Hi all, i am 28 and throughout my life i have had many tics, they seem to change every few years but some of them have remained consistent throughout my life. These include head banging (basically like slamming my head into a wall that wasn’t there) when i was younger, constantly doing a “hum” or a kind of throat clearing, scrunching my nose, and many different eye tics like focusing my eyes super hard for a few seconds or my eyes veering to the side as far as they will go, constantly pulling my eyelids up with my fingers. Its pretty clear to me i have some sort of issue however, what confuses me is that i do have control over all of these. They never happen without me being aware of it and actually doing it, which is what i always thought tourettes was. It is hard not to do them though, i will always get a overwhelming need to do some form of tic and my desire to do it will grow more and more until i cant take it and i give in then i will pretty much go through an entire minute of solely focusing on doing these things and somehow gaining relief from it once the urge is over. Then i can go a couple minutes and have to do it again and this process just goes on and on. The only thing that seems to have an affect on it is if i am so engaged in something that it consumes all of my focus and i will realise when i am done that i just went a half hour or some abnormally high amount of time without any tics even crossing my mind. I do plan on seeking medical disgnosis once i have a decent health insurance policy but for now im just curious what some of you think and how i compare to your experiences with tourettes. Sorry for the long post. Thank you!

If you took Pimozide at any point how many mg did you take a day?

had a bottle of soda yesterday and was reading the label and noticed it said caffeine was an ingredient, tics were extremely active, but not to an abnormal state so i thought it would be fine for me to have another bottle today...

had a bottle today about 3 hours ago and for the last hour my head has been swinging around like an excited horse waiting for a treat.. this was a very bad decision on my part XD

Okay, I've been having sudden head, jaw, eye, and finger jerks for a while, sometimes I have a very twitchy eye as if I'm annoyed when I'm not, sometimes my jaw jerks to the side which hurts, and other times my head tilts to one side a bit in a very quick motion, it's doing that to my side as I type this, I don't enjoy it. Earlier, I said to my brother, "You smell" As an impulsive speech, half the time I have memory problems, sudden jerks especially at night when I'm most active. I've tried AI, I've tried asking people but never got a response back from them, I've tried doing tests(78% for one of the tests and 47% for the other test, they weren't accurate due to lack of knowledge in Tourette's Syndrome) I REALLY need help, I'm confused by all the things that's happening.

Almost 4 weeks ago my son who is 5 started a light cough/throat clear noise. The first 2 weeks it was intermittent but worse at night. Now the past 2 weeks it’s CONSTANT all day long except when he goes to sleep. The only time it’s a lot less is when he’s heavily playing like running around. I’m really concerned about this. I’m worried this is going to last a long time or forever. I’m worried it’s going to turn into more tics. I’m worried his peers will start making fun of him. I wish this was something I could help him with it’s so hard to have to sit back and be told nothing can help. At first I asked why he does it and he told me it feels like salvia is coming up his throat and he also said it tickles.

Over the past year or so, I've had many motor and vocal tics, getting generally worse by the month. I have General Anxiety and Depression issues, and my Father (46m) keeps insisting that I just need to stop it and I can control it. He is a Neurologist and a Narcissist. Am I crazy?

I have had Tourette syndrome for years (diagnosed at ~8y/o) and they got better as I aged. I am now 24 and they suddenly are getting worse. I also have stomach issues and went on the low FODMAP diet several weeks ago… the timing of my tics worsening lines up with this diet (started getting worse after about a month on the diet). I have been eating healthier (less sugar and little to no processed foods) but I have been eating less calories. Does anyone have any idea why my tics may be getting worse? Do you think it could be the decrease in calories? I also cut out caffeine, but caffeine is supposed to make tics worse so that doesn’t seem like the issue. Any ideas/suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Ok, so I'm gonna start by clarifying that I've never been tested for Tourettes or anything and to be honest I don't think I have Tourettes but I've had tics (mostly physical ones) for the past 7 or so years that started when I was younger I've mentioned it to my doctors and they said to just try and ignore it so that's that. I have a lot of recent but not fresh scars on my arms and I've noticed that when I do get physical tics all of my scars on my arms tingle and sting. It's weird, almost like a small electric shock that travels down my arms and down my spine. My other scars don't get that but they also are older so that may be why. It doesn't happen every time I tic but when it's a larger one or like when it comes on stronger is when I really feel it. It's just weird, sometimes it kind of hurts but for the most part it just feels strange and is kind of annoying. I was just curious if anyone has this happen too because I've never heard anything about it.

