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Finding Humanity in My Tourette Syndrome

I flinched as a terrifying scream echoed through the room over my right shoulder. I'll never forget the sound. It genuinely sounded like someone had been stabbed. I turned toward the sound in time to see a middle-aged man with tufts of graying hair around his temples just finishing his yell. It came out of nowhere every few minutes thereafter as he spoke, a blast that seemed to come from the depths of a tortured soul.

An articulate and well-informed speaker, he seemed particularly interested in history and foreign policy. When his symptom came he simply excused himself by holding his right index finger in the air in front of his mouth as if to say, "one second." Then he turned his…

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Featured

 My Life With Tourette’s Syndrome

I was born with a neurological disorder that causes involuntary movements, vocalizations and tics — sometimes mild, sometimes wildly disruptive: Tourette’s syndrome. Since my youth, I’ve often been stopped in public by the police and questioned because of my symptoms.

 People with Tourette's may be better at learning without trying

People with Tourette’s syndrome seem to have enhanced memory that could make them better at learning tasks unconsciously, such as speaking a second language or driving a car.

 Tourette syndrome: Finally, something to shout about

The fact is that over the last several years, many exciting and life-altering treatments have become available to Tourette patients and their families. We have reached a crossroads in this disease where it will become increasingly critical to reeducate the public and to make new therapies widely available.

 Tourette Syndrome: What You Need To Know To Be An Ally At Work

The vast majority of people with Tourette Syndrome do not use rude language as part of their tics. This is a specific condition known as Coprolalia that affects less than a third of people with the condition.

Articles of Interest

The Voices of Tourette’s Syndrome

Tourette’s syndrome is an odd and little understood disorder, characterized by sudden jerking movements and uncontrollable tics and vocalizations.

A Father To His Son: 'I Know What It's Like' Living With Tourette's Syndrome

Josh Hanagarne is a dad, a librarian and an author. He also has an extreme form of Tourette's syndrome. But he doesn't let it and his tics — his involuntary movements and sounds — stop him from living his life. He says he actually chose to work in a library because it was the quietest place he knew of.

Electric current helps dampen tics in people with Tourette's syndrome

An unusual new treatment for Tourette’s syndrome involves applying an electrical current to the wrist, which travels up nerves to the brain and changes brainwaves. The approach, which moderately reduced the number of tics in volunteers with Tourette’s, suggests the condition is linked with an underactivity in brainwaves that normally keep us still.

Fresh Effort to Counter Tourette Tics

Tourette syndrome—a disorder marked by repeated, overwhelming vocal outbursts and motor movements—has long frustrated the medical world.

How deep brain stimulation could unlock secrets of Tourette's

There is no cure for Tourette's syndrome. But after years of suffering and unsuccessful therapies, Comfort was selected for experimental surgery by specialists from the University of Florida's Center for Movement Disorders.

New Treatment for Tourette Syndrome Changes Boy's Life

Robbie Lettieri calls the decade he lived with Tourette syndrome a "nightmare." "I try not to think about it," said Lettieri, who was diagnosed with the neurobiological disorder that brings on sudden uncontrollable motor tics at the age of 7.

Stuttering and Tourette's Syndrome

While there may not be a direct link between Tourette’s Syndrome and stuttering, the two problems often occur together.

The Benefits of Having Tourette's

It's a bit counter-intuitive to think the vocal and motor tics associated with Tourette's syndrome could be a blessing. But neuroscience buff Jonah Lehrer makes that very case in his recent post The Advantages of Tourette's. Though Lehrer doesn't have Tourette's, he had a severe stutter in his youth and argues that overcoming such obstacles has an empowering effect.

Tics & Tourette Syndrome

Pharmacological treatment for the tics may not be needed unless they cause severe interference with social development. Most patients with mild symptoms will benefit from education regarding the diagnosis and what to expect from the condition. Education should be extended to parents as well as teachers to create a suitable environment for the affected individual and explain them they are not a mental disorder.

Tim Howard: Growing up with Tourette syndrome and my love of football

In an extract from his autobiography, The Keeper, Everton’s Tim Howard explains how OCD and Tourette syndrome affected his childhood but how they also brought unique skills to his game.

Tourette's Tics Are A Challenge, But Misunderstanding Of Tics Can Be Worse

The condition is far more common than many people realize, and many misperceptions about it still exist, says Kevin McNaught, executive vice president of the advocacy group Tourette Association of America.

