Also Caryn thank you so much for the information. Your name comes up all over the place during my google searches! I have made an appointment with Rodney Ford on the 10th, I’m hoping for some great assistance for him (fingers crossed!). I can’t remember if I mentioned above, but did you ever try a colostrum supplement with your son?
Thanks again
Kristen

Why did I have to dig so deep to find the connection between tics and food allergies. I can’t help but wonder if parents of children with “Tourettes” have exhausted the possibility of it being food related–has anyone even told them to try??

I guess there is no pill to sell, so our doctors are not educated about such a mysterious methods of treatment…

Also you might find helpful info on our forum: Anti-fungal Diet for Tics, Tourette Syndrome, and ASD. There is private board “Updates on our Kids” accessible only to registered forum members.

I couldn’t just sit around and wait for his appointment so, like many of you I’m sure, I googled “children with tics” and the term Tourettes popped up everywhere. I remember feeling like I just wanted to cry. I read story after story and watched video after video of children with Ethan’s exact symptoms who were diagnosed with Tourettes. While at the same time…trying to understand what exactly Tourettes is. Which, if you’ve researched it you, too, probably found that no one really knows what causes it or how to treat it. Turns out that Tourettes is just a label for a mysterious condition…and for some reason that gave me hope and sent me on my mission to help Ethan on my own.

I then came across some stories from parents who believed that their children’s tics were related to food allergies and many of them swore by a book called “Natural Treatments for Tics and Tourettes”. If you go to Amazon and read the comments it will amaze you. It was an “ah ha” moment for me and I ordered the book that day.

I received the book on March 13th, made an appointment with a food allergist on March 14th and on March 16th decided to experiment on my own (appt with food allergist wasn’t for another week) and I removed dairy and artificial additives from Ethan’s diet. By March 19th, only 3 days later, his tics were 80% gone. It was the first time in a year he had gone for more than 10 minutes without a tic. Today is March 22nd and he’s at 90%. His dad and I can’t believe it. Just like that, gone! All because of what he was eating? Why did I have to dig so deep to find the connection between tics and food allergies. I can’t help but wonder if parents of children with “Tourettes” have exhausted the possibility of it being food related–has anyone even told them to try?? Anyway, Ethan’s scratch test at the allergist’s was inconclusive so we’re scheduled to do a blood test this week and results will take 10 days–I will for surely post the results. Parents–don’t bother with the scratch test…and don’t let the doctor try to talk you into it–it was uncomfortable for Ethan and a waste of time in the end. The blood test or “intradermal” test is far more conclusive. We will still go to see the Neurologist on 4/2 regardless of Ethan’s improvement.

I know that we are only on day 4 and a big part of me fears that this is too good to be true and that the tics will resurface again but at the same time I also feel very empowered and hopeful…and I will continue on this mission for as long as it takes. If you want to email me with questions regarding the success we’re having email tb_shaw [at] comcast.net.

I can’t tell you how thrilling it is to find this article. My daughter, age 6, has been having progressively worsening tics since early winter of this year. I could write her story, but it is actually about exactly what you have written above regarding your son. The details of similarity are stunning to me but you’re probably not surprised… sniffling/clearing throat was first (also missed as a tic) and quickly progressed to be multifocal, which it still is currently. I also received the same stories with the doctors that everyone receives. She is also gluten and corn intolerant. I have always believed in alternative medicine and have had them (my 4 yo son also, with Chronic Lyme) in an excellent set of alternative practitioners for about a year. The tics progressed to her jumping up and down repeatedly to where she couldn’t perform many simple duties without much frustration. I recently had a nurse of a specialty field explain the brown ring around her otherwise beautiful green eyes is not a good sign!

I know we are on the right track – exploring things that come to mind, food sensitivities, vitamin deficiencies, regular adjustments, etc. They take Kid’s Calm Multi and Natural Calm as well as a host of other supplements as needed. I am going to request a heavy metal test at her next appointment and was thinking of exploring the DAN Doctor option, but I was wondering if you could recommend any other steps right away that were maybe a bit of a “breakthrough” during your son’s care. If we don’t have to see another doctor, especially with the potential of travelling, it would be helpful since there is a lot of doctor seeing in our house lately.

Thank you so much for anything you can offer! Your note about not seeing a complete change for 1 ½ years is also helpful to know that the right track can still take plenty of time.

There are many, many, possible causes for the ticcing and without proper testing the treatments you try are really only going to be doing guess work at best. But a little relief after a couple simple changes may be enough to convince your daughter and granddaughter that it is worth looking into. I understand your daughter’s position, too, to a point. She probably needs to feel that you love and accept her daughter just the way she is, tics and all, without trying to ‘fix’ her. Not all kids get cured. But the alternative treatments to alleviate symptoms quite a bit for many. I was told by the neurologist to ‘ignore’ the tics too. So you have to understand that conventional medicine tells patients and their parents this. It is very hard for a person to reach out past conventional medicine to try alternative treatments because the doctors generally make you feel like a fool for considering it. I mentioned using vitamins and magnesium to my neurologist and she said it would not hurt my son in the least bit but that it would do nothing to cure him. That’s not encouragement, on the contrary, it does more to convince you not to try. The best kind of doctor to seek out is a DAN doctor (Defeat Autism Now). They are conventional doctors who have additional training in alternative medicine and are willing to do holistic testing and natural treatments. That is the route we took.

Our son started ticcing in 2007, and after changing his diet and using natural treatments to heal his gut it took 1 1/2 years before the symptoms went away completely. He last ticced while in kindergarten. He is now going into 3rd grade this fall. We eat as organic as possible with him, gluten free, low sugar, no artificial colors or preservatives, and plenty of water. He does not drink pop or eat anything with high fructose corn syrup. And he’s really pretty happy with the way things are. Oh, and we no longer see that neurologist at all ;>)