tldr: my scars sting when I tic

I had a lady at work complain about my attitude at work because I kept rolling my eyes. It is one if my tics. Fortunately my supervisor know this. I cant help be wonder of she ever did complain to head office. I've been with the company nearly 20 years and they all know about it it.

Then there was the time a lady on the bus moved away from me because I was ticking. Although she actually did me a favour, and I found it more funny than anything else.

Do you find your tics, if they use the other language sometimes, are better at the language than you? I feel like my tics are more confident than me and therefore don't stumble over my words 😭

Hi! so, i don’t have Tourettes, but i wasn’t sure where else to ask this question, as the internet didn’t have any answers for me.

For as long as i can remember, i’ve always gotten uncontrollable, quick, jerk-like movements whenever i get full/i eat too much food. I never thought too much about it, because no one in my life ever said anything about it, and never made it seem like a big deal when i asked/mentioned it. Both me and my younger brother do this whenever we eat too much. Recently, another one of my siblings approached while me and my younger brother were talking about our “Full Shakes” as we call them; my other sibling looked at us like we were crazy, and said we must force ourselves to eat past our limit, because that’s never happened to him. Now this has me curious, i tried doing research online, but didn’t have any luck. And as far as i know, none of my other siblings “suffer” from this. I’m confused because, while i didn’t think this was “normal” i figured i would at least be able to find answers on the internet if it ever came up. I have adhd and suspected autism if that helps explain anything, though i don’t think these “tics” would have anything to do with those things. I don’t have tourettes, i know that for certain, however i do have a few anxious tics that occur when i’m under high amounts of stress, though i still don’t understand how eating food would correlate with that??

Does anyone else experience these “Full Shakes”?? Ever discussed them with a professional or doctor? I would really appreciate any info or advice you could give me! Thanks! 🫶🫶

kind of a rant??

ever since my brother and step dad made fun or made comments about my tics ive always been scared a tic happening while near them because im scared they are gonna say something mean, my mom is fine and defends me but its like eugghhhh. im genuinely kind of scared to tic in public (like at school for example) because im scared someones going to make fun of me or something.

any way i can overcome feeling insecure about my tics???

Hello, just wanted to preface this by saying that I'm not diagnosed with tourettes. r/tics seems to be inactive. I have autism, so my psychiatrist told me it's "an autism tic thing". I have PTSD and GAD, so my psychiatric nurse told me it's "a stress tic thing". My psychiatric therapist told me "you can just randomly have tics". At this point, I'm kinda sick of it, and I don't care what 'disorder' is causing this. I was hoping I'd find people here who've had similar experiences. If this isn't appropriate to post here, my apologies.

I've (apparently) been having tics since I was a child, and only found out 4 years ago (30 now), when I started working with the aforementioned health care professionals. The only things I know about tics is them telling me "what you're doing is a tic", and "stress worsens it". I've been lucky to (mostly) be able to hide it, other than some facial & hand movements that would get me some weird looks, and some kind of seal-suck-scrape-screech throat combo, which sandpapered my throat and left me with a bunch of polyps on my vocal cords (no point in removing them; they've been there since i was a kid, I'm still abusing my throat, and I can speak at an audible volume again. And the hoarseness sounds kinda nice. Trying to stay positive lol).

