So I've (25F) not been diagnosed but I'm starting to put the pieces together. My tics include vocal and physical tics (wincing, nose wrinkling, smirking) and I have some where I repeat certain phrases. They are involuntary but it never occurred to me until recently that these could be tics, but I've had these forever.

I'm feeling isolated and ashamed. I don't really have anyone to talk to about this who understands. It's affecting me, as I end up swearing and repeating phrases at work, so I'm anxious about getting in trouble. I feel extremely overwhelmed and lonely rn.

trying to look in the description of the group and somewhat new to reddit so sorry if it’s a silly question but how are people getting it next to their name ?

Sorry for the long post:

My daughter has dealt with tics since she was 4. She has a super compliant 'people pleasing' personality, and is gifted, and because of this I think no one saw any issues except me, until recently. I've always been told there’s no cause for concern because she's excelling, or she's a class leader, or she's so smart..... but I don't think these are mutually exclusive things. I feel like saying "yes, she IS all of those things, but she's ALSO struggling at times".

We are finally now on a waiting list after I pushed and pushed, but it's 16 weeks, and her tics have gotten so frequent now.

Her tics are so bad right now that I’m worried she’ll do permanent damage to her joints. She twists/cracks her wrists about every 10-30 seconds. We got her some carpal tunnel wrist guards (she requested them saying it might help, and it has immensely as she can no longer twist them), but since that one is 'blocked' she’s started to crack her fingers, and her vocal tics have increased ("hmmm"ing bewteen words, throat clearing, etc). When she walks she periodically twists her ankles or toe taps after so it’s affecting her waking as well.

Her tics tend to change over time, but when one goes away it’s replaced with something else. We’ve had gasps, face stretching, mouse squeaks, pushing her nails into her palms so bad we needed to bandage them, shrugs, and on and on.

I have no idea how to support her. She said she wants help to stop, but I keep reading to ignore it, so I have no idea how to help her while not drawing too much attention to it at the same time. I also have no idea why in the last few weeks they’ve gotten so bad. We haven’t had any major changes or stressors. Is that just the nature of tics? Do hormones affect them? Is there anything else that seems to exacerbate it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I guess it's a 'how to address it, if you're not supposed to really address it' question for me. Does it sound like Tourettes? Anything we can do in the meantime while we're on the waitlist? Thank you so much for any help you can offer!

A month ago, my voice became very hoarse and strained. I went to an ENT doctor and she found no lumps, nodules or polyps. She did however noticed my left vocal cord was not closing properly and my vocal cord muscles were going under spasms. She was not what caused the spasms and requested an MRI and CT just in case there were tumors. After having a cranial MRI and CT scan, they found nothing. The possibilities that I either have dysphonia or some kind of vocal cord paralysis. However another possibility came to my mind.

*Tic descriptions incoming* I have various tics that mostly involve the left side of my body. For example I tense my left shoulder a lot, I contort my mouth to left causing my left neck muscles to tense and I sort of widen (?) my neck a lot. Right now I wonder if constantly ticcing like this for more than 10 years have caused my left vocal cord muscles to weaken and lose its function. I will mention these to my ENT when I we meet again but for the time being I'm curious if something like this happend to any of you.

A month ago, my voice became very hoarse and strained. I went to an ENT doctor and she found no lumps, nodules or polyps. She did however noticed my left vocal cord was not closing properly and my vocal cord muscles were going under spasms. She was not what caused the spasms and requested an MRI and CT just in case there were tumors. After having a cranial MRI and CT scan, they found nothing. The possibilities that I either have dysphonia or some kind of vocal cord paralysis. However another possibility came to my mind.

*Tic descriptions incoming* I have various tics that mostly involve the left side of my body. For example I tense my left shoulder a lot, I contort my mouth to left causing my left neck muscles to tense and I sort of widen (?) my neck a lot. Right now I wonder if constantly ticcing like this for more than 10 years have caused my left vocal cord muscles to weaken and lose its function. I will mention these to my ENT when I we meet again but for the time being I'm curious if something like this happend to any of you.

