IsabellaLinton wrote:
renaeden wrote:
I'm very lucky that I don't have vocal tics. That would be frustrating because they draw more attention than motor tics do.
My tics are mild because I take haloperidol every night. That's when my tics are worst, especially when trying to sleep. The doctor calls it motor tic disorder, not Tourette's Syndrome.
How was this diagnosed, renaeden?
I've read that there's no test for tic disorders but that can't be right?
Also how are your motor tics different from stims?
I'm pretty sure I have tics either motor and / or vocal but don't know how to be assessed.
I had to take Risperidone to stop or ease a lot of my stims because they became self-injurious.
I used to take risperidone for my tics but it made me feel sick to my stomach all the time so I switched to haloperidol. I know it's risky to take haloperidol for a long time because of the risk of tardive dyskinesia but I've been on it for 12 years and so far it's ok.
To answer your question: I saw my psychiatrist about it. I said that at around age 5 I would squint my eyes shut really tight and my parents wrote it off to eye operations and eyesight problems. Then I used to tip my head back and rub my neck. It felt good but my parents didn't like it and would tell me off. So I'd go somewhere private and do that tic there. So my psychiatrist said that a history of tics as a child contributes towards a diagnosis of tic disorder or Tourette's Syndrome.
Then I described how I was in pain from tensing my neck, back, side and stomach muscles all the time and how people would stare at my "wriggling". There was no specific test for my tics, rather it was trial and error about what medication would work the best to lessen them. I started taking 3mg of haloperidol but that was raised to 5mg when I developed a breathing tic (breathing in normally but only letting my breath out bit by bit until I was gasping for air, drove me bonkers). Thankfully, that dose worked.
My main stim is picking my fingernails and the skin around them to bits. It's a handy stim (haha) because my fingers are always there. It's odd though, because when I first started haloperidol, I left my fingers alone for a while. Then the effect wore off. Then again when I started the raised dose, the same thing happened. Would have been nice if that effect kept going because the sight of my fingernails is not something to be proud of and I'm ashamed of the damage I do.
Sometimes I wonder if a psychiatrist is the best doctor to see about tics because it doesn't feel like mental illness to me, it's more neurological. Maybe a neurologist would actually do tests about tics, really get to the bottom of what they are and why you're getting them. In an ideal world.
31 Mar 2023, 10:05 pm
