Son sick...minor tics

[Claire]

Frank and Heather,

 

Did you see a PANDAS report on echinacea being bad for PANDAS kids? Or did your naturopath tell you this? Or was this personal observation.

 

I have never heard this before. I would like to know if it was a logical deduction kind of thing or how it originated.

 

I have seen it posted that glutamine can turn to glutamate--bad for kids with tics, but our DAN doctor disagrees.

 

It is so tough with no formal studies to track the source of things--we have word of mouth, but I still like to track the source. FYI, I know I quote Pfeiffer a lot, but our DAN doctor says they haven't been very open about their actual studies either.

 

You know all my 'screen avoidance' comments are based mostly on anecdotal and 'logical deduction' vs anything formal, so I have no criticism intended here if it was just anectodal from other posters, I am simply trying to understand where it originated.

 

Claire

[Ronnas]

Susanna,

 

My son swallows pills easily so I give him the antibiotics as a capsule. I am not sure how old your son is but it is really nice if they can swallow pills. My son has been able to do this since right before he turned five. Many have suggested practicing with M&M's first, taking a drink from a straw to help swallow the pill, and my own personal thing is to NOT teach your kids to tip their head back.

 

As for liquid, the only thing I can think of is to give it "in the cheek" rather than directly on the tongue or directly in the mouth. I am a nurse and this is how we give meds. I have a nephew who REFUSES to take anything by mouth from his mom or dad but easily does it for me. It has become a "habit" I think for my nephew to fuss for his mom...I am pretty fast and matter of fact. From the time they are young don't announce they are getting any medicine...a surpise "attack" works best...be as fast as possible, no nonsense and QUICK. This is easily said by me though as I am an RN and believe me nurses don't really fool around with much fussing when you have a bunch of kids to give meds to.

 

Best of luck with the NIMH...I found them very good to talk to!

 

Take Care,

Ronna

[Frank_Sm1th]

Claire-

 

The echinacea warnings come from the folks at our local health food store and our pediatrician when I mention my son's immune system being eager to attack strep germs, but not stopping short of attacking his basal ganglia.

 

So, to fight the sniffles this winter, I'd like to give him golden seal. But my wife will probably prevail and give him homeopathy which often works.

 

Frank

[Guest Jean]

Susanna,

 

Elderberry (from Karuna) and Pro-Liquid Bioflavonoid together work very well for cold. My husband just got cold last week. They helpe him a lot.

[Guest Jean]

Susanna,

 

I didn't read the whole thread when I wrote my previous post. Our ND suggested to take HMF Replete (and HMF Forte) after my son had antibiotics.

[susanna]

Before I had gotten the strep diagnosis my homeopathic doctor suggested an herbal medicine for my son's cold:Sambucol. It is an extract of elderberry that tastes good and is an immune booster. If this is an immune booster, however, I wonder if it would cause the same problems as echinacea (sp?) and make the tics worse???? She also suggested the Vit C supplementation and to push fluids, and to have him eat garlic and onions if he eats them...which of course he doesn't.

 

Since we got the strep diagnosis I am doing the antibiotic, a probiotic and extra vitamin C. I don't want to leave anything to chance with the herbal remedy since the cold is actually getting better.

[Heather]

Claire,

 

I am sorry but I can't remember where I read the information about the echinacea. Last winter I was on here so much reading literature from so many sources and I would often read all night jumping from site to site. It was after I noticed an increase in tics when I gave my son echinacea that I started doing searches on it and remember reading in more than one place that it should not be used for people sufferring from autoimmune disorders. However, I have no idea at this point what the specific articles were....sorry. It does make sense though since it is an immune booster that it would cause this reaction in PANDAS kids.

 

Heather

[Damma32]

I am having an awful time getting the antibiotic in him.  It's augmentin and he hates it...this is a child who has always been a trooper about taking meds.  I'll have to remember to ask the ped for something else next time he needs an antibiotic.  Any tips or tricks to get him to take this?  We've tried a number of things to no avail.

 

5551[/snapback]

 

Hi Susanna,

I know this post is kind of old, from 2004, but I wanted to let you know about something I just saw at the pharmacy. I have a Walgreens pharmacy store by my house and noticed that they have a new feature. You can add a flavor to your child's prescription for a small fee. I know Augmentin comes in suspension formula and thought you might be able to add a nice flavor to it so he can stomach the horrible stuff.

 

Just a thought, you might have already discovered this but I thought I might mention it anyways. Good luck with the kiddo!

Damaris

[susanna]

Thanks for the "heads up". I've actually seen that at my pharmacy as well. but I have a feeling the flavor is artificial and I try to minimize the artificial stuff as much as possible. We were actually just at the peds a few weeks ago...I thought my son had contacted strep again (thankfully the test was negative and we did not experience any tics) In any case, the doc was willing to prescribe a different antibiotic if it was necessary since my son made sure to share his dislike of augmentin with him