Tourette Syndrome

Tourette Syndrome

Tourette Syndrome: Ticcing Away

"Tourette Kids"

Sometimes we are happy

Sometimes we are sad

Sometimes we get teased

Sometimes we get mad

Although we seem different

When tics appear each day

Remember this disease chose us

And no the other way

So if we jerk, or yell, or swear

Please try not to forget

It isn't us doing it

But a disease called Tourette

----Jason Valencia----

Touretter

1986, 10 years old

Living with Tourette syndrome gives a deeper insight to the highly misunderstood and understated disease, Gilles de la Tourette syndrome. The book delves into the origin of the disease, the symptoms, the medications, and the treatments. Then the author gives thoughtful advice, a guide, so to speak, for parents, relatives, loved ones, and sufferers of Tourette. The author Elaine Fantle Shimberg, is the mother of three children with Tourette Syndrome and a board member of the Tourette Association. She has authored twelve books and gives lectures around the world about mothering three Touretters.

To understand the disease, you must know its interesting history. In 1885, the French physician, Dr. Georges Albert Eduoard Brutes Gilles de la Tourette, first suggested that the disease's symptoms were part of a distinct condition different from other movement disorders. (Shimberg, 1995 p.25) Tourette studied several patients he believed to have the disorder. These studies included a French noblewoman who used to interject obscenities during conversation. (This is also known as coprolalia,) Tourette came to the conclusion that TS was hereditary, (Shimberg, 1995, P.67) that the disorder did not have any intellectual or psychological deterioration, (Shimberg, 1995, p.69) and he also correctly identified the childhood onset of the disease.

For decades after Tourette's discovery, Tourette Syndrome was believed to b4e a psychological disorder. With the twentieth century and the age of Freud's psychoanalysis, new ideas and theories about Tourette Syndrome came a dime a dozen. Hysteria, schizophrenia, mental instability, sexual dysfunction, narcissistic disorder, and poor family dynamics were just a few of the speculated causes of that era. (Shimberg, 1995, p.66) It wasn't until the mid 1960's that researchers work helped our present understanding of Tourette came to be. It was finally acknowledged that the disorder was biologically based, thereby changing the belief that TS was a psychological or psychogenic disorder. (Shimberg, 1995, p.66)

Tourette syndrome, also called Tourette's Disorder, is known to be a neurobiological tic disorder involving both motor and phonic tics. TSA is not a psychological illness or psychosis. The disease is biochemicall6y base4d and is genetically transferred, that is, a person is born with it, and it is not contagious. (Shimberg, 1995, p.81) TS is characterized by repetitive, sudden, and involuntary movements.

Although there is no known medical, biological, or psychological test to diagnose Tourette Syndrome, specific guidelines were compiled in the 1980's by the American Psychiatric Association. According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, also known as DSM-IV, five symptoms must be present.

1. Both multiple motor and one or more vocal tics must have been present at some time during the illness, although not necessarily concurrently. A tic is defined as a sudden, rapid, recurrent, non-rhythmic, motor movement or vocalization.

2. The tics occur many times a day, usually in bouts, nearly every day or intermittently throughout a period of more that one year. During this period, there must have never been a tic-free period of more than three consecutive months.

3. The disturbance caused marked distress or significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

4. The onset of the disease's symptoms occurs before the age of eighteen, and

5. The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance or general medical condition.

Over 35 million people in America have tics, so TS is hard to diagnose, and the disorder is usually misdiagnosed as a nervous condition, disruptive behavior, and sometimes even allergies. Often, people with mild TS do not even seek medical attention. Simple transient childhood tics occur in 15 to 24% of schoolage children and this too, makes a correct diagnosis difficult to make. (Shimberg, 1995,p.26)

It is believed that one in every 200 people in the United States or almost 1.3 million Americans have Tourette syndrome. The disease affects people of all races, social, economical, religious, and cultural backgrounds. Symptoms usually develop between the ages of two and sixteen, but in some rare cases, symptoms have developed as late as twenty-one. TS is also proven to affect 3 boys to every girl. There is no medical explanation for this phenomenon. The most common tics are sniffing, coughing, sneezing, rapid blinking, and head, neck, and shoulder jerks. 80% of those with Tourette have eye and eyelid tics. (Shimberg, 1995,p.74)

People with TS develop symptoms that are subtypes of separate disorders. 10 to 30% of Touretters develop coprolalia. Coprolalia is the most disturbing vocal tic. It is marked by the sudden and uncontrollable urge to blurt out unacceptable words or phrases. This includes, but is not limited to, ethnic and religious slurs, crude references to anatomy bodily functions, sexual acts, and derogatory words and phrases. People with coprolalia often have trouble at school and work. Some are able to develop mental coprolalia, or the ability to repeat the words in their