Update on my son

[Guest Susanna]

For those who may not recall, my son started ticcing in early April (Friday 4/9 at 6:00PM to be exact) After visits that evening/week to ER, pediatrican and finally neuro (after en EEG) we were told he had TS. Since he had strep the first week of March we suspected PANDAS (after learning about it) given some of his other symptoms...the neuro didn't really buy into the Pandas theory but he had ordered blood tests which revealed elevated strep antibodies. Subsequent strep test came back positive. After a course of antibiotics strep test came back negative. (also gave probiotics during this time which my son still takes because he likes them ) During all of this I also sought out alternative therapies and met with a pediatrician who had recently gotten into homeopathy.

 

Throughout this my son's tics varied daily...there were some really bad days, and some not so bad days, but even on those not so bad days the tics were definitely there...they were just not as "disruptive" or "extreme" or frequent as some other days. Some/most days the tic were physical (and it was a different physical tic every few days), on other days he had an awful "sniffling" tic (which I think was aggravated by seasonal allergies...but no asthma attacks this season! ) On some days the physical tics dominated and the sniffling was virtually non-existant, and visa-versa. My son also displayed significant "anger management" problems.

 

So where are we now? My son had his last dose of antibiotics on Thursday 5/13, which is the same day we had his appt. with the homeopath. After our meeting with this doctor we started flax seed supplementation upon her recommendation. I've also tried to limit the junk food and bought some healthier cereals, cookies, etc at Trader Joes which have been well received by both my boys. That following Thursday (5/20) I had received the remedy from the homeopath and administered that evening. The last significant tic I observed in my son was last Saturday(5/22) when he was standing on a diving board getting ready to jump in the pool. Since then I haven't noticed any tics. My husband has noticed a few (3 or 4 total) minor ones all week. His teacher commented to me this week that he seems "better" I've asked my son about his "shakes" (as he calls them) and he said he had a couple in school but not that many. He still has a few anger managment issues, but not nearly as bad as they were there for a while.

 

I'm feeling very hopeful and cautiously optimistic, but I have so many questions. Did the antibiotics clear up the strep and therefore the tics have subsided? Was it the homeopathic remedy? A combination of all we've done to address the issue? Or is it just a waning period? Was this just a transient tic? But the strep connection convinces me of PANDAS, but in order to be PANDAS there must be TS, right??? I've e-mailed the homeopath and she said we need to wait and see if this is just waning or true improvement.

 

I'm curious as to what experience you have had, especially those of you who have dealt with Pandas. I realize waning periods are different for each individual, but what has your experience been?

 

We meet with the homeopath again in a few weeks. I plan to proceed with testing for allergies, vitamin deficiencies, etc. which the homeopath has agreed to order/do for me. We also have a follow-up with the neuro in a few weeks....it will be interesting to hear his take on all of this.

 

 

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have responed to my previous e-mails and for all the great information you share on this site. I have learned so much, and learned that there is so much I still need to learn!

[Claire]

You don't have to have TS to get tics from strep. I read studies that said that if you caught the strep early enough, you could stop the tics/OCD symptoms.

 

This is great to hear!!!!!! I hope things continue well for your son Susanna.

 

Claire