Resources

Ten Questions You've Always Wanted to Ask a Person with Tourette Syndrome

Tourette is a neurological disorder that manifests itself in tics—sudden, involuntary movements and sounds. The first symptoms, like blinking and twitching, generally start when people affected by it are about six or seven years old. Only 10 to 15 percent also have coprolalia, the urge to vocalize swearwords. Medication can help reduce the tics, but there's no absolute cure for Tourette.

Tourette Association of America

We offer resources and referrals to help people and their families cope with the problems that occur with TS. We raise public awareness and counter media stereotypes about TS.

Tourette Canada

Creating awareness and understanding of Tourette Syndrome through education and advocacy.

Tourette Scotland

Tourette Scotland is a national organisation that provides advice and support for children and adults with Tourette Syndrome (TS) in Scotland. We work together with individuals with TS and their families, in order to support them, further their aims and ambitions, offer advice to assist them to manage and accept their TS, and lobby for raised awareness about the condition.

Tourette Syndrome Association of Australia

TSAA is a non-profit, self-funded, registered charity run by volunteers — consisting of people with TS, their families, health and education professionals and other interested and concerned people.

Tourette Syndrome Camp Organization

The Tourette Syndrome Camp Organization (TSCO) is a 501 (c)(3) tax exempt non-profit organization dedicated to promoting camping opportunities for children with Tourette Syndrome (TS) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and its associated disorders Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD).

Tourette's Mom

On Aug 30, 2006, I found out that my then 6 yr old son has Tourette's Syndrome. I'm gonna work it out here. The caveat is, I'm going to work out pretty much everything ELSE in my life here, too. So, hop on. 'Cause here we go.

Tourettes Action

Tourettes Action works in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is the leading support and research charity for people with Tourette Syndrome and their families. We want people with TS to receive the practical support and social acceptance they need to help them live their lives to the full.

Touretteshero

That’s me, the world’s first fully-fledged Tourettes superhero! Tourettes is pretty much the only superpower I’ll ever need. This site is dedicated to sharing the challenges and enjoyment of the unusual and often surreal world in which I live.

TS Parents Online

Welcome to TSParentsOnline, a blog for parents of children with Tourette Syndrome by parents of children with Tourette Syndrome, brought to you by the New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome & Associated Disorders (NJCTS).

A Little Bit Different: Tourette's Syndrome

Welcome to my life thus far with Tourette's Syndrome with all its ups, downs, and sideways moments.

Jim Eisenreich Foundation

The mission of the Jim Eisenreich Foundation for Children with Tourette Syndrome is to build avenues of success for every child with Tourette Syndrome through programs, and services which address the needs of families, educators, peers, and medical professionals.

Living with Tourettes

This documentary series reveals the realities of living with Tourette Syndrome, through the inspiring lens of six young Kiwis suffering from the neurological disorder.

CDC

Tourette Syndrome (TS) causes people to have “tics”. Tics are sudden twitches, movements, or sounds that people do repeatedly. People who have tics cannot stop their body from doing these things.

MayoClinic

Although there's no cure, you can live a normal life span with Tourette syndrome, and many people with Tourette syndrome don't need treatment when symptoms aren't troublesome. Symptoms of Tourette syndrome often lessen or become quiet and controlled after the teen years.

MedicineNet

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neurological disorder characterized by repetitive, stereotyped, involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics. The disorder is named for Dr. Georges Gilles de la Tourette, the pioneering French neurologist who in 1885 first described the condition in an 86-year-old French noblewoman.

MedlinePlus

No treatment is needed unless the tics interfere with everyday life. Excitement or worry can make tics worse. Calm, focused activities may make them better. Medicines and talk therapy may also help.

NHS

It usually starts during childhood and continues into adulthood. In many cases Tourette's syndrome runs in families and it's often associated with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

NINDS

The early symptoms of TS are typically noticed first in childhood, with the average onset between the ages of 3 and 9 years. TS occurs in people from all ethnic groups; males are affected about three to four times more often than females.

Patient

This is a neuropsychiatric syndrome, characterised by motor and vocal tics, which runs a fluctuating course. It may be associated with behavioural abnormalities and other psychological conditions - eg, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).[1] In 1885 Dr Georges Gilles de la Tourette described nine patients with the syndrome, which was subsequently named after him. However, the original description was by Dr Jean Itard in 1825 who described the case of the cursing Marquise de Dampierre. The disorder was originally thought to be psychiatric - however, it most likely represents a combination of pathologies.

TeensHealth

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neurological disorder where a person has both motor and vocal tics. Doctors and scientists don't know the exact cause of TS, but some research suggests that it occurs when there's a problem with how nerves communicate in the brain.