tourette's? or what?
I've been told that I have tics. I am diagnosed with OCD, but my OCD treatment isn't helping with these tics. Here's how they work:
A bad thought pops into my head--something that makes me really, really uncomfortable. As an automatic response to this thought, I swear or say other words out loud, or I tense my shoulders and shake my head while inhaling sharply through my teeth. It happens without my thinking about it, and unlike my OCD compulsions I don't have the feeling that something bad will happen if I don't do it, and I don't have time to think about what I'm doing before it happens. This happens many times every day--certainly at least 20 times daily.
I started doing this in high school, probably when I was about 15 years old. I'm 23 now. I only do the swearing when I'm alone. When people are around I somehow manage to suppress the swearing and limit my actions to the head-shaking/shoulder-tensing/inhaling. Whenever it happens, it sort of feels like someone else is doing the motions or words. It feels like it's not under my control.
I don't know much of anything about Tourette's and related disorders. So I'm just wondering if this sounds familiar to anyone who has it/knows about it...
This is very common in an OCD/Tourette's combination is what I was told by my neurologist.
Your OCD intrusive thought triggers your tourette's. Then you outburst.
I did this for so long and it was very embarrassing so I think you must be frustrated with it as well. I suggest you see a neurologist. The higher doses of SSRI's seem to help many with OCD. I am on 80 mgs of prozac a day and the lightning bolt intrusive thoughts don't happen very often anymore. I am very satisfied.