Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, Tourette syndrome - what a fucking nightmare. Affects 1 in every 2,000 kids between the ages of 2 and 21.
It is more likely to occur in boys, especially if they have a first degree relative that also has this disorder.Tics are sudden, repetitive, purposeless motor or vocal expressions or movements. In addition to transient tic disorders and chronic motor tic disorders, Tourette syndrome is a common cause of tics in children. The symptoms of Tourette syndrome include having multiple vocal tics and motor tics, although they don’t have to have both types of tics at the same time.
Children with vocal tics may make compulsive barking and grunting noises, have frequent throat clearing, coughing or sniffling, echolalia (vocal tics characterized by repeating words that a child hears), and/or coprolalia (vocal tics characterized by repeating or shouting obscene words), although coprolalia is rare.
Other common motor tics include eye blinking, jerking the head, movements of the eyes, different facial expressions, including grimacing, and nose twitching.Simple tics are brief and involve only a few muscle groups. At first, children with Tourette syndrome usually have simple tics, but over time these tics can become more complex, becoming longer and involving several different muscle groups or whole words or phrases.
I think my dog has Tourette’s.
January 5th, 2006 at 5:58 pm
When I perchanced to be in Brooklyn…April 2005…I met “The Dog”….NEVER DID I SEE A TIC,OR HEAR ONE SWEAR WORD OUTTA HIS JAWS..
I heard a lot of HUMAN swearing……..
January 5th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
“Children with vocal tics may make compulsive barking and grunting noises…”
:)
January 6th, 2006 at 9:46 pm
FYI…”The Oprah Show”
(http://www2.oprah.com/tows/slide/200511/20051108/slide_20051108_284_101.jhtml)
did a great segment specifically on teens w/Tourette’s where she interviewed several teens on what it’s like to live with it. I’d say it’s hard enough being a teenager in school let alone these days so I could only imagine how much worse it was for these teens. But what struck me most was that they were truly among the brightest, most intelligent, positive youth I’d seen…just from their witty use of speech and poise as they described their uncontrollable tics. Some also had this condition coupled with OCD.. and one of them described how he’d walk into a room and be immediately sensitive to every sharp object in every part of the room . Another said he’d have to touch a certain object precisely an even number of times.
But in view of all this….I couldn’t help but be a bit amazed at this “supersensitivity” and incredible precision of these uncontrollable tics. In a strange way….I almost saw them as “X-MEN-like” superheroes w/an uncontrollable hidden “gift” almost …of incredible precision and automatic/reflexive compulsions and wondered how it’d be if they only knew how to control this almost instinctual compulsion and apply it in the most efficient and productive way….gosh… they’d do such wonders I know. I guess we can only hope in time that maybe the mystery of this inexplainable “power-in-disguise” perhaps will be solved…..i don’t know…call me crazy but it’s just that I saw such great potential in these witty young teens thru the show…so it’s just some food for thought I guess….