Drew and I met with Dr. C on Monday. First thing we learned she trained under Drew's doc in San Francisco!!! As much as I liked the doc in SF I like Dr. C for other reasons. She is younger and has embraced new techniques that might help Drew. Week after next Drew will be getting a small amount of botox injected into the back of his neck. The hope and theory is that it will relax the muscles and decrease the neck tics. Drew was not too happy about the thought of shots but when asked which would be worse Tourettes or injections every 3 months that could stop the tics. He decided the injections would not be so bad. We are also adding Magnesium to his diet as this been showing signs of helping decrease tics as well.
Dr. C also suspects from what Drew is describing that he may be having seizures again. So next week we will be doing a sleep deprived EEG. If that doesn't show anything than he will be admitted for several days to the epilepsy unit for observation.
He is also being evaluated for his sleep. It has been proven that kids with Tourettes don't sleep well because their bodies don't shut down and they tic in their sleep.. This leads to an increase in behavior issues as well as decreased learning. Drew wakes up exhausted every morning no matter what time he goes to bed.
We are currently waiting for blood work to come back. Drew has lost 10% of his body weight in the last 17 days. That has me and everyone else pretty worried.
It appears that Drew also has ADD but we knew that. he can't be put on meds for it because they will aggravate the tourettes. He now carries a water bottle at all times because dehydration can increase tics.
right now all I can do is have
Faith Trust and Pixie Dust.
Cathy
