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