Over 600 years ago a patient was described and recorded with a disorder of animation. It was identified and named over 100 years ago in France. It is believed that Dr. Samual Johnson, author of the first Dictionary, had this disorder. Other famous people include Jim Eisnereich, formerly of the Kansas City Royals Baseball Team; Actor Pete Antioch, and the brother of Canadian actress Neve Campbell, also have this disorder. It is estimated that 3% of our school-age children have it.
Yet it's often undiagnosed or misdaignosed and publicly misunderstood. I'm talking about Tourette Syndrome (TS). TS is a physical disorder of the brain that causes brief, repetitive, purposeless and involuntary movements called motor tics and vocalizations called vocal tics. Its onset is before adulthood and its duration is of more than a year. It is a syndrome because it is diagnosed based on the observations of the symptoms that it produces, rather than from laboratory tests. TS does not affect intelligence or longevity of life, there is no cure. TS can be a disorder on its own, or can be accompanied by other disorders such as Asperger Syndrome; Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Attention Deficit Disorder, with or without hyperactivity; Learning Disabilities; Anxiety Disorders; Sensory Dysfunctions; Aggression or Oppositional Defiant Disorder, including Episodic Rage.
Residual Consequences may include: low Self-Esteem; Frustration; Depression; Social Withdrawal - in the 1800's a 90 year old woman, the Marquise de Dampierre, had withdrawn from social contact for 70 years, due to this disorder - Impaired Relationships; Anger; Oversensitivity; Discouragement; Feelings of being crazy, bad, stupid, rejected, unloved, hopeless. Impaired ability to understand or appropriately respond to others; Self-Injurious Behaviours and Eating and Sleeping Disorders.
Those who are afflicted are not "attention seekers", "crazy", "psychotic", "possessed" or being "Purposely disruptive". Who would voluntarily sniffle so much that there nose would bleed? Who shrugs their shoulders so much that they're in pain at the end of the day? who want to touch every doorknob 6 times before opening it? And who would wish to fly into a rage without any apparent cause - even when they are alone? "touretters" have as much control as you do over blinking your eyes, or sneezing. Try to stop, or suppress, yourself from blinking. You'll feel a build up, a very strong desire and need to blink. This is what it feels like to supress a tic. After the time has gone by, and you give in to that urge to blink, you'll find that you are blinking rapidly and often for a period of time. This also happens to someone who releases their tics, after suppressing them.
As Dr. Duncan McKinlay once said, "the only constant about Tourettes, is that there is no constant". TS changes all the time. Tics wax and wane, different tics appear and disappear, potentially re-appearing again. Like fingerprints, no 2 people have the same tics or are affected in the same way. Tourette Syndrome has a broad range of potential tics.
With Motor Tics, you could squint, blink or roll your eyes. You could flick your hair out of them. You can also hop and skip, lick your lips, make faces, scrunch your nose or grimace. You can flick your fingers or stretch your arms or legs, shake them or jerk them. You could also tighten your stomach muscles or any other muscles.
With Vocal Tics, you can clear your throat, scream, bark, squeal, snort, hork, spit, grunt, sniff, cough and hum. Phonic tics include, but are not limited to, sounds like "sk", "ch" and "k" up to words or complicated phrases. Although it's rare within the disorder, most people recognize TS because of those who cannot control their swearing and ethnic slander.
These are not habits. With such a wide range of symptoms, it's easy to see why diagnosis is difficult. Ironically, some children will suppress these tics in the presence of the doctors that could diagnosis the disorder, thus the appearance of a child who is defiant and seeking attention. Canadian doctor Mort Doran, himself afflicted with this disorder, went undiagnosed until 10 years after he began his own medical practise. He made this "diagnostic discovery" accidentally, through a radio program. Many doctors are not familiar with this disorder and its symptoms. So even if a diagnosis has been made, finding a doctor capable and comfortable with prescribing medications that can ease the symptoms of TS, or any of its associated disorders, can be a difficult task indeed. Children with Tourette Syndrome grow up to be Adults with Tourette. Some adults were not diagnosed, and are seeking answers now. It's only through public awareness that misunderstanding and fears can be lifted.