In February, I started doing another thing with my throat (close mouth-tense up throat-push air out-scrape and gurgle throat, if that makes any sense...). Doesn't really hurt much, but makes noise. I had already been doing something with my chin/neck and hand/wrist. Some stressful stuff happened around the same time, and I had to start taking pregabalin for anxiety. They increased the dose, and at my highest dose (wasn't even that high), the neck and wrist tics became less subtle, and the throat thing was, not exaggerating, once per second, non-stop. I'd always get a headache after an hour or so for some reason.

I would have to just sit, fully focus on breathing and ignoring the pressure in my throat, and count how many seconds I could go without doing it, in the hopes that with enough practice I would be able to increase that time inbetween. I'd last max 2 minutes, and then I'd just start violently going 'throat thing-push chin in the air-fold neck and head as far back as possible-keep pulsing my head up and down while tensing up the muscles in the back of my neck as hard as I can until it 'feels/hurts the right way'-back to throat thing', and just do that until that urge lessens and then go back to the throat thing once per second. I'd have to stuff 2 fingers in my mouth, lightly push the bottoms of my fingers against my upper teeth, and use my fingertips to push my tongue down, so I would be able to fall asleep.

I took pregabalin for 6 months. Luckily it dulled any and all emotion, which probably helped keep me sane. As soon as I lowered my dose, my tics became less frequent. Once I stopped completely, my tics were back to 'normal'. I still need anxiety meds, I'm physically unable to drive or use public transport without it. So I started taking Victan. And once again, my throat is going wild. Now it's in these 30 second bursts, and then maybe a 2 minute rest. I've been taking Wellbutrin the whole time, and that didn't change my tics. Only fast-acting anxiety meds (Xanax and lorazepam) can lessen the frequency of the tics a bit, for about 3 hours.

I assumed that anxiety would worsen tics. So when I started taking anxiety meds, I didn't necessarily expect it to reduce my tics, but I certainly didn't expect it to make it so much worse. Does anyone have a similar experience, or taken these (types of) medications before? (I've asked the people I work with a while ago - they didn't know why it had this effect either, & psychiatrist said "I'll have to brush up on my knowledge of tics first")

TL;DR: Tried 2 different anxiety meds (not for the purpose of decreasing tics) - both decreased anxiety, but severely increased tics. Expected that tics would lessen or at least not increase when anxiety decreases. Confused and losing sanity.

My daughter just turned one less than a week ago and she does this shoulder raising thing and strains her eyes I believe is a tic and her doctor also thinks she has a tic. Time and time she does a blank stare so her doctor recommended her to a neurologist to make sure she’s not having any sorts of seizures.

How did you or loved one get diagnosed with Tics/tourettes?

Do tics turn into Tourette’s?

Also I feel like it’s becoming more frequent as the days go by, doesn’t stop her daily activities but I realize it happens when she’s either first waking up or getting sleepy for bed.

Help pls!!! 🥺

I just wanted to come on here and say that the Clonidine patch has worked wonders for me. It is mostly for my vocal tics. Botox helps control the motor tics but my vocal tics (mild I just grunt and make this weird noise I can’t explain but I do it all the time) and I’ve noticed it helps A ton I can’t even remember doing it this week!! So if you haven’t tried the patch definitely look into it!

I'm currently in the process of getting a diagnosis, I had tics for 3 years, my neurologist said that it is most likely Tourett's, but I still have to get a few tests to be 100% sure it's not something else.

The doctor told me I should try this medication, and that it works for around 20% of people. I honestly don't really want meds, because my tics are pretty mild most of the time, they only get bad when I don't get enough sleep or I'm very stressed and the potential side effects do not seem like they are worth it.

I am supposed to start with a small dose and increase it if it doesn't works and if the big dose doesn't works either then I can stop taking it.

One of the side effects is literally involuntary movements and the medicine instruction says that I'm supposed to stop taking it or lover the dose, if this side effect appears, but how am I supposed to tell the difference between the dose being too low and me just having tics or the dose being too high and causing tic like symptoms?

