Symptoms of Tourette syndrome

Tourette syndrome is a neurological condition characterized by tics, which are repeated, involuntary, movements or vocalizations. The severity of the tics can range from barely noticeable to debilitating and disruptive. Tics are classified as simple or complex.

Simple motor tics are tics that involve a single muscle group.They are brief and meaningless.

Nose wrinkling,lip biting,head jerking,eye blinking,repetitive touching

Simple vocal tics are any noise and sounds which can include coughing,sniffing,barking or grunting.

Complex motor tics involve multiple muscle groups and can be slower than simple motor tics. It even looks like purposeful behavior is being preformed.

Complex phonic tics are words and sentences being said. Repeating your own words or that of others,repeating words after you read them as well as saying cuss words or socially objectionable words.

The media often portrays vocal tics as cursing or yelling inappropriate words. These are tics called coporlalia but they happen in only 10% of the people with Tourette syndrome.

Tics are described as semi-voluntary or unvoluntary. Some tics are a voluntary response to an unwanted premonitory urge called sensory phenomena. Some people feel a tickle,others a burning sensations while to other it feels like itching.
These sensations can be suppressed for a short time but it eventually is expressed in some way. Usually after surpessing the sensation the tics are stronger and last longer than normal.

Tics can increase in severity due to stress,fatigue,or strong emotions like anxiety or excitement. Relaxation or deep concentration can decrease severity for a short time.





Coghlans 159078 Emergency Tube Tent - Two Person (Google Affiliate Ad)

Chronic Tic Disorder

Chronic Tic Disorder(CTD,Chronic vocal tic disorder; Tic - chronic motor tic disorder) is a tic disorder characterized by either mortor or vocal tics,but not both, that last longer than a year. If both occur at in the same period it is called Tourette Syndrome A tic is a breif meaningless sound or movement or more complex, seemingly organized series of actions or sounds. CTD is more common than TS but not as common than transient tic disorder.

 Like other tic disorder it is not curable."About 1 to 2 percent of the population has the disorder, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

 Symptoms of CTD can include: Excessive blinking,Grimaces of the face,sudden, uncontrollable movements of the legs, arms, or body,sounds such as throat clearing, grunts, or groans

Tics may increase due to stress,exhaustion or changes in emotions. Changes in temperature can also have effect on the tics. 

People with CTD are usually able to restrain their tics for a short time. However, it takes great effort and concentration.Many individuals report a build up of pressure or abnormal sensations in the area before the tic manifest.After the tic there is a common experience of a sense of relief.

Doctors can generally diagnose a tic during a physical examination and family history. There are,at this time, no test to diagnose CTD.

 There are treatments that can help lessen the tics if they are interfering with the individual life.
 Medicines or psychotherapy are only used when the tics have a major impact on daily activities, such as school and job performance.
Some drugs used to treat tics include dopamine blockers, such as pimozide and risperidone. These medicines can help control or reduce tics, but they have side effects that cause other movement disorders or cognitive dulling.

Botulinium toxin injections is used to treat certain form of dystonic tics.
In recent years, brain stimulation using permanently implanted electrodes in the brain has shown promising results.

Children who develop this disorder between ages 6 and 8 usually do very well. Symptoms may last 4 to 6 years, and then stop without treatment in early adolescence.
If  the disorder begins in older children and continues into the 20s, it may become a life-long condition.

Tourette Syndrome Signs and Symptoms

The signs of Tourette Syndrome(TS) can be quite easy to notice since the tics will cause the individual to make unusaual movements or sounds. Most people with Tourette syndrome first notice symptoms during childhood, between ages 7 and 10. TS always happen a before the age of 18-21 TS usually begins with mild, simple tics involving the face, head, or arms and with time the tics can become more frequent and increase in variety, involving more body parts such as the trunk or legs. They often become more disruptive to activities of daily living. Usually appearing in childhood, their severity varies over time. In most cases, tics become milder and less frequent in late adolescence and adulthood.

There are two types of tics present in TS,motor tics and vocal tics. Those than can be subdivided into simple and complex tics. Simple motor tics are normally sudden and rapid movements known as clonic tics but they can also involve longer more sustained movements known as tonic tics. A 3rd type of tic  called a dystonic tic and is similar to the actions of dystonia.Simple phonic tics involve single simple sounds,animal noises,grunts and ect. Both simple motor and phonic tics can change into complex motor and phonic tics. A complex motor tic would be actions such as hopping,squatting,repetitive touching of others, deep knee bending, jumping, smelling of objects, hand gesturing, head shaking, or leg kicking. Complex vocal tics involve palilalia (repeating certain phrases or words out of context), echolalia (repeating the last words or phrases spoken by others) or coprolalia (explosive cursing or compulsive utterance of obscene words or phrases).

Tics are classified as either simple or complex.

Simple tics

Simple motor tics are sudden, brief, repetitive movements that involve a limited number of muscle groups. Some of the more common simple tics include eye blinking and other vision irregularities, facial grimacing, shoulder shrugging, and head or shoulder jerking. Simple vocalizations might include repetitive throat-clearing, sniffing, or grunting sounds.

Complex tics

Complex tics are distinct, coordinated patterns of movements involving several muscle groups. Complex motor tics might include facial grimacing combined with a head twist and a shoulder shrug. Other complex motor tics may actually appear purposeful, including sniffing or touching objects, hopping, jumping, bending, or twisting. Simple vocal tics may include throat-clearing, sniffing/snorting, grunting, or barking. More complex vocal tics include words or phrases. Perhaps the most dramatic and disabling tics include motor movements that result in self-harm such as punching oneself in the face or vocal tics including coprolalia (uttering swear words) or echolalia (repeating the words or phrases of others). Some tics are preceded by an urge or sensation in the affected muscle group, commonly called a premonitory urge.

Some with Tourette syndrome will describe a need to complete a tic in a certain way or a certain number of times in order to relieve the urge or decrease the sensation. Tics are often worse with excitement or anxiety and better during calm, focused activities. Certain physical experiences can trigger or worsen tics, for example tight collars may trigger neck tics, or hearing another person sniff or throat-clear may trigger similar sounds.

Tics may occur many times a day, but they tend to improve or get worse at different times. The tics may change with time. Symptoms usually get worse before the mid-teen years. Many people with Tourette syndrome can stop doing the tic for periods of time. However, they find that the tic is stronger for a few minutes after they allow it to start again. Often the tic slows or stops during sleep.

http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/gilles-de-la-tourette-syndrome/overview.html