We occasionally get letters or comments from parents that have seen improvements in health with REID. To help provide hope to so many still in the trenches, I’ve decided to make more of an effort to share some these comments (with their permission, of course). Many of us don’t have it all figured out, but we cling to the hope and words of progress. Everyone’s journey is different, diet changes may not reap huge changes for all, but it is absolutely helping some. Like this family, glutamate and the REID diet have been a huge piece to our puzzle. Thank you for giving us hope…
“I have 2 boys (both with TS) – now 10 & 13, their lives have been DRAMATICALLY changed by implementing the REID diet. My youngest went from ticcing 24/7 along with dealing with some major anxiety, attachment issues, extreme fears, panic attacks, social anxieties to now having virtually no tics and functioning normally. My oldest has also shown drastic improvements with the severity of his tics however we are still working through further healing (I know we need to get their gut more balanced and figure out specific food irritants). We haven’t really implemented the herbal recommendations of Dr. Reid which I am sure would help us as well. The elimination/reduction of glutamates is definitely the first step!! And stick with it, our progress has come over time but, like I said, life. Changing. ♥️”
UPDATE : My 15-year-old has now had two months TIC FREE!! Though there’s been a gradual improvement over the years (with some bumps along the way), this is the first time in 9ish years since he has been FREE from tics for several days let alone months! (his has been a trickier puzzle to put together for a few reasons).
We are still figuring out some imbalances and food sensitivities (and my youngest – who has had virtually NO tics for years – just recently started a little vocal tic AFTER we had a week of “treats” that included extra glutamates that they normally don’t get — so we’re still clearly sensitive but VERY manageable! I trust they will go down after a couple of weeks of being back to normal (and, like I said, they are very mild)).
SECOND UPDATE: update: boys are now 12 & 15 and we are experiencing the first months in years (really since it all flared up when they were around 4/7) of zero tics for both of them. None. Nothing. Nada.
When we stray off the diet, we have noticed little ones pop up (a small noise tic generally), but sure enough, once we clean it up again they dissipate (and we can still make some exceptions without any sort of flare up).
We are **still** getting their guts balanced (OAT showed candida and oxalate issues), but despite that, we have amazing (almost unbelievable) improvement. I know that we might still deal with some in the future (especially with puberty around the corner for my youngest), but wanted to share the incredible update!! <3
-Anonymous REID Mom