How do you deal with your tourettes?
My tics are driving me insane! Is there anything you do that helps you deal with it or cope better? I'm Googling it too but everything seems to be either for people with kids who have it, or even if it isn't aimed at parents and kids kids, all the articles seem to be written by people that don't actually have it. So I'd like to hear from other people that actually know what it's like.
Medication has been the answer for me. I had severe Tics as a child so I've been medicated for most of my life with atypical anti-psychotics. First I was on Risperdone but Seroquel does the job with fewer side effects.
Even with medication I still get some vocal Tics that involve clearing my throat but I don't mind that as much.
I'm not sure how bad your Tics are. I don't know if medication is worth it for you but Tourette's is treatable with medication.
LoverOfDragons
Sea Gull

Joined: 30 Jun 2013
Age: 30
Gender: Female
Posts: 203
Location: Grand Junction, Colorado
I actually enjoy my tics. I burp (awful loudly), and I tend to hiccup. At times, I do both at the same time (nobody ask how that works because I have no idea myself lol). Anyway, I enjoy my ticks because they make me and other people laugh! So pretty much I cope very well with them. ^_^ It's probably quite unusual for someone to have tics they don't mind one bit. Lol
I've never actually been diagnosed with tourettes but I've read about it and watched Youtube videos by people with it and I am convinced I have it. But still, I have this fear that the doctors will just tell me I'm wrong, I don't have tourettes but they don't know what I have. It's probably because it took years to get a diagnosis for Asperger's when I was a kid and my mum brings that up every now and then.
Plus, people say that even after being medicated, it doesn't completely stop the tics, or maybe that's just for some people or if they don't have the exact right medication, I don't know.
My tics are not enjoyable. so I'm going to try and get a diangosis and medication soon. But in the mean time, and if it doesn't suppress them completely/enough (although any pretty much amount of suppression would be awesome), I hope there is something I can do. I know stress can make them worse but doing them can stress me out. And then I do this stupid jump thing which can be really hard to get "right".
And then if they get interrupted and I can't finish.... oh god.
There are now more little things than ever before in my life. They don't bother anyone else but they're annoying the crap out of me. I used to be able to deal with this thing I do with my tongue but it's so damn often... eye tics are getting much worse too.
Plus, people say that even after being medicated, it doesn't completely stop the tics, or maybe that's just for some people or if they don't have the exact right medication, I don't know.
My tics are not enjoyable. so I'm going to try and get a diangosis and medication soon. But in the mean time, and if it doesn't suppress them completely/enough (although any pretty much amount of suppression would be awesome), I hope there is something I can do. I know stress can make them worse but doing them can stress me out. And then I do this stupid jump thing which can be really hard to get "right".
And then if they get interrupted and I can't finish.... oh god.
There are now more little things than ever before in my life. They don't bother anyone else but they're annoying the crap out of me. I used to be able to deal with this thing I do with my tongue but it's so damn often... eye tics are getting much worse too.
When did you first notice your tics? I thought Tourette's usually begins in childhood.
Why do you have to do your tics correctly? Are you sure it isn't OCD?
Plus, people say that even after being medicated, it doesn't completely stop the tics, or maybe that's just for some people or if they don't have the exact right medication, I don't know.
My tics are not enjoyable. so I'm going to try and get a diangosis and medication soon. But in the mean time, and if it doesn't suppress them completely/enough (although any pretty much amount of suppression would be awesome), I hope there is something I can do. I know stress can make them worse but doing them can stress me out. And then I do this stupid jump thing which can be really hard to get "right".
And then if they get interrupted and I can't finish.... oh god.
There are now more little things than ever before in my life. They don't bother anyone else but they're annoying the crap out of me. I used to be able to deal with this thing I do with my tongue but it's so damn often... eye tics are getting much worse too.
When did you first notice your tics? I thought Tourette's usually begins in childhood.
Why do you have to do your tics correctly? Are you sure it isn't OCD?
Tourette's is VERY rare to start in adulthood. (Almost all cases of it have later had evidence suggesting it had started earlier discovered later on.) However, you do give a very good description of Tourettic OCD, which most people with TS have.
My tics annoy the crap out of me, and often hurt. (Snapping your fingers once, ok. 50 times a minute for hours every day for a week. Not so much.) They've calmed down though lately. Now It's mostly OCD and TOCD stuff.
_________________
Severe Tourette's With OCD Features.
Reconsidering ASD, I might just be NVLD.
Plus, people say that even after being medicated, it doesn't completely stop the tics, or maybe that's just for some people or if they don't have the exact right medication, I don't know.
My tics are not enjoyable. so I'm going to try and get a diangosis and medication soon. But in the mean time, and if it doesn't suppress them completely/enough (although any pretty much amount of suppression would be awesome), I hope there is something I can do. I know stress can make them worse but doing them can stress me out. And then I do this stupid jump thing which can be really hard to get "right".
And then if they get interrupted and I can't finish.... oh god.
There are now more little things than ever before in my life. They don't bother anyone else but they're annoying the crap out of me. I used to be able to deal with this thing I do with my tongue but it's so damn often... eye tics are getting much worse too.
When did you first notice your tics? I thought Tourette's usually begins in childhood.
Why do you have to do your tics correctly? Are you sure it isn't OCD?
This hasn't just started recently, it's been around for about as long as I can remember. The earliest thing I can remember doing is having to touch things, repeatedly, until I got it right. Others have come and gone but that ones always remained. I actually put a whole in my bedroom wall once when I was a teenager because I kept having to hit the same spot at a certain force, it happened over several months. There was a short but really loud noise I'd have to do and that too usually went on until I got it "right".
