The probability of getting Tourette’s is significantly higher in males than females. The probability of holding the gene (which doesn’t necessarily mean you will get the disorder) is around 2% of males and half a percent in females. Mathematically, it has been determined that the probably of holding the TS gene and having the disorder are about a 4/1,000 chance (0.04%) if you are male and you have a 6/10,000 chance (0.006%) if you are female. So, males are about 7-8 times more likely to hold the Tourette’s gene and get diagnosed with the disorder than females are.

Many people grow out of Tourette’s before they become adults. In a recent family study, only 13.6% of sufferers keep Tourette Syndrome for life, 7.8% received a lifetime diagnosis of Chronic Tic Disorder (CTD), and 22.7% received a lifetime diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Another important statistic is that out of a 53 child probands with Tourette’s, 35.3% of families had another family member affected with the disorder and 70.6% of families had another member experience either Chronic Tic Disorder or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This is why many doctors will correlate OCD and CTD with their diagnosis of Tourette’s.

Another study that is far more recent is the correlation between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Tourette’s. The association between the two are pretty controversial and the studies aren’t really conclusive. In another recent study, 54.1% of probands with Tourette’s  were also diagnosed with ADHD, 30.6% of probands were diagnosed with a learning disability, and 15.3% of probands shuttered. Whether or not you support this claim, you can’t ignore the evidence in the statistics that ADHD and Tourette’s have something in common.

Tics generally occurs between 6-7 years of age and 75% of patients have tics after the age of 11. The first tics are usually facial and they are soon accompanied by motor and vocal tics (after about 1 year). The majority of patients eventually grow out of Tourette Syndrome, but many don’t.

Although there is no cure for Tourette’s, I have found a great way to relieve the symptoms by controlling stress in my life. I use a great meditation tape that forces my brain to relax and a great method to release feelings that cause my tics to worsen. There is a way to remove Tics from your life!

* Statistics taken out of Chapter 3 of “Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Diagnosis and Treatment” By Randi Jenssen Hagerman.

• What does it feel like to have Tourette Syndrome. Does it hurt?
  • That’s a very interesting question. I really can’t tell you how it feels because I’ve always had Tourette Synrome. I can, on the other hard, tell you how it feels when my Tics are bad and when they’re not bad. When they’re bad, they take over my entire life and everybody can notice (although sometimes I don’t notice most of them). My eyes blink uncontrollably, my throat constantly clears over and over again, I experience an annoying “hum” sound with my voice that usually interrupts me from speaking or having a decent conversation, I make sounds with my teeth that sound a bumble bee, I constantly cough, sometimes I pull my eyelashes out of my eyes, I move my elbows and flick my arms out, stomp my feet, and a few more. You probably get my point. Is it painful? Most people would say no, but I believe that it is very painful. It’s really embarrassing trying to explain the disorder to people who don’t understand it. It’s also tough to function normally when all of this occurs. There have been times where I’ve hurt myself accidentally as the result of a Tic as well. Now when I’m at peace, my Tics are gone or barely noticeable–I function like a normal human being.
• Do you ever swear or blaspheme uncontrollably?
  • No. Although I’ve certainly heard of cases where that occurs, I understand it to be extremely rare. The media, out of an attempt to create humor about this serious disorder, uses clinomorphism as a symptom of Tourette Syndrome. People laugh and assume that they’re telling the truth about Tourette’s, but it is my experience that coprolalia (uncontrollable swearing) isn’t experienced by most sufferers. I’ve heard statistics that state that only about 15% or fewer people who suffer from Tourette’s actually experience coprolalia.
• Isn’t there something you can do about it. Can you take any medication to treat Tourette Syndrome
  • Unfortunately, there is no medical treatment (to the best of my knowledge) and there are not any drugs that treat Tourette Syndrome (as a disorder). From my understanding, doctors are only able to treat the symptoms, but not the actual disorder. The way doctor’s treat the disorder is usually two ways: through sedation and through anti-depressants. They’re actually really simple treatments if you think about it, but the side effects of both of those kinds of drugs are absolutely horrible. Between the ages of 10-13, my doctors put me on a very heavy regiment of both kinds of those drugs. The side effects were awful. I never ate anything, I was anti-social, and I was a complete Zombie (you can ask my parents, the drugs are the worst thing you can do for Tourette’s, but that’s only our opinion). Those drugs treat the trigger behind Tics, which is stress, anxiety, anger, etc. There are plenty of ways to eliminate stress in a person’s life, no matter what your age is.

Let’s keep this open like a forum. Leave your comments below and I’ll answer your question!

Because the Encephalitis had been proven to form many Tic disorders in patients, much science precluded that the disorder was caused by the epidemic even though that is not the consensus today.

