Hi & Welcome hermom33,

I'm sorry to hear that your daughter is struggling with tics right now. I'm not a PANDAS expert, but hopefully Chemar and others will be along with some links.

There's lots of good PANDAS information on: http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showforum=1

Your daughter's case of tics sounds like PANDAS, but here are some diet tips that people have found helpful for tics. Artificial flavorings, colors, and preservatives are good things to take out of the diet. Dairy, Gluten, Chocolate, Sugar, and Caffeine are common tic triggers. You can find many more tic triggers on this page: http://www.latitudes.org/articles/finding_triggers.htm

I would suggest removing the Flinstone vitamins because they have artificial flavors in them. It may be helpful to find a multiple vitamin with natural ingredients. Can your daughter swallow vitamins?

Carolyn

Here's one great thread about PANDAS, but there's many more great ones that you can find by doing a search on the forum for PANDAS:

Useful Info on Strep Infections from Ronna
http://www.latitudes.org/forums/inde...=374&hl=PANDAS

Can your daughter swallow vitamins?>>>>


No, she can't. Any other suggestions since she can't swallow vitamins?
Thank you for replying, I hope to get many more. I will check out the links you sent me too.

She had a better day today then yesterday, I am trying to keep her busy and play lots of games and hang out. If she is bored they are much worst, TV forget it!!!! That is when she does it the most.

She loves water and drinks that most....If we should cut out dairy, how would she get her calcium and D?

hi hermom

Carolyn has given you some good links there, although, as she mentioned, the Latitudes forum had a pretty bad crash and so is currently only showing a read database..........still there is a ton of information there on PANDAS as well as many other aspects of TS and tic disorders

It really would be worthwhile IMO to have strep blood titres tested in order to check for possible PANDAS, especially with your daughter's history of scarlet fever and strep
here is what the NIMH says re PANDAS/scarlet fever/strep
http://intramural.nimh.nih.gov/pdn/web.htm




The only reason to avoid dairy would be if your daughter is found to be lactose intolerant or with allergy/sensitivity to dairy products...otherwise they are fine as is any other natural food group.
Artificial food additives however really are best avoided as they have a well documented trigger effect on tics

hope that helps a bit

Hi, I was at that board and having trouble posting and replying, I see why now. Thank you.

What should I look for to avoid Artificial food additives? Like what foods?
She never drinks soda, and eat rather healthy. She is not hyper at all, if anything she could be more hyper. lol

Do you have a list of food/drink to avoid? I am clueless when it comes to this.

Should I start her on fish oil? Have you seen a decrease in tics with it?

hermom33,

I'm not really sure what to suggest for vitamins. It might be good to check out the blood work for PANDAS first. I feel that it's good to try and find a doctor to help guide you with the vitamins. There are several chewable/liquid/powder multiple vitamins. Here's some websites that I'm familiar with:

http://www.kirkmanlabs.com/index.html
http://www.needs.com/
http://www.iherb.com/Default.aspx

There's also been some discussion about Peter Gillham's Natural Calm magnesium supplement:
http://www.latitudes.org/forums/inde...9&hl=Kids+Calm

I'd be careful with fish oil. For some fish oil helps, but for others fish oil increases tics. I'm one that fish oil increases my tics. I do better with flaxseed.

Carolyn

hermom

the artificial additives that seem to cause an increase in tics are the food colorings (red40, yellow5 etc etc) artificial sweeteners like aspartame/nutrasweet & sucralose/splenda as well as MSG, high fructose corn syrup, BHT and other similar artificial preservatives, plus many other artificially made food additives.

so much processed and packaged/canned food has these in nowadays ):

What has been anecdotally documented re PANDAS/PITANDS kids is that, although supplements and good diets etc all are beneficial, yet, until the microbes are eradicated, the cycle of illness/tics persists.
There is still controversy over the whole subject of PANDAS & PITANDS, but we have had many parents reporting remarkable results (decreased tics, OCD etc) after prophylactic treatment with azithromycin(zithromax) after strep titre blood tests have indicated high antibody counts. Not all conventional doctors are knowledgable, and/or in agreement with this type of treatment and so you may need to find a good DAN, Integrative, Environmental or Naturapathic physician to help with this. I personally always try for a doc who is trained conventionally (MD or DO ) and has then gone on to specialize in Natural aka Alternative Medicine too. They just seem to have the right holistic balance, and one does have to be very careful of fringe practitioners who may be touting wonder cures for high prices!

as to supplements, again this is something that should be done carefully, as different people have different deficiencies etc

The one thing that really does seem to benefit people with tics is magnesium BUT again it should always be given in a balanced way with other supplements
Many parents of younger kids have been very pleased with those Natural Calm and Kids Calm powdered magnesium drinks as that is easier for younger kids to swallow

Hello Hermom33,
How old did you say your daughter was? What kind of medication did she take when she had the scarlet fever? I just tend to think that any kind of assault on the immune system can trigger the tics, I just think that strep is the one they can pinpoint and measure for, but there probably could be many things messing up one's immune system. .... Soooo, having said (or thought) that, whatever you could do to strenghten the immune system, I think, is what seems to be beneficial. That means, bad stuff out, good stuff in -- whatever that is for her.

My son is eight and has tics, but so far since we have embarked on removing food he is intolerant to and adding supplements like magnesium, some minerals, probiotics, etc., he is doing pretty well. He didn't seem to have the issue with pandas, although I have seen an exacerbation one time when he did have a strep throat.

So, you will have to do some detective work to see what kind of things seem to help your daughter. Start with the magnesium supplement that many like, the Natural Calm (that seems to help some with eye tics) and if you can see a naturopathic doctor to give you some guidance, the money will be well spent. Also the water drinking is good, that helps with moving toxins out. So anything along those lines are a start.

Faith