Dear Colleagues:
Tourette's Syndrome
is a relatively common childhood neurological condition. Its signs are so distinctive and so peculiar,
that even lay people can diagnose it.
This is what happened about a year ago, when a worried
mother brought her nine year old son to my office for consultation. He was a pleasant cooperative lad, a bit pale
with dark circles around his eyes, but within a few minutes he was grimacing
and his face was twitching in a manner typical of Tourette's. His mother reported that his tics had
begun gradually four years previously and were getting worse. In addition he was at times "barking" in a
strange way. She had done some reading and already had made the correct
diagnosis.
Interestingly, the boy had also developed asthma over the same time period (4 or 5 years).
His mother said that he had trouble breathing at birth and had been susceptible
to lung infections all through his childhood. He also had infant colic and
recurring ear infections as a young child.
I had been reading not long before about the association between many neurological
diseases (e.g. polyneuropathy and cerebellar ataxia) and gluten sensitivity.
The boy's family history revealed many relatives with cancers (stomach,
pancreas, blood, thyroid, breast and lung), depression and alcoholism - all
markers of gluten sensitivity.
Physical examination was unremarkable except from the pallor
and above-mentioned darkness around the eyes ("allergic shiners"). Autonomic
response showed a response to milk powder, indicating a sensitivity to dairy
products.
An enterolab stool analysis was performed which was strongly positive for antigliadin IgA and
moderately positive for antitissue transglutaminase IgA and anti-casein
IgA. Genetic testing showed the
presence of one celiac and one gluten sensitive gene.
Treatment was strict
avoidance of dietary gluten and dairy products, supplemental vitamin D,
B12, magnesium, other intracellular minerals and a probiotic. Within a few weeks, the Tourette's signs
decreased and within a few months, they were almost gone. A surprise extra benefit was that his asthma
also disappeared.
However a sudden relapse came four months later. The asthma was the first to reappear; then
the tics. The onset of the tics seemed to coincide with the use of an
Atrovent (ipratropium) inhaler. This
time, an interference field was detected
in the left lung. This was treated
with neural therapy. The response was immediate cessation of both the tics
and the asthma.
This lasted about a month until he caught "the flu" and
again had a relapse of the Tourette's and the asthma. Once more neural therapy
of the left lung arrested both the asthma and the Tourette's -this time for
three months.
This most recent
relapse coincided with treatment with nitrous oxide gas for a dental procedure. A left lung interference field was again
found and treated by neural therapy.
This case is interesting for two reasons. First: the response to dietary gluten and
dairy elimination, and second: the
response to treatment of the interference field in the lung.
As mentioned in a previous newsletter (Vol. 2, No. 9,
September 2007 of http://www.neuraltherapybook.com/newsletters/),
gluten acts as a neurotoxin in some
gluten- sensitive people. In recent
years research has been accumulating supporting the hypothesis that Tourette's
is an autoimmune disease. A very recent
paper from Russia
reports the discovery of antibodies to caudate nucleus proteins and a more than
6 month remission in symptoms in 7 patients after transfusion with
immunoglobulins.
Epidemiological studies show that Tourette's is more common in celiacs, but there is little other
evidence in the peer-reviewed literature on the relationship between gluten
and/or dairy sensitivity and Tourette's syndrome. However in the popular literature there are numerous reports of successful
treatment of Tourette's syndrome by dietary manipulation.
The relationship between the interference field in the lung,
asthma and the Tourette's symptoms is much harder to explain. However a
fundamental observation in the practice of neural therapy is that interference fields can be found anywhere
in the body and can produce symptoms anywhere in the body. The brain is no exception.
I have never identified an interference field related to
Tourette's syndrome before, but have occasionally seen interference fields
triggering epilepsy. Teeth are likely
culprits.
I would suggest that all
medical conditions with a dynamic component should be searched for interference
fields. And this applies to
neurological diseases as well.
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