At the time, this syndrome was not referred to as Tourette’s, like it is today. It was originally named “maladie des tics”, which is French for “Illness of the Tics”. To honor Tourette’s achievement in discovering and studying this disorder, his mentor Jean-Martin Charcot coined the name “Gilles de la Tourette’s illness”. Psychiatrist’s today refer to this disorder as Tourette Syndrome.

Into the late nineteenth century, as Charcot and Tourette’s were able to study this disorder further, they were able to conclude that these Tics are uncontrollable and were not treatable. As he studied the nine people in his focus group, he noticed patients who experienced involuntary vocal and motor tics. Some patient’s experienced uncontrollable swearing and some uncontrollable movements. By the end of the century, Tourette’s became known as an progressive and hereditary condition.

There was one trait, however, that was always apparent when studying this disorder. This trait baffled many who researched it and was one of the key reasons many scientists mistakenly classified Tourette’s as a psychological disorder rather than neurological one. The reasoning behind it is simple, the scientists of the late nineteenth century noticed that the patients emotions effected the intensity of the disorder. In other words if the patient was under heavy amounts of stress, their Tics were much worse. On the other hand, if they were at peace, happy, and calm, their Tics would get better. Although it’s been proven that the disorder is not psychological, it is perfectly clear that your psychological well-being has a huge effect on the intensity of it.

Although living in a calm lifestyle does not cure Tourette’s, it can alleviate the symptoms. I personally have used a combination of two methods of quieting the mind and relaxing that have completely removed Tics from my life. In fact, I’ve come to have an appreciate my Tics because they’re a great mechanism to notify me when something is emotionally wrong in my life. There is a solution to remove Tics for your life.

Our doctor’s have been telling us this for years. Do your research, all sources will tell you that the cause that triggers Tics is too much stress in a persons life. Children deal with an enormous amount of stress in their lives, sometimes even more than adults when they encounter peer pressure, anxiety, loneliness, and other uncomfortable emotions. Most sufferers of Tourette’s that experience severe levels of Tics, like myself, deal with a lot of stress in their daily lives and we understand all too well that the severity of our Tics are directly related to the way we em>feel.

If you or somebody you know have been diagnosed with Tourette’s, allow me to reveal to you a great positive way of looking at the disorder. We are so lucky to have the disorder, let me explain why. Now that we know that stress is the primary cause of our Tics, we have a mechanism that we can use to control our emotions. We have a greater capacity to be feel happy because we are given an automatic alert when things go wrong. Now that I’ve finally understood that power of controlling my emotions, which is the trigger behind my Tics, I can clearly see what emotions are causing me strife and I have the power to fix it.

Instead of thinking of this disorder as the end of the world or something that makes you a minority, think of it as something that gives you a huge advantage over your emotions that other people simply don’t have. When we feel peace, happy, and joyful our Tourette’s are at their best, but when we feel stressed, anxious, anger, and afraid they’re always at their worst. Use this as a tool to control your emotions. Your tics are your special way of making you aware of what is causing the negative emotions in your life. Consider yourself extremely lucky to have this wonderful gift!

Although I believe that our emotions trigger Tics, I do understand that it is certainly not the cause. Our genetic makeup is completely different that the average person. The cause of our Tics are in our genes, which we cannot change. However, we can change our we feeland we can choose to feel happy, and learn to deal with these emotions as they come in. The best way to do this is to practice meditation and change our way of thinking.

What I love about South Park is that they are constantly striving to bring laughter (my favorite kind of energy) to situations and events that most people would never find humor in. This trend is what keeps me tuning in every week.Add New

As you probably already know, if you’re visiting this website, I have been a lifetime sufferer of Tourette Syndrome. Imagine my surprise when I found out that South Park would be exploring the issue and finding ways to laugh at the topic. At first, I was a little defensive when I found out–which is very surprising to me because I’m always open to any kind of humor. The thoughts that were going through my head were mostly: “Great, now they’re giving people more reason to laugh at sufferer’s of Tourette’s.”, “I know they’re going to be anything but sensitive, I hope they don’t perpetuate the Tourette stereotype and worsen it for the rest of us”, and the list goes on and on. Regardless, I was equally surprised that with South Park’s 11 years on the air, they have waited so long to create an episode based on this topic that is so personal to me. So, of course, I was very excited to sit on my couch and watch it!