Hello! My name is Eden (21) (They/Them), nice to meet y'allz. My tics 1st appeared when I was 15 years old, as far as I am aware, and never left. Tomorrow, I will meet a neurologist for the 1st time. I do not know if I have Tourettes, I do not want to self diagnose, I am here to search for informations and support. (Also for the memes) I am nervous, part of me wants to get a diagnosis so I finally know why my life turned upside down 6 years ago and another part of me hopes it isn't Tourettes. If it isn't, maybe it will go away, you know? I don't know. Hopefully I'm not offending anyone? These are my feelings, I try not to be ashamed, I try to not care about other people but I am ashamed, I do care. It gets hard sometimes, that's all. I'm scared it will prevent me from having the job of my dreams. I know I'm not alone, so that's that at least! That's why I'm posting here! Ok, I'm rambling now. Thanks for reading!

so i was an edgy kid and like any other edgy 11 year old, i loved creepy pasta. i happened to come accross a creepypasta called ticci toby (you can probably tell where this is going) and i was like "haha i do that do, so funny" and then when i was talking with my friend about creepy pastas i mentioned ticci toby and at that moment, something clicked and i went
"holy shit"
and after i got home from school i went to my dad and said "i think i ahve tourettes" and he stared at me like i said somehting really weird and went "yeah? obviously"

i cant believe i realised i have a neurological disorder because of a creepypasta.... either i was a stupid child or just was used to living with them 😭
it felt like i had opened a third eye, like everything made sense lol

and whats even funnier is that i forgot about it (it was just small wrist movements, making a duck face, and shit like that so i got used to it and my brain was able to ignore it fully), and when it started to get worse at 15 it kinda clicked again like "oh wait i do have tourettes"

Hi, my name is sadie, I’m 17 I was diagnosed with Tourette’s at age 16 but I’ve had them since I was 10, sometimes especially when they are bad ( my tics) I sometimes feel ashamed or when I can’t hide them I start to get embarrassed and then feel ashamed, is this normal? Is it ok to be ashamed of something I can’t control? I think part of my shame is because my parents don’t actually believe my diagnosis. I was diagnosed by a psychiatrist

Mine are not involuntary but it’s like itching a scratch I can’t stop doing them and my neck hurts like crazy. I’ve had the same tic for years and it’s developed into more head tics and I can’t control it because it’s like having to flex a muscle every time especially if I feel anxious or working out or thinking about tics. I was wondering if anyone else experiences this. I also have OCD, Bipolar, and C-PTSD.

Hello all,

I was recently checking out my medical record and found evidence of a Tourettes diagnosis(?) from 10 years ago when I was 10. I don't remember a single thing about this at all, apparently it took place at a 3rd party Psychiatric Clinic and I don't have any huge tics that appear on the outside like the stereotypical presentations, I don't even think i fit the diagnosis but I have no idea.

Anyone got any ideas how it presents mildly? I have mild tics I think, that's about it.

Many thanks

I’m curious to people on this subreddit, who has connective tissue disorders and the severity of your tourette’s syndrome. I have loeys-dietz syndrome i inherited from my mom, and i inherited tourette’s from my dad (they thought their medical problems would cancel eachother out lmao). My brother inherited the tourette’s and it’s super mild for him, and didn’t inherit the LDS, I have both LDS and tourette’s syndrome and the tourette’s is very severe, it lead me to DBS surgery. it seems like at least a third of people I know with severe tourette’s syndrome have an accompanying connective tissue disorder but the same is not true in people i know with mild tourette’s. I’m wondering if the co-occurrence of the two has an effect on tic-severity. Does anyone know of anything published about this? I know connective tissue disorders are associated with tourette’s but i’m specifically curious about its effect of tic severity.

i was recently sick with some random infection that affected my sinus and kinda felt like the flu, and soon after, i fell and hit the back of my head pretty hard. since then, the couple of small tics ive had for months have gotten more frequent and ive developed multiple new ones. what should i do? idk if i can make a drs appointment anytime soon because of exams.

Ive always had like habits and stuff I do since I was a kid, Im 19 now and I’ve developed a tic where I look up and another one where I blink with one eye quickly, I can’t stop no matter how hard I try. Is it time to see a doctor ? It’s also causing me pain around my eye because I can’t stop doing it.

