Telling a Friend Who i'm going to Live with Next Year about Tourette's

Talked to my friend (who is a sister in my sorority) tonight, and it went great! I She asked me to live in an on campus apartment with her for next year so I thought it would be the best thing to tell her about my tics ahead of time. I told her in a casual way and in a way that made it seem like no big deal, while also letting her know what my tics are like and about my vocal tics. She didn't bat an eye. She wasn't phased at all. She treated me just like she always does. I told her people usually get used to it pretty quickly just like you might get used to someone who has allergies and coughs or sniffs a lot. She smiled at me in a very reassuring way and told me that she's sure that's what will happen with us and that she isn't worried about it at all about it when it comes to housing next year. So we will be living together next year as long as everything goes as planned :) 

Can't wait to spend more time with her and get to know her even better! 

Diagnosing A Child With Tourette Syndrome: What are Tics? How are Tics Different From Normal Childhood Behavior?

Cerian's Tics: What Do Tics Look Like? 

Here's a video of what to look out for when considering a diagnosis of Tourette's Syndrome or Tic Disorder. This is a video of Cerian! In the video you can see Cerian shrug his shoulders, stretch his mouth and nose, and blink in a repetitive manner. These are simple motor tics. You can also see him sniffing many times. This is a simple vocal tic.
Many children will occasionally shrug their shoulders or sniff. What makes these movements tics rather than regular movements and sounds that are typical for a child of this age?

The key question to ask when determining if something is a tic or a regular behavior is: is the movement or sound repetitive? In other words, does the movement or sound happen multiple times over the course of a day? Does it happen over and over? And does it look very similar each time the child does it?

You can see in the video that Cerian's mouth movements, sniffing, and shrugging all happen again and again over the course of the video. Each time he does it, you can also see that the movements happen in a very similar way and look very similar to the previous movements that he has just done. 

Tics also tend to be quick rather than sustained. They tend to  occur in bouts, where one tic occurs after the next for a period of time. There can be periods where the child displays no tics at all, or periods where the child displays many tics all in a row.  There tends to be no change in consciousness, awareness, or behavior while the child is having tics. If there is a change in your child's level of awareness, consciousness, or behavior during a period of facial movements or other types of movements, then you should immediately consult a doctor and mention this, as this could be a sign of seizure activity.  

If the tics last less than a year, the child may have a transient tic disorder, meaning that the tics will go away. In fact, it's pretty common for children to have tics in childhood that appear for a short period of time and then disappear. 

If your child's has both multiple motor tics and at least one vocal tic for more than a year, then your child might have a Tourette's Syndrome, a more chronic tic disorder. Still, the tics of Tourette's may fluctuate in frequency and severity over the course of childhood. Many children with tics grow out of their tics by their teen years. Other children do not grow out of their tics and may have tics in different degrees of severity over the course of their life. 

Remember: If you think your child may have tics or Tourette Syndrome, you should schedule an appointment with your pediatrician or with a pediatric neurologist to rule out the possibility of seizures or other movement disorders.

A Professor with Tics!

One of my psychology professors has facial tics! So cool! I love seeing people with Tourette's / tics making their way through life, succeeding, doing what they love, and never letting their tics get in their way!

I haven't officially talked with her yet about my Tourette's and she hasn't told me she has tics, but as someone who has TS and researches it, I know tics when I see them.

I'm going to meet with her next week to talk with her about my TS. I originally wasn't going to, because it's a bigger class, but I've been having a tic of raising my arm/ hand and supressing it in that class has been interfering with my concentration, so I decided I'm going to meet with her so I don't have to worry about it.

I will update later about how that goes.

Yesterday I told another professor and a class about my TS, and like usually it went so well. The professor was amazing and I absolutely love her and how she mad me feel so accepted and comfortable about my tics. She told me she had a grad student who hiccuped and that everyone got used to it very quickly. She was very warm and welcoming. Her class is developmental neuropsychology and since that's what I want to focus on in grad school, I couldn't be more excited for her course! She says it's her favorite course to teach, so that's always a great sign :) 

A great start to 2nd semester!

Yet another fantastic start to the semester! Today was my second day of classes for the spring semester of my Junior year. For this semester, I've decided to explain my Tourette's to my professors or classmates for my smaller classes only since my tics have been starting to become less noticeable and i've been having less vocal tics thanks to CBIT and medication. I talked with one professor about my Tourette's today and will talk to two professors and two classes about my Tourette's by the end of the week.

All together i'm talking to two of my smaller classes about my Tourette's, and three professors. That means that this semester two of my professors will not explicitly know about my Tourette's since the class size is larger 70 students. They may still notice my motor tics if they happen to look my way, but hopefully since the class is so large my tics will fly under the radar. We'll see.

The professor that I talked to today was kind and understanding, like always. I've been explaining my TS to my professors since Freshman year and I have never had any problems and have never experienced anything except for compassion and understanding from them. The professor that I talked with today told me to make sure to take care of myself during the semester and do whatever I need to to make the semester a successful one. I appreciated his kind words.

I am also loving being back on campus with my friends. I missed them over break and am really enjoying spending time with them now that we're all back on campus. So many people to get dinner and catch up with! This week is crazy busy between my new courses, catching up with friends, and my research. Off to study with two of my friends now, so I will update later. Hope everyone else is adjusting well and getting back into the swing of things after the holiday break as well.

