Tourette's is Hell

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

I said above that it was neurological

Unfortunately nothing helps other than some medication that I'm planning on taking in the future. It's got to the point where it has stopped being just a nuisance and has started to make me worried about the damage I'll eventually do to my neck.

It does get worse in stressful situations; meeting new people, etc. However at the moment the noises I make happen regardless of whether I'm stressed or completely relaxed.

I'm so sorry to learn of your condition.Not something I know much about. I know only one person with Tourettes'. A friend's son. now 22. He also has ADD/AD. Not fun to be around,but very bright and finished university last year.

I'm glad you seem to be functioning at a high level.

Perhaps not strange ,but I realised some time ago that forums such as this seem to have a relatively large number of people with 'issues'..

[LastPoet]

Sorry to hear about that Adrian, that must really suck. By coincidence I was watching a documentary about the brain last night, its goods and bads, etc, and they spoke about Tourette's. They claimed it is closely related to OCD, and they shown a guy that had tourette's, before and after a surgery where they putted 2 electrodes in the part of the brain responsible for tourette's(can't remember the name) connected to two pacemekers, that really worked. The guy used to had 1 'tick' per second on average, now he has none, as long as the pacemakers are working. Unfortunately they said its a very risky procedure, but its a breakthrough nonetheless.

Perhaps science can come up with something better in time to help you

Perhaps not strange ,but I realised some time ago that forums such as this seem to have a relatively large number of people with 'issues'..

Or perhaps people around here are more honest admitting to have issues.

[RachelSkates]

Terrible how the Dr's led your mother wrong, but AWESOME that she was able to raise above it and help you and even other people with the problem. I know a man with the same trouble and he has autism to boot........oh how he suffers!!

I do hope that you are able to find something that helps. Neurology is so behind. I went to a Neuro once and he asked me who was the Prez., what a dime was, walk across the floor, etc.....like measuring lumps on the head. 1700's medicine. The brain is the most complicated piece of meat we have on the planet and that's the best they can do?

Oh, I know they have MRI's etc., but the brain is way ahead of our ability to measure it.

[Paul the Human]

I can relate, in an indirect way. My son has TS. When he was about 5 years old, he began making an odd throat clearing sound and the doctor had no idea what caused it. He, and my wife and I, all figured it was just an odd habit he had picked up. Not long after that, he began to develop minor facial ticks and a couple of additional 'noises' that he would make and it seemed random to us. We mistakenly believed that these things were simply habits and told him to knock it off. Eventually, it became clear that he was largely unaware that he was even doing these things, so we took him back to the doctor (he was 8 by then) and he was diagnosed with Tourettes Syndrome. He was given medication that seemed to minimize his ticks, but made him worse in other ways (personality and behavior), so we stopped the meds after about a year.

He was (and is) lucky and none of his ticks have ever been more than slight sounds and facial ticks, but that doesn't mean it was easy for him. He even used to get into trouble at school, because his teachers were ill informed.

Anyway... I have enough experience to know that it is anything but funny.