About twelve years ago, I treated an 11-year old boy we called “Don” with very severe Tourette’s disorder. He was on heavy medication because otherwise he would curse every few seconds. He had bad side effects from the medications. His case is described in on our website. I prescribed for him the Feast Without Yeast yeast-free diet and the anti-Candida medicine Nystatin.
I treated Don for about a year. During that time, he was able to stop the heavy medications. His tics were controlled without medications except for the Nystatin.
Now, several years have passed and I am happy to report that he is doing well! His mother reported that he entered college and was a successful college student with only an occasional tic.
On the webpage describing his case and in our book, I gave an explanation for why we used an anti-Candida treatment as a Tourette’s treatment. The explanation was that Candida makes chemicals which put the brain to sleep. Certain foods such as malt also contain chemicals which put the brain to sleep. I suggested that these chemicals put to sleep basic control pathways in the brain which inhibit the production of tics. When these chemicals are removed, the control pathways do their jobs and prevent tics.
The above explanation may be correct but also may be more complicated than that. Malt contains yeast and yeast makes chemicals called cyclic dipeptides. These chemicals activate destruction of young brain cells. These chemicals may also prevent young brain cells from developing fully. The end result is the same; the control pathways are either not there or are not working very well, leading to lack of control over tic production. When these chemicals are removed, the brain cells may develop more fully, leading to better control over tics.
In any case, many people with Tourette’s besides the 11 year old boy described above have seen a reduction in tics by following the four stages diet and by taking the non-absorbed anti-Candida medicine Nystatin.