I've read and heard that people with tourettes (sometimes?) have to do the tics until they feel they are right but haven't found anything like that to do with OCD. I was just looking up OCD and that doesn't sound like me.
Plus, people say that even after being medicated, it doesn't completely stop the tics, or maybe that's just for some people or if they don't have the exact right medication, I don't know.
My tics are not enjoyable. so I'm going to try and get a diangosis and medication soon. But in the mean time, and if it doesn't suppress them completely/enough (although any pretty much amount of suppression would be awesome), I hope there is something I can do. I know stress can make them worse but doing them can stress me out. And then I do this stupid jump thing which can be really hard to get "right".
And then if they get interrupted and I can't finish.... oh god.
There are now more little things than ever before in my life. They don't bother anyone else but they're annoying the crap out of me. I used to be able to deal with this thing I do with my tongue but it's so damn often... eye tics are getting much worse too.
When did you first notice your tics? I thought Tourette's usually begins in childhood.
Why do you have to do your tics correctly? Are you sure it isn't OCD?
This hasn't just started recently, it's been around for about as long as I can remember. The earliest thing I can remember doing is having to touch things, repeatedly, until I got it right. Others have come and gone but that ones always remained. I actually put a whole in my bedroom wall once when I was a teenager because I kept having to hit the same spot at a certain force, it happened over several months. There was a short but really loud noise I'd have to do and that too usually went on until I got it "right".
I've read and heard that people with tourettes (sometimes?) have to do the tics until they feel they are right but haven't found anything like that to do with OCD. I was just looking up OCD and that doesn't sound like me.
Having to touch things doesn't sound like a tic to me.
Plus, people say that even after being medicated, it doesn't completely stop the tics, or maybe that's just for some people or if they don't have the exact right medication, I don't know.
My tics are not enjoyable. so I'm going to try and get a diangosis and medication soon. But in the mean time, and if it doesn't suppress them completely/enough (although any pretty much amount of suppression would be awesome), I hope there is something I can do. I know stress can make them worse but doing them can stress me out. And then I do this stupid jump thing which can be really hard to get "right".
And then if they get interrupted and I can't finish.... oh god.
There are now more little things than ever before in my life. They don't bother anyone else but they're annoying the crap out of me. I used to be able to deal with this thing I do with my tongue but it's so damn often... eye tics are getting much worse too.
When did you first notice your tics? I thought Tourette's usually begins in childhood.
Why do you have to do your tics correctly? Are you sure it isn't OCD?
This hasn't just started recently, it's been around for about as long as I can remember. The earliest thing I can remember doing is having to touch things, repeatedly, until I got it right. Others have come and gone but that ones always remained. I actually put a whole in my bedroom wall once when I was a teenager because I kept having to hit the same spot at a certain force, it happened over several months. There was a short but really loud noise I'd have to do and that too usually went on until I got it "right".
I've read and heard that people with tourettes (sometimes?) have to do the tics until they feel they are right but haven't found anything like that to do with OCD. I was just looking up OCD and that doesn't sound like me.
Having to touch things doesn't sound like a tic to me.
It is, I've looked it up. It's commonly described as one of the possible tics for people with Tourettes.
"A complex tic involves a coordinated movement produced by a number of muscle groups (complex motor tic) or a linguistically meaningful utterance or phrase (complex vocal tic). As examples, complex motor tics can involve touching objects or other people, jumping up and down, spinning around, or even more complex motor sequences such as imitating someone else’s actions (echopraxia) or exhibiting inappropriate or taboo gestures or behaviors (copropraxia). Complex vocal tics may involve having to repeat one phrase over and over, whether it is something one heard (echolalia) or one’s own last words (palilalia)."
- Source
Most of that describes me perfectly, for the touching side of things anyway.
I'm an adult with Tourette's (yes, it began in childhood), and I recently started taking Tenex for it. It's actually a blood pressure medication, but it works on tics, too, and has the fewest side effects. At first, it worked pretty well. I still made my tics, but the urge to complete them wasn't quite so strong. It was nice. Within the last few weeks, however, it seems to have stopped working as well and I am back to where it was before the medication. I will be seeing my psychiatrist soon to see if I just need a dosage change, or whether a different medication would be more appropriate. Because the medication did seem to work at first, I am not giving up hope just because its efficacy seems to have waned; it is also possible that some subconscious stress has caused an increase in my tics that medication can't quite handle in this form/dosage.
I am 34, and have lived most of my life with Tourette's and no medication. My decision to begin medication recently was spurred by my career--I'm an adult education teacher (which means most of the classes I teach are based on independent study), but I recently began teaching traditional classes within adult ed...which means I'm now on display in a teacher-directed classroom (for four hours at a time!) Although I did tell my students (high school age, not really adults) about my condition, the tics are still bothersome to me. They were very gracious (teenagers can surprise you!) and never once gave me grief over it. I completely understand that Tourette's breaking point where something needs to be done. Aside from being emotionally exhausting, they can also be physically exhausting; I get headaches and occasionally feel unsafe driving due to my blinking and eyerolling.
TL;DR Try taking some medicine if it's bothering you that much.
The thing that sucks about this is, I can't. I need the same help. I'm twitching, blurting out words, or blinking soooooo much.
I heard you get more control with it when you're older. Guess I'll wait until then...
_________________
Shedding your shell can be hard.
Diagnosed Level 1 autism, Tourettes + ADHD + OCD age 9, recovering Borderline personality disorder (age 16)
I heard you get more control with it when you're older. Guess I'll wait until then...
That's what they say, anyway....for me, the tics have remained. Sorry.

I mostly use controled breathing exercises, such as is used in yoga, to manage my vocal tics. That, and as a nutritional supplement, I take GABA.
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