How bad is your tourettes?

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How many facial/vocal/other tics do you have and how often do they hit you? Just interested in seeing how 'bad' mine are, lol.

My vocal tic has been really annoying this week, and even gave me a sore throat yesterday. Blegh.

I've had tourettes for as long as I can remember. I have periods of time when it's very noticeable and agitating, sometimes to the point of muscle cramps from repetitive motion tics, eye strain from blinking/staring, or throat soreness from vocal tics. I also constantly pick at/scratch my lips, nails, face... but there have always been times when it has been less bothersome, even absent. As I get older, it's become less of an issue. Most of the time I don't have tics anymore or when I do, I can either control them or "relocate" them to another part of my body where others won't notice (such as, tightening a muscle in my hip instead of my neck muscles- still annoying to me, but nobody else sees it). I've learned to avoid triggers or quickly divert my attention to other things when triggered. My tourettes isn't activated by emotional stress, but not getting enough sleep sets it off. Also, anything that irritates a certain part of my body and draws my attention there will set me up. Example: eye strain will set off the blinking tic, a sprained toe will have me repeatedly straining/relaxing my toes, and so on. So I avoid eye strain, and for inevitable things that I just can't avoid, I distract myself as quickly as possible. I also have to avoid my best friend when she has a tic, because I'm so suggestible.

Mine was almost impossible to control as an elementary school student, especially in the earlier years. But the strangest thing is, it didn't show up until second grade or so. But from second grade till sixth I was a walking freak show.

I really didn't have the profanity outburst type of the disorder although I obsessed over the worst curse words I knew and each one I learned became another piece of kryptonite for me to stare at in horror in the movie theater of my mind.

But my Tourettes was the barking, grunting kind, laced with facial tics and body movements.
That was more than enough.

Being that I grew up in the early 1960's it's a given that no one in the medical or educational community was really aware of the existence of Tourettes. It was a rarely talked about disorder that apparently was only studied by those on the bleeding edge of medical academics. The average school pscyhologist had no idea what it was, thus I was repeatedly told I was doing what I did "to get attention".

Naturally attention was the very LAST thing I wanted. I used to dream of being invisible. I wanted that special power so badly, so that people couldn't see or hear me unless I wanted them to.
I used to daydream about how I would act and conduct myself if only I was a neurotypical kid.

Now, at 54, it's a lot more manageable and really only becomes an issue when I'm super tired and under a lot of stress. It's still there, but instead of being a millstone around my neck weighing several tons it's just a pendant.

I'm still something of a social misfit but occasionally I manage moments of neurotypical greatness, something I'll never fully understand but it seems to make the natives happy.

To be continued. I'm far more interested in reading what the others here have to say.
Being that I'm probably one of the oldest in the bunch it's refreshing to hear how the new generations have learned to deal.
How I wish I had known more like yourselves in my youth...with a forum like this and the kind of sharing and contact there is now, it would have been an entirely different world.

I might be gray on top but I'm still a 21 year old with a few extra decades of experience.
It's nice to have a new home away from home.

This is me on a medium day:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa-r5d5CujA&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]

I have dislocated most of my joints from tics.

P.S I have more hair now!

_________________
I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite )

Ha, I have tourettes light. Hardly anyone notices my tics and I don't have many and not too frequent. A few grimaces, I have to look into mirrors or car windows and stick tongue out or grimace. I have some head roll tics as well. The vocal tics are the most annoying.

i swear pure and wanderd if i could have, but after that, i dont. its good it means my lack of not swearing is down to my adhd/AS im sure

This is my first post. I have a 13 year old with TS ADHD, anxiety, OCD and I suspect AS despite a negative evaluation a few years ago. As he matures some symptoms become worse. Recently he was introduced to a new person and did not make eye contact. This was a first. His tics are face grimaces, eye blinking, throat clearing and rubbing his face (raw). He does take a small amount of chlonidine along with Ritalin for attention and zoloft for OCD.

Thanks for letting me be here. I need the encouragement from some of you a bit older that life can hold some good things despite such challenges.

OM

My tics are complex phrases, cursing sometimes, and don't happen often when I am not stressed. Maybe once or twice an hour. Also, leg jerks, facial grimaces. Those happen more. When I am stressed, I am like a pinball.

OldMom61 I also have ADHD/OCD and take focalin for ADHD and prozac for OCD, chlonidine and Haldol for TS. My husband is diagnosed aspie and we've been married for 17 years. I can see how similar we are, but we are not the same. Of my four children, one is diagnosed aspie/adhd and one is TS/OCD. Two are neurotypical. What I am saying is, I can see how similar they are and you may just be seeing this. Or he could be aspie as well.

yes, the docs do know about the TS but the benefits he receives from Ritalin are worth a few extra eye blinks. I think because he also take chlonidine his tics are mostly on the light side. Sniffles, eye blinks, throat clearning and recently he's whiping his nose as if it's running. With these things, a bit of a weight problem and social anxiety these middle school years will not be easy.

I don't have em much but mine were aLOT worse when I was on psych meds especially anti-psychotics like Abilify. I would strongly recommend trying to wean yourself off psych meds if you guys are on any & are having any problems with ticks, twitches, jerking or problems saying stuff. Some thought I was on crack or something

My tics have definitely tapered off since I created this thread. It seems like every year, they get worse as the weather warms up, peaking in mid-late Summer, then taper off as the weather cools.

OldMom - I have gotten away with having tics since I was ~9 years old, and the only people in the world who know I have tourettes are myself, my wife, mother, brothers, primary doctor, and manager (the latter two didn't know until I told them).

I have a head shake/neck crack, an eye roll, ear wiggling, a nasal grunting sound, a related higher pitched 'humming' sound, finger shaking on my right hand, and the Star Trek 'live long and prosper' sign on my left hand (and I'm not even a Star Trek fan!). I must be doing a good enough job of hiding them, as I always seem the person most annoyed by them, and I work in a cubicle. I've had no complaints from my cube neighbors!

About thirty-some years ago I wrote a short poem about Tourettes.

TS, Hold the Eliot

My Maker has fashioned his chains for me.
My worship is guttural, unnatural, vulgar.
I ride a hellion to work and back.
On display for commuters.
I mutter, stutter, genuflect.
I am an army of one in a war of words that I wish not to say.
Flooding thoughts, thoughts of floods, having not the guts to stay.
A rampant virus of Billy Ray Cyrus, achy breaky, silicone snaky.
I worship unwillingly at the altar of Dostoevsky and Saint Vitus.
My Gods are personal and private demons, Ancient porno hymnals.
Flame of fury, fashioned from flailing.
I cry tears of bitter rage when I am alone, Set me free...

Not bad at all since I take haloperidol for it.

My tics are mostly noticeable when I'm in bed trying to sleep. I tighten up my stomach and side muscles. Sometimes I do it until they're strained and then I'll feel sore the next day.

The worst tic I ever had was a breathing tic. I used to breathe in normally but then breathe out bit by bit. It would leave me out of breath and gasping. Thankfully, a raise in haloperidol dose got rid of that tic.

I'm certain I have Tourette's but I keep reading there's no test and no treatment, except for meds like Risperidone. I already took that for BFRBs which are essentially the same as ticks. I didn't know Haloperidol was an option. Who diagnosed you guys? Was it a Neuro, a Psych, or your GP?