do i have some form of tourettes(help appreciated)

Post Reply New Topic

Hello all, i've recently registered on this site because i searched for tourettes on google and it linked me to a thread here. the person was asking if they had tourettes and i was wondering the same thing.

i've had little ticks that have come and gone all my life. from facial ones like blinking my eyes hard, making a muscle in my throat move even though it hurts after a while, to having to touch walls, poles, or the bottom of my shoe while walking repeatedly. i always thought i had a form of ocd while my parents thought it was tourettes. every time i would go to the doctors as a kid they would ask if i had tourettes and the doctor did a few things and said no. but i'm an adult now and some things have gotten worse. It's weird because from what i gather people with tourettes can't really control their outburst, but with me i'll randomly think of something i'd never say in the most inappropriate situation, and my mouth wants to say it, but my brain suppresses it. also i'm very good at hiding my ticks around people. like i said its weird because with tourettes i thought you couldn't control anything, but i'll only do my ticks by myself or aorund people i really trust and feel comfortable with. but alone is the worst by far. i have one thing where when im alone in my car driving i constantly check all the mirrors(doesn't sound too bad right lol), and if i'm driving with my right hand i'll constantly jerk my head over my right shoulder as if im checking to see if a car was there like im going to switch lanes. its bad because the majority of my time in the car is spent on everything but the road, but 'i've yet to be in any accidents or close calls. to combat this, i'll drive with my left hand(Relaxes me for some reason), and point my rearview mirror up so even if i look i can't see anything and i'll end up only using my side mirrors and i don't have the urge to jerk my head to the right. but if i'm driving with passengers in the car, i don't do any of this and i think its because i'm secretly suppressing it because i don't want others to know about it or get looked at weird. if im a passenger in a car i don't do it either, unless i'm around someone i trust but its not as severe.i think i have ocd because i rhythmically(sp) do the same things over and over, but i thought i had tourettes because now i have the urge to say or do things even though right now i can keep them in.

I know this sounds a little weird but i really would like any feedback, because it's getting to the point now where im really becoming alarmed with myself.

OCD is about repetitive movements do take away anxiety. Usually it has to do with an irrational fear.
Tourettes isn't always hard to control but it feels like you need to make those movements.

While you're in an autism forum I'll talk to you about stimming. Stimming is a repetitive movement we do to calm down or it just feels good to us.
I stim and have something that could be tourettes or focal epilepsy but the movements aren't that noticeable. I have focal tics as a side effect from medication so maybe it is possible to develop tourettes that way too. I'm not sure.

Hopefully someone else here can help you.

Thanks for the quick reply. And stimming seems interesting. you say its things you do to make you feel better, but i do things that hurt but relax my mind sort of. like the constant throat movement, neck jerking, and blinking. after a few times it starts to hurt but i have to do it.


i think i may be manifesting these things because they come and go from time to time. only constant one is the car one but thats only when im driving.

doesn't sound like it.

Most people get thoughts like that; the classic ones are when you're on a train platform or near a ledge and a little voice in your head tells you to 'jump' (despite not being suicidal in the slightest), but they can occur in many many different situations.

Sometimes thoughts become intrusive when you worry about them; it can lead to a vicious cycle because the more you worry about it, the more the thoughts recurr.. The trick is to learn to just ignore them as some sort of mental background noise.

your car-driving rituals do seem a bit OCD though.

thanks. and after going through this forum, i have so much more respect for every one on here.