I know that there may already some threads on here about alt therapies and medications, but I'm looking to know of anything and everything possible that could help with tourettes. I am probably going to be seeing an Allergist to see what kind of food triggers and other allergens might be aggravating my situation, but as I'm fairly recently diagnosed and am considering medication while figuring out other factors, I would really like to know about names of medications, even if they don't work for you or if you are not taking them. I've found some and have read about them, but I want to try and be aware of everything available.

Thanks for all your help in advance and many blessings to you all.

hi again Pearl Doves

my son was on meds for his TS for a year, but he had really bad side effects and so we switched to a more natural treatment approach and have never looked back. That was 6 years ago.

I have documented it on this thread http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/showthread.php?t=1145

(FYI the meds my son had bad reactions to were haldol, luvox and zyprexa. I know other people have successfully used meds so i am only mentioning this because it was our experience, and you asked for input on the subject)

You will find a wealth of info on alternative treatments for TS at Latitudes/ACN http://www.latitudes.org

with great articles on the TS section http://www.latitudes.org/tics_tourettes.htm

where you will also notice info on an excellent book by Sheila Rogers on the subject http://www.latitudes.org/book.html

do also take a look at the TS/tics forum there too as natural treatments is the main topic of discussion there.

Do also take a look at our useful websites link above http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/showthread.php?t=681

Look forward to getting to know you
Cheri

Chemar - thank you for all the info, I really appreciate it.

I'm newly diagnosed, but am not unfamiliar with the problem, I've been struggling with it for around 10 years and referred myself to a neuro who finally diagnosed me based on my history as well as the observance of the tics. I guess I’m more of the odd ball in this case. I didn't start the twitching probably until around 19 or 20 years old. But being that my father has very mild facial tics that can be accompanied with a sound and that my grandmother has the blinking tic; among other things like normal brain mri and normal ekg in the past and I haven't progressed into any other kind of disorder. As far as we know I've never had strep, so based on all this we both seem to agree I have Tourette's. Also probably because of the comorbity issues... I had ADD supposedly as a child and seemed to grow out of that and slowly grew into Tourette’s it seems. There is one thing that I have done since childhood off and on that could be considered a complex motor tic, but this may be hard to determine, not sure.

Its so weird having this problem, especially knowing that its usually something dealt with in childhood. I think I'm starting to feel what many of these children feel.. the isolation. I was at my physical therapy last night and seemed to hear the pt's laughing quietly behind me while trying to do one of the exercises. And they KNOW that I have this problem. I don't know if its just a nervousness they feel or because it looks funny out of context, but its still a blow emotionally. Its really weird for me to even say that I have Tourette’s, maybe partly due to the fact that it is so stereotyped and partly because I seem to be such an odd ball with late onset, I feel like I'm lying or that its something to not be believed when I say this. Anyhoo, thanks for reading my venting. I'm okay, I'm not plunging into despair or anything, but its hard to grasp.

I did see the neuro again and he said that my B12 was really low, so I'm going to start getting monthly shots, in the meantime I've made an appointment with an allergist and will be doing reading here and there on other stuff. He put me on a VERY VERY low dose of an antihypertensive because I've been ticing so bad lately off and on, but hopefully knowing my allergies and supplementing will do the trick in the near future, and he encouraged this.

Has anyone looked into the possible involvement of bacterial infections in Tourette's syndrome? See the letter to the editor titled, "Tourette's Syndrome and Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Infection"

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/.../157/3/482.pdf

I now believe that mycoplasma or tiny "pleomorphic" bacteria are often the cause of the "no known cure" diseases of sarcoidosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and chronic Lyme disease. Could they also be involved in Tourette's syndrome? If you're interested, go to the Fibromyalgia forum and check out my post, "The Marshall Protocol and Fibromyalgia," on my "Fibromyalgia: A Likely Cause and Some Possible Actions" thread.

interesting concept , wasabi ..........but how would that fit in with the genetic inheritance of TS?

although still very poorly understood, inherited TS appears to be related to a genetic "malfunction" that affects the dopaminergic system and the basal ganglia

Chemar,

As you know, I do not have a scientific background, so my attempt to answer your question is weak and figuratively speaking, it makes my head hurt. But here is my best shot. It is not an answer but a hint of a direction that might or might not be worth exploring further.

