By helping Angus overcome Tourette’s, it gave me so much motivation to work even harder on all the other things that I felt he needed help with. And the Tourette’s was almost that sign that there’s so much that one can actually achieve.
You would have thought that we would have identified problems early on, but he was so vocal and so quirky and so cute that we never actually realized that his condition was similar to my daughter’s because they presented in such different ways. So I have two, what you would term, moderately autistic children.
Tourette’s Appears
When he was about six or seven, he started making really, really strange sounds, like very, very sort of guttural sounds. I wasn’t sure if he was doing them on purpose. I think, initially, I was reprimanding him to stop that. And, after about two or three months, I was like, it’s so strange that these sounds, he just keeps doing it and he won’t stop.
And, I took him to one of the psychologists, and she confirmed that it was Tourette’s.
And, I couldn’t believe it. It was you know, when you you already dealing with so many things around this thing called autism and then you get these other things added to it, it’s like, it can’t be true that he has Tourette’s. You know, it was almost like that was a bigger thing for me than the autism was. It’s because the autism we kind of grew up with, but this thing was new. It just appeared out of nowhere. And that that was pretty much also when his tantrums were really bad.
The Lowest Low
There was a photo of the two of my children together. That day was our lowest point. That was the day I was like, something has to change because something’s not working. You know, our family and our friends really got to see how difficult it was, and how often these two children were having their various meltdowns.
The Turning Point
And so it was, you know, early 2018 where I always say to people, I threw the baby out with the bathwater.
I literally pulled them out of a special needs school. I couldn’t handle any of the medication. I wasn’t responsible in the way that I should have weaned them off. We went cold turkey, and, I just decided I’m gonna take this on myself.
You know, there was some key things that we started to eliminate highly ultra processed foods. We just we managed to get that out, although going gluten-free was a whole other journey on its own, and going dairy-free was another journey on its own. So it was really, really work in progress, but it was probably two months later and those sounds stopped.
So I would definitely say that the Tourette’s has completely dissipated and gone.
His OCD Got Better, Too
His OCD has shifted and has changed. At some time, at some stages, it was horrific and embarrassing. And there were things that he did that didn’t allow us to go out, you know, and it was much safer to be home.
But now I say to him now often, you know, you don’t do that anymore. I mean, it’s not even a thing. You know, every now and then, he’ll touch go and touch something or lick the corner of a of a door or do something. That is mild in comparison with what we were dealing with before. So, yeah, the OCD and the Tourette’s were two big things that Angus has had to deal with.
The Highest High
For me, what was a very, very special moment was that my dad, my husband, and my son went on a trip together to France, and they went to watch three of the South African games.
They had an absolute ball, and Angus coped. He was out of my control as far as food was concerned.
He had to obviously toe the line and behave himself with his grandfather and his father. He was around people all day, every day, big noisy stadiums, long walks, lots of taxis, airplanes to catch, trains to catch. These are all new environments for him, and he coped unbelievably well. And I think especially when they came back and I thought, oh, I’m just waiting for the meltdown after a week or just kind of assessing, and he just almost came back a different child.
Advice for Other Parents
For me, the the biggest thing is being in the driver’s seat, learning how to navigate, lots and lots of information, lots and lots of different approaches, and different people’s opinions and views. Trusting your gut as to what is right for your child and then being disciplined to follow through.
Celebrating Successes
There was one year, I think it was the first year that we really started the journey where I did an appreciation jar. And at the end of 2018, we opened that jar and kind of read through some of our our highlights of the year. You need to keep counting the blessings and celebrating those successes. It doesn’t matter how big or small they are.
For me, the Tourette’s was a short success. It showed me quite quickly the other things have taken longer, but it’s it’s given me the motivation to persevere and to not give up. And I guess for that, I’m very thankful and very determined. You won’t stop me.
Learn the Top Five Things Angus’s Mom Did
Click the button below to learn more about what Angus’s mom did to help him reverse his Tourette Syndrome diagnosis.
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