Did eliminating certain foods reduce tics?

[KJS]

Oops, forgot to log in. That last post to Jeff was from me!

 

To answer one of your questions, I did take a look at the Members board on the Feingold site. There's so much information there that I've found it a bit overwhelming. I'm having enough of a time getting used to this board! But I'll give it another try. I do see that most people are posting there with behavior and/or learning issues and - THANK GOODNESS - those are not our issues.

 

Karen

[Giselle]

1. Gluten, corn, soy, citrus, bananas.

2. YES! Thankfully!

3. No changes in behavior, well perhaps a little less anxious.

4. 3 days after I found the last hidden ingredients and eliminated those. Glucano Delta Lactone is corn! go figure, and arrowroot is from the banana family! And the corn in his vegetarian vitamin capsules. Now they are gone he's almost completely ticless - except at school and I suspect the moldy smell of the airconditioner and extra stress.

5. He's still very sensitive, we only have been doing this for a few weeks.

Giselle, son Hoyt, age 71/2.

[Claire]

I have a FAVOR to ask! Can we update this survey on improvements (or not!) seen from food elimination diets? The first post says what information is good to post. I will compile the new updates here.

 

I have noticed that the IgG food sensitivity test and food elimination approach has become a fairly common thing for new posters to try for their kids.

 

At one point, we did this 'survey' thread, which showed a high success rate for that approach. However, we have much more data now, and I think it is very important to update it with the new information, to keep our data points 'accurate'.

As Patty hinted at on another thread, if you don't eliminate all the sensitivities, you might not see improvement, so this can skew the results, so please be specific on whether there was a test done, what was eliminated, and for how long.

 

These diets are a lot of effort for the parent and certainly challenging for the children. It will really help our community to help us understand whether it still seems to be worthwhile. So be 'honest' if no improvement, we aren't looking for folks trying to agree, we are looking to uncover the most common paths to success.

 

And for those for whom this seemed to work, if the tics came back later (while the food was still out of the diet), let us know. This is important given the thinking that these tics can just wax and wane.

 

I will bump up other survey threads for the same reason ...it has been a LONG time since they were posted.

 

Claire

[kim]

Bump for Caryn

[Caryn]

Bump for Faith.

[ilovedogs]

This thread has really opened my eyes to the whole food sensitivity and tic thing!

My ds just started ticcing in November and I realized that we had just bought some new juice that has no HFCS to sweeten it, etc. My ds really liked the grape juice blend so I started buying it and he's been drinking it every day. He's also been eating a lot of chocolate b/c of the holidays and birthdays we've had lately. I can't wait to start eliminating things for him and see if we see any improvements.

 

It's all so overwhelming and I haven't found an environmental doctor yet. My ds was just seen by the pediatrician who told me that these tics should clear up as he gets older...well, that doesn't help me help my ds get relief from them, does it? I have ds on a fish oil supplement for now but if that doesn't help or I see worsening of tics I may switch him over to a flax oil supplement.

 

Thank you all for this information. I was beginning to despair that there was no hope for us!

[ml_gwi]

hi all !

 

i have a 12 year old who have had severe tics incl. body jerking and barking about half a year ago until i gave him the following vitamins , minerals and INHIBITORY amino acid supplements. his tics are down very considerably and now its reduced to a very little bit of sniffing and not much more. please note that taking away artificial coloring, sweeteners, soy and eggs ( among others ) from the diet is very important.

 

 

vitamins and minerals :

 

vitamin B-50

omega 3 with vit E

vitamin C

cod liver oil ( vit A + D )

calcium-magnesium- zinc

lecithin

grape seed extract

 

 

INHIBITORY amino acids ;

 

5 HTP

GABA

TAURINE

GLYCINE

 

 

most if not all of these items can be found at your local health food shop and they are relatively inexpensive. please note that each case is different so it may or may not work with your child. I AM NOT A DOCTOR, just a concerned parent like most of you in this forum and came up with this formula by trial and error after doing some research on the internet.

 

this is NOT a recommendation , just wanted to let everyone know what worked for us.

[Chemar]

thanks for sharing your treatments, which are similar to that which has worked for many of our kids

 

I do just want to point out to avoid confusion that 5HTP is NOT an amino acid, but is a precursor to tryptophan which in turn stimulates serotonin production.These are neurotransmitters and not amino acids

 

 

 

edited to add: my info above on this is INCORRECT as both 5htp and tryptophan are classified as essential amino acids

[ml_gwi]

hi chemar !

 

thank you for pointing that out and sorry if i caused any confusion. by the way, is there any other mineral , vitamin , amino acid or neurotransmitter that you think might be helpful ?

 

ml_gwi

[kim]

Cheri,

 

Actually tryptophan is an essential amino acid. Many sites refer to 5HTP as an amino acid also, but i couldn't come up with one other than Wiki that i thought was really creadible.

 

My understanding is that some amino acids act as neurotransmitters. I really only remember this because I recently used 5htp for my oldest son during the head shaking flare. I remembered from a post of yours that you prefer trytophan as opposed to 5htp. I thought 5htp converted to tryp instead of tryptophan converting to 5htp. The conversion and precursors get confusing. Soooo, the info that you provided ( and Micheles wonderfully detailed post regarding here DAN Dr. visits)lead me to really looking at amino acids (have much to learn!). It's looking to me like my youngest son is probably really lacking since his protein intake is so limited. Without the amino's he may not be utililizing the nutrients like he should.

 

As always thanks for the tons of valuable info you provide. This was only meant for claification, as usually these things are talked about here more in regards to their function as neurotransmitters, than amino acids, but recently i have been feeling like balancing aminos may be very important to youngest son.

[JennyC]

1. What foods was your child sensitive to?

2. Did eliminating them reduce tics, and if so how much (no difference, minimal, significant, major)?

3. Did you notice other changes from elimination of foods, e.g. behavior.

4. How long did it take to notice a difference (for those that saw any difference)?

5. Current status (e.g. no longer sensitive)

 

So far dairy, Im guessing the Casein in it.

 

It reduced tics from multiple episodes a day where she would have a multiple tics every few seconds to only a handful of tics through out the whole day.

 

At first she even acted happier, more compliant but lately she is acting oddly again. Im guessing maybe I should cut gluten next.

 

It took only a matter of days for tics to start reducing.

 

We are still off of dairy, if she does have any she starts to tic the next day.

[Chemar]

thanks so much for the correction re 5HTP and tryptophan classification as amino acids as well as neurotransmitters, Kim

 

not too sure why I had always believed them not to be true amino acids, and so I do appreciate the clarification there

[ml_gwi]

hi everyone !

 

 

do you think its a good idea to add the following to my son's daily regiment of vitamins, minerals and amino acid supplements ( he has TS ) ?

 

 

1) CHLORELLA - i understand that it is supposed to mop up toxins and other heavy metals from his system ; and ,

 

2) MANGANESE - which is supposedly to help in the normal functioning of the nerve transmitter system ?

 

 

anybody here has any experience with these supplements ? would appreciate a reply.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

 

 

ml_gwi

[valsmom]

I know it is an old post but i am a bit confused about food elemination. Does it worth starting eleminating diet by fiegold if my DD has no food allergist ( she had blood test for it)?

Thank you .

[mar]

Did she have the ige or the igg (sensitivity)? A lot of things showed up on the sensitivity blood test for ds and that's where I started.

Mar