Have you ever witnessed a child causing a scene by making unusual sounds or shouting offensive words? If so, you may have brushed it off as a tantrum – or worse, the result of poor parenting skills. Something that may not have crossed your mind was the possibility that the child was displaying early signs of Tourette’s syndrome.
Roughly 200,000 Americans suffer from full-blown Tourette’s syndrome, though more people have a milder form of the disease. Characterized by repetitive movements and vocal outbursts that can’t be controlled, the most severe cases of Tourette’s syndrome can be embarrassing at best and socially crippling at worst.
What is Tourette’s syndrome?
Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological disorder that causes the people who have it to make sudden, uncontrollable movements or sounds. For example, someone with Tourette’s syndrome may blink their eyes repeatedly, shrug their shoulders, jerk their head or blurt out words they don’t intend to say. These symptoms typically show up early in life, between the ages of 2 and 15, with the average being 6 years old. While both males and females can develop Tourette’s syndrome, males are three to four times more likely to do so.
Tourette’s syndrome symptoms
The main symptom of Tourette’s syndrome is tics. Some are so mild they’re practically unnoticeable, while others happen often and are obvious. Tics often become more intense with excitement or anxiety and are better during calm, focused activities.
People with Tourette’s syndrome suffer from two different types of tics, motor and vocal. Both types of tics can be simple or complex.
- Simple motor tics are sudden, brief, repetitive movements that involve a limited number of muscle groups. These include:
- Arm or head jerking
- Eye blinking or rolling
- Making a face
- Mouth twitching or opening
- Tossing hair out of eyes
- Nose twitching
- Lip-licking
- Squinting
- Shoulder shrugging
- Complex motor tics are distinct, coordinated patterns of movements involving several muscle groups. These include:
- Mouth twitching combined with a head twist and a shoulder shrug
- Repetitive blinking combined with a head jerk
- Sniffing or touching objects
- Touching people
- Punching, poking, or jabbing
- Flapping arms
- Walking on tiptoes
- Smelling fingers
- Hopping or jumping up and down
- Spinning around in circles
- Simple vocal tics involve the expression of involuntary sounds, including:
- Snorting
- Throat-clearing
- Coughing
- Grunting
- Shouting
- Spitting
- Squeaking
- Humming
- Whistling
- Honking
- Laughing
- Complex vocal tics involve the expression of involuntary words and phrases, including:
- Repeating what someone else says
- Saying offensive swear words
- Repeating the same phrase over and over again
- Unusual changes in pitch or volume of voice
- Stuttering
- Making animal-like sounds
There is help
Although there is no cure for Tourette’s syndrome, treatment is available. If you or a loved one has shown symptoms of Tourette’s syndrome, seek the help of a medical professional. He or she can give you more information about the illness and tell you what treatment options are available for controlling your tics.
At Synergy Research Centers in San Diego, we continuously perform clinical research trials on a wide variety of psychiatric and medical conditions. If you are interested in participating in one of our studies, please fill out our enrollment form or contact us today.