The plot pleasantly surprised me. The story begins when Cartman is at the toy store, misbehaves, and gets in trouble. Soon after he was disciplined, you see another kid misbehave who happens to have Tourette Syndrome completely get away with everything. Cartman sees this as an opportunity and manages to convince his mother and doctor of his “disorder” and is immediately diagnosed. The Tourette’s Tolerance and Understanding Foundation talks to the school about his disorder and manages to convince everyone to tolerate his disorder. By the end of the show Cartman realizes the danger of making such a disorder up and admits to everyone he lied.

The story really hit home with me. I find it very interesting how the story followed the very real experience a child goes through when discovering the nature of the disorder. While it is quite obvious that it is impossible to “immediately” get diagnosed with Tourette’s, since it’s a diagnoses is that is not popularly given and requires several tics, including motor and vocal, and at least a year under observation, the effects of the diagnoses is very real. While the Tourette’s Tolerance and Understanding Foundation is a fictional organization, the Tourette Syndrome Association is comparable. I remember finding out, after I was diagnosed with Tourette’s, the TSA going to my school and explaining to all of my classmates about my disorder and what I was experiencing. These events really do happen and I find it very interesting that South Park explored the issues that these students face in a very real way.

After watching it, I felt like the people at South Park did the Tourette’s community justice. Whether you believe it was tasteful or not is a different story, since the show is anything but tasteful to a lot of people, but it is important to recognize the humor involved and I believe that they did an outstanding job showing the effects of Tourette’s in schools. Obviously, most Tourette’s sufferers do not experience much coprolalia–which involves a serious of vocal tics, including but not limited to involuntary swearing and babbling, I certainly didn’t. Nevertheless, the lessons taught in the show are tremendous and I’m very grateful that the media has put more attention toward the Tourette Syndrome community and recognize that it is a very real disorder that many people in the country face.

If you or someone you know sufferers from Tourette Syndrome or any other kind of Tic disorder, I would like you to know that there is a way to control triggers that cause these tics. I’m not going to tell you to drug your child, nor am I going to modify their diet. I have a solution that works 100% of the time for everyone who suffers from the disorder.

While there is much debate on whether people grow out of Tourette disorder when they move into adulthood, it is my experience that most “sufferers” will experience some sort of tics for the rest of their lives. Although many people will simply grow out of it, those who do not grow out of it into adulthood can still live happy and healthy lives. It is important to remember that there are several triggers that cause Tourette’s in children and adults. The biggest trigger that causes tics is stress. Other triggers include anxiety, fear, depression, and apathy. I have found that controlling these emotions by recognizing them and dealing with them is the best way to relieve tics from your life. Although this is certainly not a cure for tics, it does help relieve the symptoms and though quieting the mind and relaxing is one of the best ways to prevent tics from getting out of hand.

You’re probably visiting this website because either you or your child have been diagnosed with Tourette’s or have experienced some sort of tic disorder for a while now. Maybe there was something about the headline that interested you. Or maybe your just curious to know more about this interesting “disorder”. It is important for you, your family, and your friends to understand that these tics are uncontrollable and that there is plenty of help out there. I’ve heard a lot of hype regarding Tourette’s and the most important thing to remember is that there is absolutely no way to control this particular tic disorder. My goal is to help the world understand tics and to create a place for people get useful knowledge and sensitivity on the subject. Here are some tips that I’d like to pass on to whoever reads this page.

Tourette’s are not controllable and a person cannot be “willed” to control their tics. The biggest lie that I’ve ever heard is that a child can simply hold their tics inside and control them. This could not be farther from the truth and you are harming your you, your child, or your friends by implying that this can be done. Let me explain why. Your child can temporarily hold their tics IF they notice them occurring (which the majority of the time they’re not aware of all of the tics they are currently facing). What happens as they hold these tics is that they are being suppressed (much like our emotions) and only get worse as they build up like a pressure cooker–once the pressure gets high enough, the tics are always worse than before. It is best, in the mean time, to ignore your child’s tics and let them be expressed naturally while you explore ways to help your child get in touch with their emotions.

In my opinion, Tourette’s do not need to be treated by medicine. I am not a doctor, nor do I recommend any kind of medical treatment, but giving your child drugs may turn them into a zombie and the side-effects of these drugs on the market today are pretty harsh. They do not treat the tics themselves, but treat other problems (like OCD, Anxiety, Depression, etc). 15 years ago, my doctors treated my Tourette’s with medication and it made my life completely miserable. From my research, Tourette’s are treated two ways: either by using some sort of tranquilizer or by using some sort of anti-depressant (or both). These drugs are not necessary to relieve a person from any tic disorder, but help by modifying the trigger that causes the tics themselves.

There is a way to control these triggers that cause these tics to worsen. I’m not going to tell you to drug your child, nor am I going to modify their diet. I have a solution that works 100% of the time for everyone who suffers from the disorder.