Pre-Hanukkah Party Tics 2014

Well it's that time of year again that every ticcer seems to look forward to and dread at the same time, the holiday season. With all the commotion, excitement, preparation, and family, tics always seem to run rampant this time of year. Today is the day of my family's yearly Hanukkah party and my tics are getting pretty darn forceful.

After 5 months of CBIT treatment for my tics, my tics have been steadily decreeing, and i've started to get used to having less tics. However, coming home for winter break and having the holiday season has not been great for my tics. Being around my family members is very stressful for me (tic wise) and i'm sure those of you who have been following my blog for a while know why. For those of you who have not been following my blog, i'll just say this: I come from a family who values perfection and social status, and Tourette's doesn't really fit into that mold very well. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and I really do enjoy being home and spending time with them, but it's very rough on my tics and anxiety.

Being in my home environment has quickly made my tics increase. When I saw my CBIT therapist last week, she immediately noticed how much I was ticcing and told me she hadn't seen my tic this much in months. We discussed new strategies to try to decrease my tics in the home environment, such as taking "tic breaks" where I excuse myself to go to the bathroom while i'm around my family and just trying to spend less time around my family members (spending time with them in 30 min increments). These strategies seem to be helping to some extent, but my tics are still much worse than they have been over the past few months. As soon as i'm able to escape to a place where I can let my tics out, I start having so many facial tics, vocal tics, head and neck tics, and even full body tics. The other day I spent a solid period of time parked in a parking garage kicking, vocal ticcing, and jerking my body so hard that I felt my brain rattling around in my skull and got pretty dizzy.

Right now i'm up in my room while my parents prepare for the party. I've been helping prepare for the party quite a bit, but I had to escape to my room to tic and also to avoid the onion cutting. When my mom cuts onions for the Latkes for this party, my sensory processing issues go into overdrive as soon as my eyes feel any small amount of onion. It feels as if the onions are going in through my eyes and are filling my entire head with this sour and tingling feeling. The feeling will last for hours after the onions have been cut. Even though i've been avoiding the downstairs as much as I can, I've still gotten a bit of the onion feeling in my eyes. It's not nearly as bad as last year, but it's definitely still contributing to my tics.

I'm having a lot of tics right now. I hope they calm down for the party, but I kind of doubt they will. Luckily one of my very good friends will be coming to the party. Having her there will help me feel better, and like the previous years i'll be able to come upstairs with her to let out my bigger tics.

Anyway, I will probably make a post after the party is over about how it went. Happy Holidays to everyone and good luck to everyone trying to manage the holidays with tics!

Junior Year First Semester! Prove them Wrong :)

Well i'm back home for winter break. Overall, I had a great semester!

I was appointed to two leadership positions on campus. I'm now on the Executive Board for my university's chapter of Psi Chi, the National Honorary Society for Psychology and I was also appointed to be on the University Policy & Practice Affecting Students with Disabilities Committee.

I continued with the research i've been doing on Tourette's Syndrome and Traumatic Brain Injury on the medical school campus, and am working towards a number of publications for next semester. Hopefully at the end of next semester I will be able to say i've published a full paper on Tourette Syndrome and presented a poster on Traumatic Brain Injury at the National Conference of American Clinical Neuropsychology.

I also got two final grades back for the semester. One is an A and another is an A+ ! I'm pretty sure that the rest of my grades will also be A's as well. So far it's looking like I'll meet my goal for this semester which was to make the Dean's List at my University again.

Last thing I promise, I'm moving into a new dorm for next semester! I not only get a much bigger dorm room, but I also get to be closer to my classes, closer to the Starbucks on campus, and I'm right above the dining hall so I won't even have to go outside to get food. I get to be in a new dorm environment, meet new people, and live across from one of my friends in my sorority. I have a feeling next semester is going to be great!

Anyway, that's my semester in a nut shell. Don't ever let Tourette's hold you back! Make goals and work towards achieving them. Don't ever let someone make you think that you can't do something because of your Tourette's. If anyone ever does tell you something like this, prove them wrong :)

Emotions and Stress affecting my tics

I have one week left of classes, reading week, and finals which leads to a lot of stress, but on top of all that I have extra anxiety going on because of something I found out about a family member over thanksgiving break. I can't go into much detail about that situation, but it is pretty devastating and life changing for this person and the rest of our family to say the least.

Yesterday and today my muscles have been extremely sore from ticcing (mainly muscle tics in bed, and even when half asleep). Yesterday I was sore and exhausted all day. My best guess was that I was ticcing through most of the night and didn't get a lot of deep sleep, hence the sore muscles and exhaustion. A few times I woke myself up from ticcing last night and the night before.

What is happening is affecting me because not only is this person a member of my family, but my OCD/ anxiety is acting up about the situation as well. It's making my OCD thoughts worse, and is making my compulsions worse as well.

Even though it's very upsetting, one positive is that it's made me even more grateful for the life I have. It has put a lot of things into perspective and even though my tics are bad right now, I am grateful for my life, all the opportunities I have been given, and for my ability to take full advantage of these opportunities and work hard to finish my college education, apply to grad school (next year), and hopefully use this education I have been given to make a difference in the lives of others through research and clinical work in my future. I am also grateful that I am able to make a difference in the lives of others now. I love volunteering at my local Children's Hospital, forging long term connections with the patients, volunteering at camp twitch and shout, and making a difference in the lives of all of you through this page.