I love my friends!

One of my friends asked me what the blue tape on my fingers was about and when I told him he was great about it! He asked me some questions and since he is one of my close friends he knows I don't mind talking about it. A few minutes ago I got fed up with having to deal with the tape on my hands because I was typing something up for a class and it was making the typing very hard! and since I am just in the room doing homework with the same friend I figured it would be okay. I made a comment to him that the tape was making it hard to type so I was going to take them off and he told me that was fine and that he wouldn't mind at all if I flipped him off. Understanding friends are the best! :)

New Strategy

Hey Everyone! If my responses/ posts/ comments are sparse over the next few days, I am sorry but typing is a little difficult for me right now. My dreaded middle tic has come back and in order to avoid giving people the middle finger, i'm trying a new tactic of taping my pointer and middle fingers together on both hands. So far it's working really well! but its really hard to type! this message is taking me so long to write! anyway I hope this tic passes soon so I can un-tape my fingers! and I hope the tape doesn't result in too many questions from people. explaining myself will be better though than flipping off random strangers lol 

Psyc Class....

Just came back from my psyc class. The girl sitting next to me asked me to stop knocking me knees (which is a tic). It is a very large class and there is no way she would know I have TS, so I politely responded with "I can't help it. It's a tic". I don't know if she understood what I was talking about at all but at least she didn't ask me to stop again. I hate that my tics bother people sometimes. I really don't want to bother them and my tics bother me way more than they bother other people. I can promise you that.

Mark Elliot claiming to be cured of his TS? What do you guys think?

Sorry for the long post guys but I think this is important! Please comment! I really want your opinions on this!

What do you guys think of this? Mark Elliot claims that he has been cured of his TS by taking human potential courses:http://www.njcts.org/teens4ts/a-message-and-invitation-from-noted-speaker-marc-elliot/ When this post was posted on the Teens4TS site, people started commenting and were pretty outraged by this claim. 

One person said "Just because his tics are minimized does not mean he does not have TS. If he is saying he did not have disorders, then he had a Tic Disorder, NOT Tourettes. Everything waxes/wanes with TS is Neurological and there is no cure… It is wrong for him to claim he cured himself like an elixir considering the facts of what Tourettes is!" 

Another person said "Anyone Educated on Tourettes can blow holes into his claim. So many years of bringing Awareness and Ignorance like this out there that hurts it!"

And yet another person said " There are so many vague points in his letter that need to be examined. Has anyone ever gone for a treatment from a program that does not have a web site?... Have you ever participated in a program where they won't tell you the names of the instructors or their credentials?... Some people with TS are so vulnerable and can be played upon so easily. Use logic and ask questions and please do not get sucked in by the promise of something that seems too good to be true."

And yet even another person said " I'd much rather focus on all the great things people impacted by TS are doing rather than having to protect our kids from the insanity of a program that should never have even made it to the site given the smoke and mirrors and unanswered questions. I agree that people should make their own decisions, but, there are some things that are so off track that it creates a danger for our kids"

To see the whole converstation and to chime in on it with your opinions if you want to you can go here: https://www.facebook.com/Teens4TS/posts/509303989113369?comment_id=5536074&offset=0&total_comments=22&notif_t=share_comment

Testing Issues

Yesterday I took a social psychology test in the disability resources center. I've taken all of my tests there so far for my first year of college and they sometimes put one or two other people in the room with me but my tics have been pretty mild when taking tests lately because I am focused on the test. I guess my tics were a little worse than usual for the test yesterday and I was doing a lot of sniffling and some other other quiet vocal tics. The girl who was in the room with me requested to have another room and left. I think I better request a separate room for next time so that I don't bother anyone...Haven't decided though yet. 

Fighting OCD and Sending in my Application to Camp Twitch and Shout

I am so proud of myself! I just did something (which I am not going to get into the details of) that my OCD would have made it impossible for me to last year. It was really hard for me, and I had to do rituals around it, but that doesn’t matter! What matters to me is that I did it!

The thing that really gave me the courage and strength to fight back against OCD was the thought of being a counselor at Camp Twitch and Shout this summer. I just kept thinking that this is something that I need to do in order to be a counselor there and that I would be almost anything (even fight back against OCD) if Camp Twitch and Shout is my reward in the end. 

And now … I’m all done with my Camp Twitch and Shout counselor application!!!! I’m so excited! I’m going to mail it today! 

10 Step Plan to be a Counselor at Camp Twitch and Shout!

OK, so I have made a 10-step plan, with each step leading up to my final goal of possibly being a counselor at Camp Twitch and Shout this summer!!!! Step 1 has been completed. Step 1 was to talk to my mom about my Tourette Syndrome in a calm and mature way letting her know that she doesn’t need to worry about me TS-wise.

People in college are accepting and understanding, I have a good social group, and TS is not at all negatively effecting my social life or academic life in any serious way. I know this is not a very direct step, but trust me it’s an important step none the less for me and my mother.

Only 9 steps left. The next step though is the most crucial step and will determine if I can go this year or not. The next step is to see if my mom can get her plane tickets to France refunded. My whole family was going to go to France this summer (the exact week that Camp Twitch and Shout is happening), but now my grandpa is having surgery that week and my mom is trying to get her plane tickets refunded.

If she get get refunded for the plane tickets, then we will be able to stay home with my grandpa, but if not we will just have to go to France regardless. I will be very disappointed if my mom cannot get the plane tickets refunded because that means I won’t be able to be a counselor at Camp Twitch and Shout this summer.

If that is the case, though, there is always next year and the years following that to be a counselor there. I am hoping so much though that I will be able to go this summer.