For context, I have been experiencing tic like symptoms for about 4 years now. They started around May of 2020 as simple eye tics, and have mutated to much worse ones like banging my head against things and slapping myself since then (I was 17 at the time). I had never experienced tics before this to my knowledge. My tics are not consistent and only usually tend to get worse when I’m tired, but a majority of the time I don’t experience them at all. I’ve had weeks where I would have hours long tics attacks that last over a few days, and months of nothing at all. I’ve had tics attacks that get so bad that my boyfriend has had to forcefully hold me in place in his arms so I don’t hurt myself or him. I don’t know exactly everything that triggers my tics. The only one that stays consistent is if I’m not getting enough sleep they will resurface. Some other things that have triggered them are repetitive movements/sounds, high pitched noises, seeing/hearing other people that have tics, any conversations that bring attention to tics, and sometimes cold environments.

The tics that I experience/have experienced in the past include eye twitching, side of lip curling/twitching upwards, head jerking backwards, turning my head to the side quickly, forceful blowing through my nose (sometimes making me unable to breathe for short periods of time), shaking my hand side to side, whistling, a humming noise that mimics a whistling noise but a lower pitch, banging my head against things, banging my hand on the desk in a fist, and slapping myself in the face.

I have brought up my tics to past therapists and doctors and no one has given me an answer or even tried to look for a cause. The only thing I’ve been told is “it could be your anxiety.” This is very frustrating and disheartening as I feel like I can’t get help for this problem I experience and effects many parts of my life. I believe that some of the doctors don’t believe me because my tics are not consistent and don’t affect me daily in some cases.

I’m asking here not to get a diagnosis, but to maybe get some advice on how to get help for this issue. If anyone has any advice, please let me know.

Other diagnosis’s that may be an effect: Dysthymia (Chronic depression), Generalized Anxiety Disorder, ADHD, Social Anxiety Disorder.

I’ve been having motor tics for a very long time but have just recently developed vocal tics, including a very aggressive F bomb.

I need support. I’ve been dealing with the motor tics for long enough but have no idea how to navigate vocal tics as they are so much more embarrassing.

I went to go see a symphony concert yesterday that I really wanted to hear, but once I got in the auditorium couldn’t shut tf up and had to leave. All I could do was cry.

Please help. I know it is involuntary but I need to know how I can accept that and accept myself.

I want to start this off by saying that i have no offical dignosis for Tourettes and im not asking for one on reddit. Hell, I dont even know for sure if thats whats happening to me, im still struggeling to get an apointment with a neroligist. what i do know for sure is that i have been ticking, specifficly agressivly jolting my head to my left and sometimes flairing my arms if big ones happen, sense i sophmore year of highschool (15/16) and they've only gotten worse over time.

Last i went to the Neroligist was when i saw 16, but they didnt do anything. Im autistic and have a history of epilepsy so when they concluded that my ticking had no correlation to my seizures they just wrote it off as "something some autsitics do" and sent me home. its been years and the ticking havent stoped or slowed down, i think they're actully getting worse. sorry for the long background report i just thought context could be important, now onto my main issue at hand.

im currently 21 and started working at a movie theater in march. its a solid job and some of the coworkers are nice for the most part, but i feel like im creeping most of them out with my ticking. whenever i tick at work i can feel people wathcing me threw the back of my head as if theyre viewing a murder happening. whenever i do it in front of the people at the concession stand i hear them laugh. wether its when i turn after after talking to them or from a distantance, i can feel it. i can hear it.

It makes me feel weird, like some kinda psychward paitent walking around in a straight jacket. my mom says that im probaly just uncomfortable with the ticking and everyone is just laughing about other stuff, but its every single time i tick. no one ever comments or asks about it and i assume most would view that as being polite, but it just makes me feel like im faking it or that nothing is actully happening. dose that even make sense? its just that if your gonna judge me, cause trust me they are, at least have the decentcy to do it to my face so i can feel less crazy with your abelism.

the only person to ever comment on it was my manager and it wasnt very kind. "why are you breaking your neck like that? is that some kinda weird intimidation techniques?". when i asked him what he meant by that he responded with "ya know like how inmates spaz n stuff like oOooooOoooOOooo im crazy". I told him that i think i have Tourettes and he kinda just ignored me and kept joking. I just ignored him cauise if we kept talking i wouldve saw red and screamed or soemthing. i havent really spoken to him outside of when needed for work purposes.

thats another thing ive noticed, the more and more I tick the more I start to get angry. im assuming its just me getting irratated from it happening constantly, but i dont like it. Ive already gone home twice due to the ticks, once out of embrassment and the other cause i think i was giving myself vertigo (i was super dizzy and felt like vomiting). I explained the Ticks and Virtigo to my other non abelist managers and they sent me to the brake room for a bit before going home and guess what? the only other coworker in the room kept giving me dirty judgmental looks! i know im not crazy with this and its making me feel awful, idk what to do.

