Monday, September 12, 2011

From Drowning In...to Drowning Them Part 2

So, last week I shared about our struggle to deal with our daughter's Tourette Syndrome earlier this year. Things were bad. We drove around in the car many times late at night trying to keep her mind off of the tics so she could relax enough to go to bed.

Little Bit, let's count how many flags we see, OK?

1....2...SCREAM....3.....now let's look for SCREAM 4.....oh look! SCREAM There are a lot in that parking lot! SCREAM 5, 6, 7, 8....Let's go see if there are any down SCREAM this road.....

On and on. In spite of the screaming tic, we really did enjoy those drives. She couldn't wait to get out of the car and tell Daddy how many flags we saw.

During all of this, we started researching online. It's hard to find anything but basic information on TS but I was determined. I stumbled on some forums of TS parents who were trying natural remedies and diet changes and various other medications. I read and read. It was totally and completely overwhelming. I spoke with a friend whose 13 year old son is autistic because they have been dealing with all this for years and know a lot. I told her my frustration of just not knowing where to start.

I read that if we eliminate X from her diet, it will help.
I read that perhaps her gut is full of Y so should tackle that.
I read to avoid A,B, or C foods and it would help.

So our friend told us to ask for a nutritional panel at our doctor's office. That would give us enough information to start. Is she actually low or high in this or that? Why should we go to all the pain and turmoil of changing her diet if we weren't even certain that was the problem?

It was overwhelming to say the least.

And I told you earlier this year about how, when I got to our primary care doctor, the nurse asked me how to spell Tourette Syndrome.

Not a good sign. I have never been shoved out of a door so fast in all my life! Our doctor would have nothing to do with us. "The neurologist can help you. You should go see him." Boom. Kicked to the curb (and $20 poorer for that!)

The only thing I read about that even seemed doable was Epsom salt baths. I read that they help. The magnesium helps. This we could do. Poor Little Bit, she sat in that bath for a long time each evening. And sometimes in the middle of the day. I read she needed to stay in about 20 minutes for it to "soak in" and that's a long time to be in the bath multiple times a day.

So, that's where I stopped blogging about it all. But I wanted to tell you the wonderful conclusion to our story.

We had a friend over for Bible study one night. She was sitting on the couch visiting with us when Little Bit came in crying and screaming and ticcing like crazy. S told me to go put her in the bath and while Little Bit and I left to go do that, he explained the Epsom salt baths to our friend.

And that is when the most wonderful news ever reached our ears.

"Magnesium helps?" asked friend. "Because I take a magnesium supplement every night." (for another reason)

Friend proceeds to tell us how she read that we are all magnesium deficient in America because we don't eat enough dark, leafy greens and even if we do, our soil is depleted and our water so treated that we don't get enough magnesium in our bodies naturally.

The next day she brought over her magnesium supplement and showed me how to prepare it.

And that night, Little Bit fell asleep in 20 MINUTES!!!!! What had been taking nearly 2 hours was cut down to 20 minutes. There was much rejoicing in the House Revised.

So now, every day, Little Bit "drowns her tics" by drinking orange juice with her magnesium supplement mixed in. She has been almost completely tic free since that night. Over Sweetheart's birthday weekend, we forgot her "drink" several times and the tics started to come back. We upped her dosage a bit for a few days until things got back under control.

I am still in awe that something so simple and so easy to do could have such a profound effect on her! I have no idea if magnesium supplements would help all people with TS because certainly it would be more well-known if that were true. Right? And also many people suffer from co-morbid disorder where they are dealing with TS in conjunction with other acronyms all at the same time. Our daughter simply has TS--and it worked.

Boy did it work! Just. Like. That. Life was back to normal. She sat through church. She started sleeping in her own bed. She stopped worrying about going out in public. Over. Just like that.

I am not a doctor, but if you are dealing with TS in your family, please feel free to e-mail me and I will be happy to share specifics on what we use. (Not trying to do a commercial on here or get sued for giving out medical advice!) We are thankful each day for the Lord answering our prayers to help us with our daughter. I have no idea if the tics will come back one day in spite of the supplements. We might be searching for other answers in a few years. But for now, things are good.

8 comments:

  1. Praise God! This is good news, Brenda!

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  2. Oh my goodness, Brenda! What a blessing!! I am kind of speechless to tell you the truth.

    I read somewhere that most of what ails us, God has a natural remedy or He created a food that when eaten, serves a specific purpose. The standard American diet (SAD is the ironic acronym they used) is deficient in almost every good thing. And we suffer for it.

    You post reminded me of that blurb I read.

    Praise God! What a great update. Thanks for sharing it.

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  3. That is truly amazing! I would love to learn more about natural supplements like that. Praise the Lord for that conversation with the friend!

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  4. SO happy for you all! Yes, God has given us everything we need to care for our bodies - we just need to look for it! Yeah Magnesium! (Which Rose is taking for her 'chalky teeth'!)

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  5. How wonderful, Brenda! Your intro post to this one had my heart breaking for you guys. That is so amazing!! I am thankful you have found something so easy and natural that WORKS!! Praise God!

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  6. Absolutely wonderful how answers can be so simple sometimes. I am happy to hear you have it under control...through the grace of God.

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  7. that is such a blessing, brenda! i had no idea magnesium could help with ts. natural remedies are the best. :)

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  8. Praise be to God! Thank you so much for sharing.

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I don't get to talk to a lot of actual grown-ups during the day, so your comments make me really happy! :)