Tourette Syndrome Awareness month was May 15 to June 15. What else to write about than that? I know a lot of people do not know much about Tourettes Syndrome and I want to change that.
When I was five I was diagnosed with Tourrette Syndrome (TS). To this day, I deeply struggle with it. Because tics can change in severity over time, it is not as heavily seen now as it was when I was younger. Now, I know what you are thinking, "She blurts out curse words" or "she has no control of her actions". That is not always the case. Yes, a lot of people struggle with yelling and arm throwing but a lot of us suffer alone and in our own mind and not everyone that has TS have the same tics either. A tic would be a contraction of the muscles usually in the face or it can be vocal as well. Not all tics are easy to see by the observer.
At first glance you would not know that I have TS and it is not a thing that I willingly talk about either. The probability of someone having TS is about the same as someone having Autism, which is one in 100. Out of those that do have TS, only about 10% of them actually swear. Along with this, 79% of the individuals with TS also have other co-morbid conditions: Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention-Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), anxiety disorders, and some other disorders as well.
Even though there is no cure for TS and no drug specific to TS symptoms, tics can change over time and people with TS can learn to manage. Even though everyone is different, there are scientific evidence to prove that anxiety heightens the condition. For example, I know that my tics act up when I am very stressed or when my depression or anxiety acts up. Because of this, I know that when I get to those points, I can do yoga or watch a movie to relax.
Another really good thing for people to know is that TS does not affect the intelligence level of the individual. In fact, a lot of children with TS have above normal to high intelligence levels in comparison to their peers.
Even thought children with TS are the same as anyone else, they do tend to get teased for their tics. For instance, I remember when I was in grade school. At the time I had a neck twitch where I would jolt my head back and a lot of kids thought that it was weird and did not want to talk to me because of it. I had no control over it and I did not understand why they did not see that. Looking back at it now, it was the lack of awareness about Tourette Syndrome.
A key ingredient for the treatment of TS is to heighten the the awareness of it in the community, household, and school that the child or individual is in. This is exactly what I am doing and plan on continuing to do.
This cause hits close to home and I know that when people are more aware of what is going on then they are more able to help and spread the awareness themselves. Children and individuals with TS are just like everyone else and we should not treat them in any less of a way.