The instruction also says people who have weird spots or rashes on their skin with unknown origin should not take it, and I have been having some random rashes for a while now so I'm not even sure if I'm allowed to take this. It also says be cautious taking it if you have bronchial asthma, which I had as a kid and while I mostly grew out of it my lungs are still very sensitive to infections, I literally have bronchitis right now.

I’m trying to gather medical evidence of my tics. I was prescribed Haloperidol a year ago by my neurologist and to be honest i never took them. I’m not usually too suspicious about prescriptions but I had only spoke to the neurologist over the phone with about 2 40 second phone calls he never saw me in person or explained to me why i have tics. In one of the phone calls I heard him chuckle at my symptoms over the phone. And the side effects of haloperidol seemed extreme compared what I am suffering from. Has anyone else experienced treatment like this?

So I’ve only recently just realised that the reason I act the way I do is because I most likely have Tourettes. And by recently, I mean tonight.

I’ve felt so fucking guilty for years about acting the way I do that I isolate myself constantly in order not to be a bother to anyone due to what I think is called vocal tics? (correct me if I’m wrong please). I’m constantly sniffling, clearing my throat and just being obnoxiously loud to anyone around me.

It just sucks, I don’t want to do the things I do. I just want to be normal; to be able to watch a movie with my family and not constantly tic. It’s genuinely so depressing, everyone tells me to stop and I want to stop so fucking bad, but I just can’t. I try holding it in and it doesn’t work, I do it once to see if it would “get out of my system” but it never does.

I feel like a worthless human who is such a pain to be around. It constantly feels like everyone is judging me for my tics, I just want to be able to control my brain, but I never can and the pressure/urge builds up and I have to do it for a release.

It feels like I’m stuck in a prison of my own mind where I have to carry out tasks that I don’t want to. It hurts being this abnormal, seeing everyone around me function without an ounce of effort while I’m constantly trying not to be a bother.

I don’t know what to do anymore, I feel guilty about everything. My family finds me annoying, my classmates find me annoying, I just don’t want to exist like this anymore.

I’m sorry if this is just a nothing post, but I just feel worthless and that Tourettes is going to affect my future so much and life is going to be miserable.

Sorry for ranting.

I really don't know much about it, kind of crash coursing because one of my kids' friends moved in with us due to an unhealthy mental environment and has it. He got the symptoms or whatever around 7 or 8 and his dad also has it, but was beat until the tics stopped. He's 18 now. Lately the tics never been intensified, and he's in a lot of pain. Depressed as well, had tried to commit suicide a few times in the past and his mom won't give him his social security card, or birth certificate to even be able to get a job. He feels useless. He's got right in to my family like he's always belonged here I just want to make sure we are doing everything we can to benefit him. Is there any way you might be interested in maybe talking to him? Maybe connecting with someone older and had experience feeling with it would help him. Do the tics ever stop? Or is that something that will have to be managed forever and do you drive? He is obsessed with cars and wants to do something in mechanics or something as a profession. His mom never him drive, I feel like with what I've experienced is that him become something to do and a purpose seems to help a little, I've let him drive a little as I have two other kids in driver's training, obviously on back roads and slow or whatever but he does pretty well.

Hi, so for some context, I was diagnosed with Tourettes two years ago, symptoms for longer and it fluctuates in severity. Recently, it's actually been a lot better...except for at night. At night, my tics act up so much that I have to take a prescribed sedative to fall asleep. They keep me up and are just so severe. I could have maybe less than 5 tics all day and then at night, it feels like my body isn't my own. I can't find anywhere that talks about tics increasing at night so maybe it's just me? I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this or has thoughts? Thanks

I'd say like 90% of the time I have pretty simple motor and vocal tics but I have this super bizarre tic thing? that drives me absolutely crazy.

Description: >! I sort of tighten all the muscles in my core and arms and will slightly shake, and if I'm near enough something I will repeatedly hit it in the shaking. Sometimes my eyes will roll up in my head also and my eyelids will rapidly flutter. !< it only lasts maybe like 12 seconds but it's really awful. I can't even speak while it happens and it hurts.

