My son was diagnosed with tourettes two years back. It runs on my wifes side of the family. His symptoms were not mild in any way but had not gotton severe although it was obviously going in that direction, and very quickly. His symptoms included everything from terrible facial tics to mumbling and spurting out words from the blue to ocd. My wife and I as any other parents here were hesitant on placing him on any kinds of med so we decided to slowly try supplements. Hours and weeks of reading on tourettes, the only thing that kept smacking me in the face was toxicity and malabsorbtion. I decided to place him on a regiman of supplements(without any change to diet) begining with DIGESTIVE ENZYMES AND PROBIOTICS(for absorbtion) for two weeks in the am. Along with his dig enzyme and probiotics, I then started him on on a detox program -MILK THISLE, NAC, ALPHA LIPOIC ACID, SUCCINIC ACID AND OTHER MINOR SUPPLEMENTS THAT WERE INCLUDED IN THE BOTTLES. At this point within three and half weeks into it we began noticing a calm and reduced tics. I then added to his regiman AMINO ACID COMPLEX, IRON minimal ( his blood test showed low iron and some liver enzymes, out of range), MAGNESIUM CITRATE, TAURINE AND GABA. It has now been close to seven months and I would say he is 99.9 symptom free. We had gone through many was and weaning stages which lasted at most five days to most three weeks. I am convinced at this point this is not a wax and ween. My wife and I are noticing a remarkable difference. I strongly believe for most, this condition has plenty to do with malabsorbtion of vitamins and minerals along with toxicity levels, as well as the liver and kidneys playing a large part in this. Im am not saying this is for everyone, nor is it a cure, but it is working for us and hoping someone will benifit from this threat or get some relief as we did. With all this aside, this is the part I am not understanding, My wife and I just returned from a time waisting, tourettes convention meeting and when this was brought up to others, we got the shift?? As I said, I understand this may not be for everyone, but as I read postings to this thread and others, I am noticing similar positive experiences, so why would this not be worth looking into or researched? I did not post how much dosage I am giving him as I am not a specialist, and I am not posting which companies were used to buy my supplement as I am not promoting or profiting as those pithetic web pages do.

I clicked to reply, copy and pasted your post in my WP program and printed it off, to give to my nephew to do some research on and about.

I'm so glad this is working for your family. And yes other will benefit from your post.

Hi salvo

glad to hear of your success with a supplemental program

I do think too often doctors give a Tourette diagnosis when there may be other reasons for the tics

we too have a story of success for my son, who has genetic TS, and has been on this nutritional program for almost 10years now. I have a thread on what we have used here http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread1145.html

My son does still have the waxing and waning characteristic of TS, but to a much lesser degree than when he was younger, when it was very severe

I am interested to see you give a full amino complex without adverse effect, as most people with TS cannot tolerate the dopaminergic amino acids like eg tyrosine

hope your child continues to improve and all the best

I am very interested always in alternative approaches to medical problems. I solved my son's ADHD with essential fatty acids, magnesium and B vitamins.

I don't know how old your son is...but are the liver functions stabilized now? The reason I ask is that there is a genetic condition called hemochromatosis, which may have a presenting feature of low hematocrit, combined with liver problems.
This is basically iron overload disorder.
Liver enzymes may be deranged temporarily by a viral illness, like Mono or hepatitis. Usually they return to normal.

I would assume you have had more recent tests for the anemia, and would only use the iron with a doctor's supervision.
Males present younger with hemochromatosis, than females.
Tests for this include Total bound Iron, and transferritin levels.