| Tourette
Syndrome Information
The
following page represents general information on
Tourette Syndrome disorder. For
more information on the following Tourette
Syndrome subject matters click on the menu items
below:
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Tourette
Syndrome is a neurological disorder that
manifests itself in the form of body and/or
facial tics, and sometimes verbal tics, in the
thousands of children and young adults who live
with this disorder. This neurological disorder
is hereditary, and symptoms don't usually appear
until a child is 6 to 9 years old. Initial
onset of tics can occur as late as age 21. The
type and severity of tics varies with each
child. It has been stated that in roughly
70% of Tourette's cases, the tics vanish when
the victim reaches the age of 20 to 24 --
usually as quickly as they appeared during grade
school. For those that do not see the
symptoms vanish in the early 20's, the tics
persists throughout their lives.
It was not until
the 1970's that Tourette Syndrome was first
diagnosed to be a genetic disorder, one that is
caused by an alteration in the general makeup of
the chromosomes or genes. The "
idea" that it was a genetic disorder can be
traced as far back as 1885, when the French
neurologist Georges Gilles de la Tourette first
discovered and noted the symptoms as distinct
from other neurological disorders, and suggested
that the disorder was hereditary.
 Despite
his wise diagnosis, the disorder was widely
misunderstood by both the medical community and
the public for for a hundred years. It has
only been in the last decade that the public has
become to understand more about the disorder
through television broadcasts on the subject and
through web sites like this one.
Throughout history this disorder of the
neurological system has been
misunderstood. In the past many Tourette
Syndrome sufferers, particularly
those with severe tics, were often
thought possessed. They were often
isolated from the public, and many underwent
extreme and harsh treatment (burned at the
stake, flogging, lobotomies, etc. ) by the
public, authorities and/or medical
community. Many people with
Tourette's were often committed to insane
asylums. In later years the public and
medical community began to think that children
with tics were the result of mental or emotional
problems that were due to bad parents or an
abusive household environment. Even as
late as the 1970's many Tourette's sufferers
were frequently misdiagnosed as having
obsessive-compulsive disorder, epilepsy,
schizophrenia, or nervous problems.
The physical
disorder of the brain which causes these
involuntary movements (usually called motor
tics) is not fully understood but research is
being conducted every day. Motor
tics can occur in any part of the body.
They can include shoulder shrugging, eye
blinking, head jerking, hand movements,
lip-licking, facial grimacing and more. To
the best of my knowledge, there have been no
recorded cases of tics occurring in anyone over
the age of 21 for the first time, and although
its possible for the onset of tics to occur in
the teenage years, the most typical onset period
is around the age of seven.
Common vocal tics
include sniffing, throat clearing, grunting,
making loud sounds or saying words. The
frequency of both motor and vocal tics can occur
anywhere from several times per minute to only a
few times per day. Some children will
display mild tics that almost go unnoticed,
while others will display severe tics, like
severe head moves and contorted facial
movements, they occur every few minutes.
Tics will vary over time in type, number and
frequency. Some Tourette kids will go
through period that last from a few days to as
long as a year where they might not display any
tics. Tics usually escalate to a peak
during the puberty years, then taper off.
My son John's
first tic, noticed at the age of 8, was
eye-blinking. This is probably the most
common tic to occur either at the onset of tics
or within the first few weeks of noticeable
tics. When I first noticed them I thought
he was showing symptoms of an allergy to cats,
since he had been playing with a neighbor's son
who had a pet cat. You can imagine how
upset and worried I became when I counted his
eye blinking after I first noticed them and
found that he was blinking 100 times per minute
-- all the while watching a cartoon on
television as if nothing was wrong!
Many Tourette
Syndrome children encounter emotional and social
difficulties in living with their Tourette tics
and other conditions that often accompany
Tourette Syndrome -- i.e., Attention Deficit
Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD) and Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder (OCD). Many times the tics are so
severe and unusual that the child is teased by
his or her peers, causing embarrassment,
humiliation, stress and in severe cases --
depression.. Children with severe Tourette tics
often live on an emotional roller-coaster.
Parents and
families of Tourette's children with severe tics
often feel helpless, not knowing how to help or
bring an end to their loved one's emotional
duress. Most of the pain and hurt I have
witnessed is caused and inflicted by others who
do not understand Tourette Syndrome. Do
your part and educate those around you about
Tourette's -- particularly school officials and
teaching professionals. The needs of a
Tourette Syndrome child are special, because
they are special. One way you can do your
part is by always communicating with a free
email account that we will provide you with the
domain name CureTS.com.
For many years
the medical community has widely believed that
Tourette's strikes 1 in 1,000 boys and 1 in
2,500 girls. Over the past couple of years
new research suggest that it is more common than
original estimates. The number of boys
that have Tourette Syndrome outnumber girls
where TS has been diagnosed by almost 3 to
1. Due to the rarity of this disorder, it
is not easy finding medical doctors and
counselors that specialize in Tourette's and/or
understands the disease and the trauma it
afflicts on its victims is often very difficult
-- especially in remote locations. This Web site
is designed to help both victims and loved ones
understand and cope with the disorder.
For
more TS information, also check out:
[TS
Facts] [TS
Medication ] [TS
Research]
[TS Genetics] TS
FAQ] [TS
News] [TS Articles]
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