Even if what im experincing isnt Tourettes, i know that its simialr / another Ticking disorder. my question for those of you who has gone threw this before and currently, how do you deal with the judgment? how do you handle it whenever people stare / laugh at you? should i just tell them off? should i change my jobs? if i do then whats stoping this from repeating? any advice would help! thank you and sorry for the long post.

I'm using text to speech so if you see any weird spellings or anything it's because of that because my left arm is stuck and the muscles are very tight.. I was wondering if anyone ever gets this where they have a certain tick or they have a tech attack and like because it hurts so bad their body just ends up being like you know just relax for a moment and then we're going to go back just spasming again. I got that every now and then and when I have to take a text my body is exhausted to the point it doesn't tick and then I don't have tics but they build up and then they start like blasting which is really annoying. And now I have this where it's like my arm is just stuck to my chest and it's just stuck I can't move it and it gets sometimes where I can like try and stretch it out to like relax the muscles or something and then the immediately slams back down or like the muscles tighten. Like I was able to try and stretch it out because it was starting to hurt my elbow like the joint there and then immediately set a spasming the moment I stretched out my arm and then it just slammed back into my chest which is really annoying. And I don't know what that's called so if anyone else has this please tell me what the f*** it is and if it's normal 💀

Sometimes it does it where it's like oh you can relax now and then it immediately tightens back up again and it's really really really really really uncomfortable so I hate it and I'll both of my arms are just talk about saying this and it hurts so bad but I can't do anything yay

Edit I'm having a tiny tic attack I am in pain help XD

So, my 14 y/o daughter has had tics for just over 2 years now. They seem to have dropped right off over the last couple of months but they appear to have been replaced by these onsets of Sensory Overload where she has to lie in a dark room with no lights and no sound (noise-cancelling headphones and an eyemask) until the episode has passed.

Can you offer any insight or advice, please?

I’ve had this pretty consistent tic with my thumb for about 4 years. I’ve been through CBIT in the past for mostly disruptive vocal tics that were more of a priority, but I honestly don’t have time to go through that again. The only issue is that this repeated motion with my right thumb is causing a lot of pain. The best way I can describe it is like a trigger finger feeling. My right thumb is double jointed, so it’s a quick repeated motion of flexing and stretching my thumb, creating a popping sensation. Not sure if that makes much sense… Anyway, does anyone have suggestions for a thumb brace that might ease the pain and perhaps minimize this specific tic? Or, if bracing might intensify things, what other options do I have?

this is hell. my tics are hurting me so bad. my skin is ripping and bleeding from how rough and sudden my tics are. even breathing requires so much effort since i have to use an insane amount of willpower to keep my tics from interrupting it or making me choke on my saliva, and suppressing them even for a little bit causes an extremely exhausting (physically and mentally) tic attack so i have to breathe like a f-king fish out of water most of the times. hell, even trying to drink or eat something is a choking hazard. i cant lay down, sit or stand for too long since my tics will find a way to make me accidently twist my ankle or wrist or pull a muscle. i can only get myself to sleep if i physically cannot stay awake anymore, so like every 2-3 days. my tics go away when i sleep and stay 'off' for about a minute after i wake up, so if i actually manage to go to sleep for once tonight i'll probably force myself to sleep for like 16 hours. but the nightmares (unrelated to tics) would make that impossible. why cant i be like a normal person? i hate this. im my own worst enemy. i fully understand and sympathize with my mom when she says that im just an exhausting and irritating, burden of a child, because of my tics or otherwise, i feel so bad for being like some dead weight to her. i bit and hit myself a few hours ago just in pure frustration of my current condition like some sort of child having a temper tantrum. why am i like this?

