Tourette's Syndrome
Tourette's Syndrome
Tourette Syndrome (TS) is an inherited, neurological disorder characterized by repeated and involuntary body movements and uncontrollable vocal sounds. In a minority of cases, the vocalizations can include socially inappropriate words and phrases. These outbursts are neither intentional nor purposeful. Involuntary symptoms can include eye blinking, repeated throat clearing or sniffing, arm thrusting, kicking, shoulder shrugging or jumping. These, and other symptoms, typically appear before the age of 18 and the condition occurs in all ethnic groups with males affected three to four times more often than females.
Although symptoms of TS vary from person to person and range from moderate to severe, the majority of cases fall into the mild category. Associated conditions can include attention problems, impulsiveness, and learning disabilities. However, most people with TS lead productive lives and participate in all professions. Increased public understanding and tolerance of TS symptoms are of paramount importance to people with this still mysterious disorder.
Discovery:
Tourette Syndrome is also known as Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome after the neurologist who described the disorder in 1885. Until the end of the nineteenth century, movement disorders, referred to as motor incoordinations, were diagnosed as chorea, a Greek word meaning dance. In 1825, the first description of a patient with TouretteÕs disorder appeared in a paper by Itard, who described a French woman who displayed not only involuntary tics, but also obscene vocalizations. Since the age of seven, she suffered from involuntary compulsive spasms in her arms and hands. Progressively, her symptoms grew worse. At the time, Itard could only explain the illness as an "idiopathic irritation of the brain".
Gilles de la Tourette proposed that the symptoms observed in nine patients, six of whom were his own, constituted a new disease category, which should be separated from chorea. He called the illness a "nervous affliction characterized by generalized motor incoordination and noises," accompanied by vocal outbursts. Gilles de la Tourette was the first physician to identify the unique development of this odd disorder. Motor symptoms are the first to appear, most frequently of the face, specifically eye blinking, and spreading to the upper limbs. As the disorder progresses, symptoms become verbal, including incoherent cries. Echolalia, repetition of oneÕs own words, follows and was considered by Gilles de la Tourette to...