Hi everybody...
I was diagnosed with TS this past May. I just turned 22 in November.
I had a few tics when I was a kid, but they would come and go and never the same one. In fact, there were so few, my parents just thought they were nervous habits I'd picked up, and I would stop doing it just as sudden as I'd started doing it.
My senior year of high school, I had a lot of psych issues (depression, self-injury, anxiety). I worked at Pizza Hut for a few years. I eventually started blinking really fast and hard all the time, and eventually added jerking my head. We didn't think anything about it. I thought I was just really stressed out. After I changed jobs a year and a half ago, it got way worse! We didn't know what was going on. And to keep from jerking my head or arms, I would end up curled up in a ball really tight.
Now, I'm on meds, and usually just have the blinking or tense my neck muscles. When it gets bad, I jerk my head, jerk my arms really hard and fast and hit myself or the table or counter or whatever if there is one in front of me, stomp, twist my wrists weird. I say huh and up and hey over and over again, but just "hey" recently and it's more like i'm yelling...

It's confusing to me sometimes, and exhausting, but for the most part, I try to just laugh it off. I guess that's how I deal with a lot of things, though...laugh it off and joke about it.

I was supposed to see the doc last week to see what else we could do besides meds, but it turned out that the only thing she planned on trying was botox because I've gotten to where I squench my eyes shut really tight and can't open them. I don't like the idea of botox though, so ended up not going because she told me flat out there was no idea in going if I didn't want to do that (cuz I live 2 hours away).

I'm just at a point where I don't know what else to do when it gets bad enough that I can't drive because of squeezing my eyes shut. I'm afraid that I'm going to end up losing my job because of days missed or something.

Sorry this turned out so long. I guess I just needed to get it out and I'm so thankful to find somewhere that maybe I can.

Hi jnt,
Welcome to the NeuroTalk Support Groups.
My two children are around your age - a little older. Not so many tics anymore. Occasionally.

It sounds as if you've been having a really difficult time with some of your tics lately. What type of doctor are you seeing if you don't mind my asking? Do you think that dealing with the anxiety and depression has been a sort of trigger in bringing about this flurry of tics?

I don't know how long you've been having the eye tics that are affecting your ability to drive, but hopefully those tics will wane soon.

There are a few adults who come here to post from time to time. Hopefully they'll see your message and be able to offer some of their thoughts.

Have you met any other adults who have TS at all? Sometimes that can be really helpful.

There's actually some really good information on the TSA-USA website for adults living with TS.

http://www.tsa-usa.org/aPeople/Livin...S/LivingTS.htm
LIVING WITH TS: ADULT ISSUES

http://www.tsa-usa.org/aPeople/Livin...Employment.htm
EMPLOYMENT
Getting a Job and Keeping It
by Mitzi Waltz

Keep talking.

Edited to add: When your eye tics are more settled, and if you like to read...
there's a really good book by Amy Wilensky called "Passing for Normal: A Memoir of Compulsion".

Hi...
I've seen a movement disorder specialist a couple of times, and that's who I was supposed to see that wanted to do the botox. I know one person my age who has TS, but his is barely even noticeable. We work together, and it gets kind of aggravating when we are on the same shift and I'm having a bad problem cuz I think seeing him tic triggers mine a little (of course, he thinks its funny).
It only flares up really bad to where I can't drive on occasion. I think it just aggravates me cuz I get used to it not being so bad and then suddenly it does out of the blue.

I'll have to check out the book.

I'm Jasmine, by the way...

welcome Jasmine

my son is adult now, dx with TS when he was 10

He has had great success following a nutritional treatment plan, that I have documented here http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread1145.html

Most people who try natural treatments for TS have found increasing their magnesium intake to really help with their tics. There is research to support this by Bonnie Grimaldi, who has developed her own supplement line after the success her child, and many others had with her protocol www.bonniegr.com

If you are interested in natural treatments, there is also a very helpful reference book here http://www.latitudes.org/book.html

Hi again Jasmine.

I went to a TS conference in D.C. in 1998. I don't know how many people were there, maybe 500 or more in the one room, but it was a real tic-fest (and I mean that in the nicest way)... tics can be quite catchy indeed.

Lara: I imagine it was...
Chemar: Thanks, I'll have to check it out...

I guess it's just really aggravating me cuz it seems like she won't even suggest anything to try. Like she's saying, oh, well, yeah, you have TS, if you don't wanna do botox, then good luck, I'll see ya in a year when you come back (and for what I have no idea, I guess just to check in with how I'm doin' on these meds?).

What an amazing experience that was, Lara! I remember walking in the opening session with hundreds of ticcers - like a wave of movement and sounds - and Ed saying "I hope my tics don't bother anyone". He talks about that conference as a "tic smorgasboard...all you can tic".


Welcome, Jasmine. I hope you find the support and maybe the answers that you need here. I don't have TS but I am in the minority in my household. My husband, now our 7 year old daughter and our 6 year old son is showing some minor tics. I have 2 grown children whose tics have waned.

Read this from Neurosurgeon Dr. Jack Kruse:
http://jackkruse.com/primal-cpc-1-to...nary-medicine/
..

A bit of an update...

So, my doc started me on sertraline for my mood swings. She's gradually upping it...still at a low dose, though. The idea was that maybe if my moods weren't so up and down, maybe my tics wouldn't be so bad. Well, moods aren't getting any better. I'm not having a problem with tics now, though. I mean, a few insignificant ones here and there, but nothing major.

Well, I started seeing a therapist again just for an outlet of sorts. She thinks I might actually be bipolar. I'm just so up and down now...it's like I'm on a rollercoaster and I'm not sleeping well. So, if it's not one thing, it's another.

Hope y'all are doin' well...

Jasmine, it's very good to read your update. Sometimes getting those other issues under control does help the tics wane. It's great you're taking these steps to sort through everything. Hope you get some good sleep soon. Keep in touch and let us know how you're getting on there.

take care