Has anyone else had something similar? I don't even know to describe it besides it being some kind of complex tic. It scares other people sometimes and I don't know how to calm them.

I am taking aripiprazole for tics and last time I was on it, I felt extreme fatigue after a few weeks. It did eliminate some of the urges at first though. It also made me extremely hungry all the time. What can I do to not experience these side effects? I am taking it at 2 mg right now. I am quite petite. Should I try to gain weight before going on this medication since it seems like my body cannot handle it?

cw: description of my tics

when i was in the fifth grade, i had this cough for months and nothing would solve it. we went through antibiotics, different cough meds, cold meds, tested but nothing seemed to change it.

my body mitigated the loudness of my cough by instead ‘huffing’ instead of a cough, and ive had that huffing action ever since. i got diagnosed with asthma when i started huffing, but my inhaler didn’t change a thing.

sophomore year my dad brought it up to my doctor and he commented that it just seemed to be a habitual tic. he recommended a doctor, dad said he’d visit, but we still never have. im almost 18 now and i still have that same huffing pattern i developed when i was only 11-12.

however, my huffing pattern has become more prevalent in the past few months. it got bad at the camp i was at (i was sick) cooled down for a few months, then around mid September people started asking more abt it and it couldn’t stop. everytime someone brings it up my tics go from happening like less than 10 times per min to constantly doing it ALLLL the time and it drives me nuts bc then my mind keeps saying ‘not to focus on it’ but it’s all i can focus on.

its gotten worse at home as well, mainly because my mom keeps trying to give me solutions which infuriates me because she’s been there for half a decade watching me go through this. she blames me for my tics and I can’t help but feel so angry because i get literally no benefit from huffing and coughing all the time. she hears me in my room doing it and when she mentions it all it does is make it worse because now i realize im doing it, forcing me to think about it. its just all so infuriating because the one solution i maybe could do was dropped sophomore yr since we never visited the doctor dealing with tics, and all the pills, antibiotics, drinking an abundant amount of water, going through different types of inhalers, swimming (maybe bc it was a lung problem?) and psychological methods to trick my brain into stopping my tics HAVE NOT MADE A DENT. and my mom keeps trying to give me advice as if she wasn’t there, watching me take tons of diff meds to deal with it, believing that maybe a sip of water would stop it all??

my tics are annoying but the most infuriating part is people trying to solve it

Used have some jerks and stuff

Now all I feel is the compulsion feeling it such a bad feeling. It's like I want finish the feeling it's so annoying. I hate it. I have trigeminal Neuralgia and possibly linked.

I have a lot of thoughts about my Tourette’s as I am late diagnosed and I only started figuring things out a couple years ago. I don’t have many places to share these thoughts – especially deep explorations – since topics in a natural conversation often change quickly. So I figured that I might as well write about the thoughts and feelings that come with having a tic disorder and share them here.

Something that is on my mind a lot is the illusion of control with my tics – something that kept me from realizing there might be a problem. Tics are suppressible. Just how much and for how long is extremely personal and variable. I am on the far end on the spectrum of the ability to suppress – I can do it for hours if I genuinely am afraid to tic. I suspect this is the result of not having any answers when I was younger, and assuming my behavior was intentional. If I am performing an action, then surely I can stop it. So stop it I did, no matter how much it cost me. (This is a simplification. Suppression is a lot of trial and error. There are so many variables to control. So many triggers, states, sensations. It is an extreme and cruel version of self-control. Self-deprivation. Self-hatred. For me, it cannot be maintained without a deep sense of disgust with myself.)

A common question that people ask about Tourette’s is if we are afraid we might do something inappropriate or odd at an inopportune moment. This is a fear that never came up for me before I realized I had tics. I viewed my behaviors as my own. Therefore: how could I ever be afraid?

