I think I have broken a record today! Today I told 3 people who I'm not really close to about my Tourette's. I'm really getting good at this telling other people in the spur of the moment thing. This will be very good practice for college! The first time today was in physics class and we were doing a lab. I was paired with Ohio Gal, who is one of my friends who already knows I have TS, and two other kids from my class who I don't really know all too well. While we were doing the lab I did a vocal tic (the one that most people think is a high pitched sneeze of sorts) and the girl sitting next to me said "What was that? Was that a sneeze?" I quickly responded that "No it was not a sneeze" and that "It's a vocal tic. Tourettes" and they both said "okay" and went back to work! A quick encounter, but none the less a very important one because next time I tic during a lab they will know what's going on. So that's two. Then after lunch I was hanging out with Pessimistic Friend and a girl from my math class. It was unavoidable that I was going to do a vocal tic at some point because they always get bad in the afternoon. So when I did a vocal tic I was prepared for the "Bless you...Wait was that a sneeze?" and responded with my typical "Actually its a vocal tic. Tourettes". This time since the girl knows me and is in a class with me she gave a bit of an "Ohhh. I see, so that's why you keep doing it in math class and we can never figure out if you're sneezing or not!" then she said that she wouldn't say bless you next time because she knows now. When she left, Pessimistic Friend, who of course knows I have TS, tried to imitate my "eeekkk" vocal tic that people can confuse for a sneeze and said she would probably rate that one at a 4 usually but sometimes a louder 6 on a scale of 1 to 10.
After school I went to rowing and it was FREEZING COLD and RAINING! But we STILL WENT OUT! CRAZYNESS! I was freezing and as a coxswain I was sitting in about an inch of water since I was coxing a 4 person boat and sitting at the bottom of it. By the end I was completely soaked and freezing and my tics were WAY acting up. The cold always seems to make my tics so much worse. Luckily I fit right in with all the other wriggling girls who were trying to warm themselves up by jumping and shaking their arms. Once I got in the car though with Freshman Buddy my head thrashing tics really started to act up. I basically tighten my neck and throw my head forward as hard and fast as possible. It's not a whole lot of fun and my neck is now killing me. In addition the other two tics that I hate were acting up as well, my chest thumping and stomach punching tics. Those ones really hurt and its kinda hard knowing that i'm the one whose hitting myself in the chest and stomach and yet I can't stop. I was chest thumping and stomach punching and head thrashing all the way home in the car. I HATE THE COLD! Luckily Freshman Buddy was there, and noticing how badly I was ticcing, tried to distract me by talking with me about rowing and the Regatta coming up. Now that i'm home and have changed clothes into something less wet my tics have calmed down quite a bit but I'm still super nervous about the bus ride to the Regatta. Only one day left before I have to leave. I probably won't post on Friday or Saturday because I'll be at the Regatta but I will surely make a post when I get back on Sunday to tell you all how it went. Hopefully things will go alright :)
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