Hi all im sorry im not sure if i should post this here but i didnt know where esle to put it.
My 13 year old nephew has Torretes syndrome with ocd, and at the minute his swearing and ticks are really bad. my sister has asked to be refurred to the consultant in birmingham that deals with torreettes but has been told he wont see hm until hes 16, he sees a phsyclogist who thinks that stuffing a top into your mouth so people cant hear you is a coping mechanismwhich yes it is for my nephew but this again draws attention to him. Hes having troulble at school with both the children and teachers who say to him he does it for attention so at the moment hes out of school while my poor sister trys to sort it out. I as a concerned aunt who is really close to my nephew would like to get some information or advice to try to help as he now is getting really worked up about his condition which makes him worse. Hes a lovely thoughtful lad whom we all love dearly and want nothing but the best for him.
any help or advice will be greatly received.
julie



Rustic Hi Julie
Firstly is your nephew ingesting known neurotoxins, such as fluoride, msg and aspartame? How much caffeine? And is he using conventional toiletries? He could be taking in a total chemical load which could be causing or contributing to biochemical chaos, so its worth checking that first and reducing the load his body has to deal with. High stress (including long term even low level chemical stress) has a negative effect on the adrenals, so its worth reducing all stress that you can immediately influence, such as chemical, electromagnetic, etc. If its something not already being done, you could work with the easy stuff first, where its just a change of brand rather than a complete diet change.
Nutritionally I would be looking at avoiding microwaved food, balancing blood sugar levels, checking digestive capability etc etc, ensuring sufficient protein, dependent on the circumstances specific supplements. Does he have a normal thirst? Does he have gut problems? Does he sweat normally?
I believe there are reasons why stress triggers such behaviours as you describe, (and a lot of others on the hyperactive and autistic spectrums) and why children appear to be able to cope with it better at some times than at others.
Its difficult to know what to suggest looking at first without more details of the history leading to this, and even then sometimes its best to think of it as peeling the layers off an onion..... it may take several layers before you see any results.
But those who say he does it for attention :confused: well there's no advantage to him, he's unhappy isn't he, so that doesn't wash. Its more likely to be a coping mechanism so that he can deal with the environment in which he finds himself at that particular moment in time. The more difficult the environment, (whether "out there" or his internal environment), the more dominant the coping mechanism.



julie1965 Hi rustic
thank you for post i have saved it and will give it to my sister.
i agree with all of your comments and hope we can find a way for him to cope and lead a normal life, as i said to my sister "what actually is normal"
belss hih hes just such a lovely lad i hope that his piers dont knock that out of him.
thank you again
julie



Blackcrow :grouphug: Hello Julie,
Has your sister tryed the autism society, i know thats not what your nephew has but they hold an awful lot of information on different organisations that could hopefully help them.
take care



Summeran My son has TS and OCD - i got lots of support from the Tourettes Scotland group where Johnie Davidson - you may remember his documentary in the 80's called "John's Not mad"- chats from time to time.
The people on there are fantastic and you can ask whatever you want and get support.
Just want to send your Sister and her son a hug - i understand the pain of watching your child be so badly treated by the education system - i can also understand the damage that it causes the child - if life wasn't hard enough already for a TS suffer, the education system really do a fantastic job of really ruining a child's life. I have nothing but pure anger for the way my son was treated. The hard part is knowing how to repair that damage as well as coping with the difficulties posed by a child with TS - and OCD jsut makes everything 10 times worse.
Will try to find more time to come back to this later.
Anne



Summeran Firstly is your nephew ingesting known neurotoxins, such as fluoride, msg and aspartame? How much caffeine? And is he using conventional toiletries? He could be taking in a total chemical load which could be causing or contributing to biochemical chaos, so its worth checking that first and reducing the load his body has to deal with. High stress (including long term even low level chemical stress) has a negative effect on the adrenals, so its worth reducing all stress that you can immediately influence, such as chemical, electromagnetic, etc. If its something not already being done, you could work with the easy stuff first, where its just a change of brand rather than a complete diet change.
My son actually craves all of these things and is obsessive about spraying loads and loads of vile chemical filled deo - he is also obsessed with tooth paste and aspartame filled drinks.
He is 16 now and so my days of making sure that he was healthy seem to be over.