This illusion of control also chipped away at my self-esteem. I had no explanation and with nothing to blame, I could only blame myself. I did things I didn’t understand, but I could clearly see that I did them, so there had to be something wrong with me, with my intentions, with my thoughts, with my attitude, with how I felt, with how I reacted… with how I thought I overreacted. I thought my tics were behaviors evoked by myself and the environment. People don’t process things the same way I do. They don’t need to squeak, they don’t have to move, they don’t need to jump, they don’t have to utter absurd words and phrases and then be asked – why?

I didn’t know. And I didn’t know I could not control it.

When I was a child, I blinked repeatedly. I didn’t know why, and with my untethered fantasy, I satisfied my curiosity by imagining that I was taking pictures with my eyes. I curled my feet and gave myself cramps. “I should never do that again!” But I did, and I didn’t know why. Then I also started meowing, but I love cats, so that was enough of an explanation! I clicked my tongue until it hurt. “I am bored, that must be why!”

When I was a teen, I looked in the mirror and replicated the way I moved my face, to see what that looked like. I scrunched my nose and wondered if people thought I was disgusted. I raised my eyebrows and saw lines creep up on my forehead. “I should stop doing that, I will get wrinkles.” A few months passed; I realized I didn’t stop. I wondered why.

I had a close friend in middle school. Sometimes I said things I didn’t mean, things I wasn’t thinking of. Sometimes I revealed thoughts I didn’t want to share so explicitly. “I should just control myself better.”

Over time, I started to observe that I did these strange things more often when I was satisfied, happy, at peace. I finally identified my enemy! And with a diagnosed case of clinical depression, I was equipped with the right neurochemistry and well on my way to fight this enemy. Happy music had to go. Fun activities had to go. Talking about exciting subjects had to go. Expressing myself had to go.

This compulsion to make myself miserable was noticed by others, questioned, and despised, but I didn’t fully understand why I hated myself so much. At the time, I didn’t have the insight I have now. I just knew that everything good about me had to go, because the good parts of me caused whimsical actions and unintended sounds and words to flow out of my body. And I didn’t want to be that person. I wanted control.

The illusion of control can truly take one to dark places. I had made a lot of wrong assumptions. I didn’t have an answer – so I punished myself.

This is quite a dark ending, but I will write another entry about how I overcame this. Learning that I had a tic disorder was the first step. A strange realization to make as an adult.

I might also write another entry about the specifics of suppression. About how it feels and its effects, because it isn’t talked about a lot. I don’t see many people who can suppress for a long time describing how far-reaching the consequences are. Maybe I am alone? But I doubt it. And I must admit, it is difficult to recognize how it affects your life when it’s the only thing you’ve known. I also think that suppression is a subject we avoid because it gives people who don’t have tic disorders the wrong idea – that we can just stop the tics.

Feel free to share your stories below. It would be lovely to read.

I have a neck tic that happens pretty often, besides sleeping, or when I’m anxious it happens. Where I feel pressure and having to feel like I need to crack my neck, or move it around, should I be concerned about anything happening to me?

Stress of uni work is really getting to me and my tics have been worse than usual. I’m going through the process of getting more support for my tic disorder after speaking to my counsellor . I know all unis have different things they offer. Im just wondering if there are any students who receive support from their university and what it is and how it helps them. I always find the process of receiving help stressful (meeting w people can make me really anxious and things like this take awhile) and I’m just interested if any support people have received has been positive to them to try and get my hopes up :)

I want to meet with some people with tics, maybe even set up a group hangout/event!

So for reference, I'm a college student. I have accommodations for my tourettes, but this is something I've never had to deal with before. I have this new tic that is incredibly offensive. Don't get me wrong, I have some offensive tics, but I've never had anything this bad. Basically I say "Hail Hitler" and do the salute thing. It's incredibly embarrassing, and I'm afraid I'll get in trouble. I've been avoiding working and going to classes because I don't want to get in trouble or offend anybody. But I can't hide in my dorm room forever. What would you guys do?