The best I can do is to establish a connection between dopamine and T-cells (The Marshall protocol was developed to treat certain diseases that involve Th1 immune system dysfunction). Here is some evidence that they are connected, at least in one direction:

http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/reprint/18/13/1600.pdf

Please note that this relationship has something to do with regulation by G-proteins (Gi and Gs). I do know that G protein processing defects can be inherited. This doesn't prove anything about Tourette's syndrome and mycoplasmas, but I hope this information will be of some use to you.

Hi wasabi, part of getting to a diagnosis of TS would be to rule out secondary causes. There are also many primary neurological conditions which manifest tics.

A diagnosis of Tourette's Disorder as stated in DSM IV-TR

e.g. "• the disturbance must not be due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g. stimulants) or a general medical condition (e.g. Huntington's disease or postviral encephalitis)."
_____________

MEJIA, Nicte ; JANKOVIC, Joseph.
Secondary tics and tourettism
Rev. Bras. Psiquiatr.,
São Paulo, v. 27, n. 1, 2005.
http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rbp/v27n1/23707.pdf
for some reason that pdf won't load for me this morning. Here's the same thing in html... sorry about the keyword highlights. http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:...ient=firefox-a


Is it a tic or Tourette's?
Clues for differentiating simple from more complex tic disorders
Virgilio Gerald H. Evidente, MD
http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/20...idente_tic.htm

Recognition and Management of Tourette's Syndrome and Tic Disorders
MOHAMMED M. BAGHERI, M.D., JACOB KERBESHIAN, M.D., and LARRY BURD, PH.D.
http://www.aafp.org/afp/990415ap/2263.html

Secondary Causes of Tic Disorders
[These lists don't include everything. Wilson's Disease is also a disease where the patient might present with tics. There have been other medications implicated over the years in individual patients and also lightning stike. I remember we used to have a forum member years ago whose son was eventually found to have a brain tumour which was causing the tics. Also, to confound all this, some people with say Asperger's Syndrome or Autism may also have tics, but a small percentage can actually have Tourette Syndrome as well. There is a LOT of information available about this subject if you need any more.]

p.s. [Remember the book called Awakenings, by Oliver Sacks? It was also made into a movie. Well the illness that those people had was a type of encephalitis called Encephalitis Lethargica and motor and vocal tics as well as compulsions were reported in those patients... that was way back in the early 1900's].

Lara,

Thanks for the great information on Tourette's syndrome. From now on, I will have to say, make sure you don't have chronic Lyme disease rather than Tourette's syndrome. Here is something else then that might be helpful for PearlDoves - "The central role of magnesium deficiency in Tourette's syndrome: causal relationships between magnesium deficiency, altered biochemical pathways and symptoms relating to Tourette's syndrome and several reported comorbid conditions":

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...398&dopt=Books

I am trying a new (for me) magnesium supplement. It is called Ionic-Fizz Magnesium Plus by Pure Essence Labs. I've only had two doses so far, but I seem to be getting positive effects from it - more so than other magnesium supplements I have tried in the past.

wasabi

many with TS are also using the NATURAL CALM magnesium powders with much success...my husband uses the original and benefits greatly, while my son prefers his regular magnesium supplement

Bonnie Grimaldi has done research on magnesium deficiency in TS

wasabi,
Thanks very much for that info. about Ionic-Fizz. I read that the other day on the other forum here. Sounds interesting. I take a combined powder which has mag., calcium and some other things in it as well. I find it helps with my RLS sometimes. Sometimes being the operative word unfortunately.

Yes, that url you listed is the one to BonnieGr's Hypothesis.

I have heard of people having exacerbations of their tics when they've contracted Lyme Disease. Same with ADD. Also some of the symptoms of Lyme seem similar to those seen in ADD, so a child may present as having ADD or ADHD when they're really experiencing Lyme symptoms. Must be difficult to sort it all out.

p.s. same with depression I suppose. It would be just awful to have Lyme Disease especially if you're a child and it's interfering in school and such. It's such a complex condition by the sound of it.