​

ps - this took too long to write for being just an incoherent jumble of complaints about my tics. i apologize in advance for any typos

Is it a bad thing to get diagnosed I’m scared I wont be hired or drive but also I want to believe myself

When I search for information about Tourette’s and emotional dysregulation, it seems the only thing that comes up is rage attacks. That explosive anger has been a part of me throughout my life for sure. Others have posted here about it. But am I the only one that seems to have difficulty processing emotion in other ways too? Like, if I am the focus of someone else’s anger, or involved in a fierce argument or fight, or I experience other strong emotions, I find it really hard to just let it go. I carry it and ruminate about it way too long for it to be normal. I sometimes hold onto these experiences for days, months, or years, even if the original cause of the emotion was resolved long ago. I have been learning that there is so much more to Tourette’s than just the tics. Is this yet another one of those “features” of our neurodiverse wiring? Or is it just me?

I’ve had tics on and off for about 3 years. I’ve never had a tic attack. There are moments where they’re pretty bad and I think I’m gonna have one but it’ll calm down before it gets too serious.

I’m not complaining of course, the times I think I’m about to have one are scary as hell. But ngl I get some impostor syndrome surrounding it. Do some people just not get them?

So I started developing tics when I was 13, but looking back I’m not sure if I had them in childhood.

I would frequently tense up my stomach, make a grunting noise, click the back of my throat, and squeak on the inhale. Thing is they were always fairly voluntary. If I didn’t do it it would feel weird, but I could easily ignore the weird sensation until it went away. I guess it felt like needing to stretch?

I was always very aware of these, but even after knowing what TS was, I never considered them tics. I didn’t really know what they were. I always called them habits.

Now that I have full on tics, it feels very different. Now it feels very involuntary and intense. Some of the things I did as a kid came back as tics.

The stomach tensing has been something I do to this day, and still doesn’t feel like my tics.

Ive been on haldol for over 4 years now for my touretts and psychosis but I've had an.. unsavory side effect that I want to reverse. My only concern is that I won't be able to find a medication that suppresses my tics and psychosis like haldol does. Has anyone who took haldol then switched found any beneficial medications that worked as strongly for them? I have a very severe case of touretts and it's very risky for me to be unmedicated without a wheelchair and constant supervision and am glad the haldol works so well for me but I just don't want to have my side effect anymore.

hello! im a 16 y/o that isnt diagnosed with anything but i HIGHLY suspect i have OCD and ADHD (i have done proper research) and as of lately, ive started developing some vocal and motor tics for some reason? the motor ones are mostly like jerking my head in different ways, and ive occasionally had ones where i shake my hands or where i hit myself. the vocal tics are mostly like small sound effects i guess?

the main concern is that i think ive had them for a while, but when i feel them coming on, i surpress them so that people dont think im weird. but lately ive been working on my confidence and ive stopped caring much about that so i havent held them in, and now i have them and im just confused. does anyone know what might be causing them? im gonna try to get an appt with my doctor but that might be months from now

My psychiatrist prescribed Topiramate for Tourettes and Bipolar 1 and I’ve been taking it less than a week but my brain has been completely disoriented. I had a panic attack in the middle of the night. I’m having trouble counting, like basic counting. Every emotion I’m feeling is a color and I struggling to eat because everything tastes like triangles and I know I sound crazy. Has anyone used this drug before?

I'm autistic and have adhd. As a child and teen I would stim and have mild tics but nothing crazy and doctors never diagnosed me with tourettes. Around my mid 20s and especially once I hit 30 I developed worsening tics where my head has to bob occasionally and when talking I uncontrollably sniff alot. I was officially diagnosed with tourettes last year. My medication history is I took adhd meds as a kid and teen and stopped as an adult and restarted adhd meds last year at 33. I thought tourettes was something you got diagnosed with as a kid and that it's symptoms improved with age. Also on a side note my life's a wreck without adhd meds and so far a stimulant called vyvanse has been the best and non stimulants haven't worked and I'm afraid they may worsen my tics. Anyone have thoughts or advice on this?

I’ve found recently I’m getting a strong premonitory urge that leads to nowhere. I have no clue what the tic actually is, or what my brain needs itched, so I just deal with the discomfort of feeling the need to do… something? To fulfill the urge but nothing really solves it or makes the feeling go away. Anyone else experience anything similar? I’m consistently amazed by this damn syndrome. And I’m so very tired lol.