Overwhelmed and confused

[sharonkevin]

Hi-

I have two out of our four children diagnosed with TS. My son (10 ) also deals with anxiety, OCD, anger, tics (mostly motor some verbal but those seem to have gone for now). My daughter (almost 9) only has motor tics that we can tell. Between the two of them we've been to pediatrician, neurologist, psychiatrist, environmental doc, and now a lady who does biofeedback. According to the biofeedback, both kids are high in metals and viruses. My son in particular is low in serotonin, which makes sense with his OCD, sleep and mood problems. We're getting conflicting recommendations on supplements and would like some input.

 

This is what my son is currently taking: B complex (2 x a day), probiotic, zinc, chelated Magnesium (800 mg), Taurine (1000 mg). He was taking NAC but we have stopped simply because I didn't order more and now the biofeedback lady said not to take. We've recently started Metal Free to detox the metals, I've started adding liquid minerals to water (only about 2 tsp a day), and started using Flax oil in their diet. Of course I've cleaned up the diet (no artificial colors, preservatives, organic where we can, no dairy for my daughter,etc). We'll try a footbath next week to help with the metals. My doubts are coming in on the 5-HTP that was recommended for my son by the lady doing biofeedback. I ended up getting L-Tryptophan (500 mg) and he has taken only for one or two days only. He seemed to be ticking more than ever for 2 days afterward but I don't know if the L-Tryptophan is the cause or something else. I've read a bunch on this forum tonight cautioning about the use of it. Any feedback on what we are doing and about the L-Tryptophan for the serotonin levels would be great. Thanks.

[Chemar]

Hi and welcome

 

5HTP was like a miracle for my son when he was in a severe state with disabling tourettic OCD

At that time l-tryptophan was still not FDA approved, but I have heard from many satisfied users since

 

however, different people react differently to both 5HTP and l-tryptophan and some people just cannot tolerate them. When my son tried the 5HTP again some years later, he got very edgy on it. So even within an individual it can have varied effects

 

Inositol is a B vitamin that has been found very helpful with OCD so you may want to discuss this with your physicians. Also methionine and samE can help, and some people also like NAC

 

looking at your supp list, it did occur to me that the taurine is rather high? we were told to give only 500mg a day...but perhaps your son needs more.

 

Have you tried Epsom Salts baths (magnesium sulfate?) They are really helpful to relax tics and the sulfates also help with detox

 

I have a link in my signature below on what we did to help my son

[sharonkevin]

Thanks for the insights. I have read your posts as well as others and it seems like you have to see what works for each child individually. I haven't tried the epsom salt baths but will give it a shot. He's still ticcing alot and now has some itchy rash on his trunk and arm. Guess I need to back off on new things we're trying and see what is causing the newest reactions. He was on NAC and perhaps I should start that back up again. I just want to help him but am afraid of harming him and making things worse.

[faith]

hi,

our last trial of tryptophan didn't go over well and seemed to cause an increase after just one dose. I didn't continue after that.