange, chocolate, flax seed oil (from my supplement!), Romaine lettuce.

 

With the elimination of the "offending" items his tics were down to barely a "1" in about 1 1/2 weeks. Then I received in the mail a supplement of MAGNESIUM/ZINC/VITAMIN C ("attentive child") I had ordered for him, and told my husband to start giving it to him daily. I left for another bus. trip, and when I returned one week later his tics were slightly worse (a "2"). I then noticed that the supplements container ORANGE, so we discontinued them. After about 10 days he is practically tic free. I realize that it is too early to conclude anything, and I should really wait more like 6 months, but I still wanted to pass this along to everybody, as I am hoping to be on the right track. I should also mention that not only he is almost tic-free, but he is also very calm and serene, the opposite of "very agitated and unable to sit still", which he was when he was at his worst. He is now very happy all the time, no mood swings, able to do his homework on his own, and ticcing maybe twice a day, if that much. Another thig I found helpful is to let him soak for about 10 minutes in an EPSOM SALT bath.

 

Although I am no expert, I want to believe I am on the right track, and I am interested in helping in any way I can others that are going through this VERY frustrating health problem.

Take care!!

Giulia