Tourettes, Obsessive Compulsive And Adhd

[loraleena]

A friend of mine's son has been diagnosed with Tourettes syndrome, OCD and ADHD. A few years back she had some alternative allergy testing done that showed dairy allergy. She did not follow through with taking this out of his diet. I thought I had heard that these things can all be caused by gluten/casein intolerance. I talked to her about this and encouraged her to do testing and elimination. Does anyone know much about this??

[Ray Patterson]

Thank you for the previous post from April 2007. Your post helped us to pursue food allergy testing for our son.

The blood test for antibodies triggered by food is called ELIAS.

Gluten and gliadin intolerance causes an autoimmune response, as does a casein intolerance: the body produces antibodies and histamine in response to the food which is treated as an invading virus. A gluten and gliadin intolerance may be correlated with a casein intolerance, as the antibody response to the wheat/gluten/gliadin damages the intestinal cells and allows partially digested proteins (from milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.) to enter the blood stream. Partially digested casein proteins have significant and harmful neurological effects.

Recently published research out of the University of California Davis correlates increased cortisol levels with tourettes in kids. Higher histamine levels increase cortisol levels. Higher cortisol levels increase ticcing in tourettes. It makes sense that if you reduce histamines, then you will reduce the ticcing associated with tourettes by reducing the associated cortisol levels.

Our son (age 10 currently) is diagnosed with severe tourettes. His ELIAS testing came back a little over a week ago, positive for extreme allergies to milk/dairy/beef and gluten/gliadin, along with egg whites. ELIAS testing measures blood antibody levels in response to specific foods.

After about 10 days of a gluten-free, casein-free, egg white-free diet, we have seen a substantial and noticeable reduction in tics. Is this a magic bullet that will "cure" his tourettes? Doubtful. But anticdotal evidence from web sources indicate that reducing histamines and thus reducing cortisol does reduce tourettes symptoms. It may take a year or more to reduce the antibody levels in his blood.

Streptococcal virus antibodies in the blood have been specifically linked to tourettes in the literature. No scientific studies have been done that link other blood antibodies to tourettes. However, the ELIAS testing specifically tests for elevated blood antibodies in response to food. Is it possible that these food antibodies themselves aggravate or cause tourettes? No medical studies have addressed this possibility, so we just don't know if there is any direct or indirect impact of the blood antibodies associated with food and environmental triggers on tourettes.

Allergies elevate histamines that in turn elevate cortisol levels - triggers could also possibly come from environmental sources such as cat/dog intolerances.

Without proper allergy testing, you are just shooting in the dark and you're likely to miss a significant intolerance. Some parents report candida yeast as their culprit. You have to find out what allergens are causing your histamines to increase. I suspect that everyone will have different intolerances which trigger histamine release.

It is also reasonable to suppose that exposure to intolerated substances wax and wane, such as seasonal environmental allergies or seasonal food consumption. This could explain the "waxing and waning" of tics seen in tourettes. No scientific evidence exists to support such a connection.

[purple]

Thanks Ray for posting your info. My nephew has mild Tourettes that are getting better. He is 17. I looked up those histamine producing foods and he eats many/most of them. My sister will appreciate to know what all is causing it. She knew alchol had to be to blame. His dad and 2 grandfathers were/are alcholics. He loves milk processed meats and chili. All no-nos! Also he is 1/2 Japanese and eats foods with soy sauce.