Fish Oil

I think I've mentioned before that my hubby has epilepsy.  About six months ago, we got to noticing that he has had an improvement even in the number of little 'spasms' he has when he first wakes up, and that the improvements have seemed to have started since he began taking fish oil pills to help lower his cholesterol.  We thought it was a coincidence, but we kind of questioned whether or not it really could've played a role in his improvements.

While I was reading "Against Medical Advice", I happened to look at the back at the list of medications and vitamins that Cory Friedman had tried in an effort to improve his tics.  I notice that one of the items on the list was fish oil.  This really sparked my curiosity.  I mean, we'd already noticed that my hubby had improved.  Was it really possible that fish oil could improve the symptoms of neurological disorders?

I got to researching online, and it looks like it really is a possibility.  The DHA from the omega-3 fatty acids are linked both to brain and eye function.  I'd known that it was recommended for women to take during pregnancy to benefit the unborn baby, but I hadn't realized that adults could just as easily benefit from it.  From what I've read, it is possible that the DHA levels - required for brain and eye function - are lower in those with neurological disorders.  Since the levels are lower, and the small amount is being split between brain and eye function, there can symptoms such as the 'spasms' my hubby has been experiencing and the tics that Monster Man experiences on a daily basis.

I picked up a bottle of gummy vitamins today.  These are supposed to be mainly the omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil.  I'm going to have Monster Man start taking them every day to see if they help him like they have his dad.  Right now, anything that won't harm him is worth a shot.

Facing his biggest fear

Monster Man's biggest fear, especially since he's started having problems with anxiety, has been heights.  Going to a hockey game, he had to be calmed down and eased to our seats when he realized we were sitting higher up than he expected.  When we stopped to see Tallulah Gorge last fall (we stopped at a gift shop after a camping trip, and the gift shop had a viewing deck), he spent 45 minutes working himself up to the point that he could go to the railing of the viewing deck and look out at the gorge, though we had told him he could stay inside the gift shop with one of us while everyone else looked at the gorge - a stop that could've taken about 10 minutes.  Just knowing that he was visiting my mom in the mountains last summer (you can't even tell you're in the mountains where she is at), he was sure he was too high up and was going to fall off the mountain.  Like I said, heights terrify him.

The fact that he's so scare of heights is what makes his latest behavior so interesting.  I've heard from so many other parents of children with TS about this desire to do dangerous things.  In 'Against Medical Advice', Cory Friedman grabbed the steering wheel and pulled it in the opposite direction she was trying to turn.  Another time, he climbed as high up in a tree as he possibly could, almost falling on multiple occasions.  In Monster Man's case, he is trying to climb up different things to jump off of them!  At church, he gets on the outer edge of the porch, about six feet off the ground, and tries to jump off.  At the ball fields, I've caught him climbing up a wall that is approximately ten feet high, getting ready to jump off of that.  We stopped at a park this past Friday, and I caught him getting ready to jump off the playground equipment, right next to the top of the slide. I've been able to stop him in all these cases, before he could manage to get hurt in the process of his jumping. I can't imagine what he's doing when I'm not looking!

In Monster Man suddenly having this desire to face his biggest fear, and to overcome it by jumping off of high places, he has given me a new fear, one I'm half-expecting to become a reality at some point in the future.  I am scared that he will end up jumping off something one day, before anyone can stop him, and that I'll be getting a phone call to take him to the ER for a broken arm or leg.  Hopefully he'll get over this desire before he manages to hurt himself.

James Patterson's Against Medical Advice

I have recently started reading "Against Medical Advice" by James Patterson and Hal Friedman.  The story centers around Hal Friedman's son, Cory, and his struggles with Tourette Syndrome.  Cory's story began at a much younger age than Monster Man's, with his tics becoming noticeable shortly before his 5th birthday.  That led the family on a long journey, filled with many medications and even more struggles.

I'm not quite 100 pages in yet (I've only been reading it for two days), but I've already noticed so many parallels between Cory Friedman's experiences and the experiences Monster Man has had thus far.  The tics coming on suddenly.  The waxing and waning of the tics (getting better, worse, better, worse, and so on).  The constant repeating of the word "sorry".  Repeating what others say (Monster Man does this on rare occasion).  The anxiety that seems to increase the severity of the tics.  Even the need to laugh off some of the problems so he's laughing with the other kids instead of them laughing at him.   I've already found myself heartbroken at times just realizing what Monster Man is really going through.

I'm really enjoying reading this book.  It has given me so much insight into what my son, and others like him, experience on a daily basis.  I was told by many on the TSA Facebook page that it is a must-read, and I have to say that I agree with them!