Tourette's Syndrome
Tourette's Syndrome
Tourette's Syndrome is a disorder in motor skills, movements, and behavior. It is caused by a genetic disturbance that affects the central nervous system. There is a chemical imbalance in the brain. It is just one of many movement or “tic” disorders. It was discovered by Gilles de la Tourette's, which is where the name comes from. When a person has tourette's syndrome, their muscles twitch and they uncontrollably shout out noises or in some cases, obscene words. They just come out. It is found more often in boys, usually between the ages of 2 and 16, and will last for the remainder of their lives It is found more often in Jews and rarely found in blacks. If the person concentrates, they can control their tics for awhile, but then later the tics will erupt violently and they will come all at once. For example, a lawyer with tourette's syndrome may show no tics while he is in court, but when he get home or back to the office, he’ll have a many more tics that are more severe than normal.
These involuntary motor tics are very rapid, and sometimes, very different and interesting movements. Facial tics usually begin the attacks in about 80% of the people with the disorder. Vocal tics, like barks, grunts, hisses, and offensive words, only show up in the other 20%. Other tics include the muscles in the face, head, and shoulders, like sniffing, shrugging, blinking, and scowling. When tourette's syndrome is found in girls, behavioral problems are found more often than muscle and facial tics. One of the most common ones is obsessive-compulsive behavior. These symptoms will seem better sometimes, and worse other times. They go back and forth. These symptoms sometimes get worse with age, but many times, the symptoms just fade away as the patient gets older.
There are different classifications of tourette’s syndrome. The most common of course is the facial and vocal tics that I’ve mentioned before. Blurting out dirty words is called coprolalia. It is the least common level of tourette’s syndrome, but it is the most well-known one. Echolalia is when the patient repeats what someone else said. Palilalia is repeating words or phrases, and then there is also obsessive-compulsive behavior. All of...