Tourette’s: When Your Doctor is Barking Up The Wrong Tree (Premium)
This week, a mother shared a pressing concern. Her son had received a diagnosis from a neurologist and she didn’t know what to think about it. She was looking for advice on how to “process” it.
Here’s what happened, and what I suggest she do.
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This worried mom took her 9-year-old son to the pediatric neurologist. A verbal tic had been present for more than a year, and more recent facial tics had developed.
After hearing about these symptoms, the neurologist presented her diagnosis: “Tourette syndrome.” At the same time, she advised the parent that “no additional follow up” was needed.
You might wonder, why was no follow up recommended? That’s because conventional medicine’s treatment plan for Tourette syndrome is, well, to suck it up. They believe there is no cure. It is genetic. It might get better, might get worse. Patients and families should be prepared that the tics will wax and wane, come and go. There is nothing anyone can really do about it, except try to reduce stress.
This is classic advice. How is a diagnostic label, alone, going to help anything?
Truth be told, the family learned nothing from this doctor. It is like a kid having itchy eyes for a year, so the doctor declares that the youngster suffers from Itchy Eye Syndrome, and then advises that no follow-up is needed.
How does that possibly reduce symptoms? How does it make life better for the child? And even worse, when the advice is to do nothing about it, chances are that the symptoms will continue or may even worsen.
This scenario plays out daily around the world. It is misleading, discouraging, and harmful.
How can the doctor be so-o-o clueless?
Patients and families dealing with tics go to the physician for answers. They want to know WHY is this happening and WHAT they can do about it.
Meanwhile, the doctor looks at a short checklist, gives a diagnosis, and dismisses them.
Why would a doctor do this when the parent obviously wants real help? That’s easy to explain. The doctor doesn’t know any better. And her peers don’t either.
Just today I was checking PubMed.gov (a website where research is summarized) for the latest studies on Tourette syndrome. I opened a current one, an August 2018 journal article.
The study report began: Despite intense research, the underlying mechanisms and the etiology (causes) of Tourette syndrome remain unknown.
Keep in mind, this assessment on Tourette’s is hot off the press! Talk about a discouraging update.
The medical community STILL does not know what is going on with the symptoms of this condition. Today’s families unwittingly and unwillingly join the ranks of those of the past several decades. They are left without hope or direction for dealing with tic disorders.
The critical mistake medical professionals make: They bark up the wrong tree.
One wonders, how could physicians have blinders on and miss all the reports by patients, parents, and other physicians about an immune connection with tics?
How can they ignore numerous ongoing reports of diet affecting symptoms?
Why aren’t they interested in the logical fact that tics can increase with exposure to toxins?
Why haven’t they read the research that supports a connection between tics and allergies?
Why aren’t they curious enough to look for clues themselves? They could easily question their patients about their experiences, and urge them to look for symptom triggers.
By the way, this child has significant allergies. That should be a red flag to the neurologist, because allergies can affect the nervous system.
My advice to this mother would be:
- Recognize that the term Tourette syndrome is a useless label. It is not helpful in reducing symptoms.
- Pretend you never heard the advice that follow-up was not needed. Begin the follow-up yourself. Seek to find answers.
- Read articles on Latitudes.org and our books Natural Treatments for Tics and Tourette’s and Stop Your Tics by Learning What Triggers Them.
- Look for ideas on our Latitudes.org Forums and reach out for support.
- Know that others have found help and reduced tic symptoms, and you can too.
- Decide the path you want to take and keep a careful log. Do you need to adjust the diet? Is your home, yard, and school (or office) free of toxins that can harm the nervous system?
- Have you followed the “getting started” advice in our Natural Treatments for Tics and Tourette’s book?
- Consider getting professional help. Seek out a nutritionist, allergist, naturopath, or integrative physician to help in your efforts.
Conventional doctors don’t have answers for Tourette syndrome. Period. They have been duped into thinking that giving a label is good enough. This professional satisfaction is later followed by offering drugs when symptoms are really bad.
This approach may be good enough for them, but it should not be good enough for you.
Be strong and be hopeful. Know that there is help to be had, and start on your search for answers. Some cases resolve easily and others can be complicated. But you can be sure of one thing: All positive steps you take will be better than doing nothing.
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