You're in good hands dear moi with Lara, Mrs.D and always Moss.

I've been using those Salonpas patches on my back since Mrs.D
told me about them and they help me tremendously.

But, I most definitely think you should not wait to see the dr.

gentle hugs.

and Chemar

OMG..smacks head! but of course! Chemar... thanks Lara.

hey hazel(garden girl), i'm not familiar w/ a tens unit. will ask doc about it. tanx!
re: gluco/msm. i've used for a few years now. no problem. not allergic to shell fish.
itching is neuropathy based. i think- as well as moss. because it only comes after the burning sensation(after the neck tics) and it isn't something that is an reaction. have kept close observation.

sorry to hear about your tics but glad the tens unit helps!

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mrsd! i love salonpas. gosh, i need to tell you about it. my grandma's(maternal)
2 major remedies when i was a child was salonpas and tiger balm. two of her brothers and cousin went to japan to become doctors (during the japanese occupation of china and one of them ended up working at the pharm the developed salonpas. so it was common in my household when i was growing up. and i love the smell of them. reminds me of my childhood and grandma.

just recently found it in the states in wal-mart a couple of years back and have been actually using it on my neck and else where (you should see my salonpas days where moss would laugh cause i have it almost everywhere i ache and would ask her to place them on my back. i literally would use about 15 patches at one time on some days.

but never on my knuckles...didn't think of that. then i read your response and tried it. the patch would fall off. so i cut off a glove and now have it over the salonpas. it is helping some! thanx for recommending it for my knuckles!

will look out for the ones with 6% methyl salicylate in them. i like drugstore.com so maybe they'll have something there.

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hey cheri, i have a wonderful chiro but it's been awhile since i'd seen him. he's into functional medicine also.

i think after my visit w/ the doctor. whom i suspect will then direct me to see a spine specialist, then get x-rayed, then...blah blah blah...then, i think i'll pay a visit to my chiro just to adjust my back. i have been developing a lower back tic as of late lol

if i put my verte bra on, do you think the doc would think i am sexy? lol j/k

glad it all worked out for your son. always so happy to hear about success stories.

wanted to make a note for new parents and tsers so i don't scare them for while the ts itself isn't hurtful. the repetition of the tics can really be annoying and hurtful. but that's only in extreme cases.
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lara, funny thing you said about scaring me a little...

i am usually not scared and i think i was actually a bit scared when i posted this...guess there is a part of me that is in fear that i would lose the use of my hand...

and it's funny just recently, i have been going through a renaissance of sorts.

been writing, drawing, and secretly practicing piano again recently and finding myself a bit more...and then, this started to happen. guess i had another "george" moment where i felt like, oh, what now? just when i got my butt in gear to do something, something else is happening again.

but know that it's a wonderful life and that i have nothing to complain about...

wonderful wife, donna reed, i mean, moss (gosh, she really is a lot like donna reed! lol)

have great wonderful friends. you all....my gosh, you all have given me so much...and these responses have warm my heart so...

i really am lucky and these are good reminders of that...

moi taking off the blinders...

(it's a good thing that i learned to reaquaint and draw w/ my left hand few years ago. and actually, i'm naturally left handed and i discovered that i can write backwards easily. neato, eh? lololol)

the stress ball didn't help because i would end up punching myself with a whole fist vs soft landings.lol.

let me see if i can described the tics of the right hand. at times, it is a simple rubbing the face with the fingers. those are my favorites. lol

then, there are the jabbing ones where either index finger or middle finger pokes me right on my mandible. then either my mandibles hurt or my fingers get jammed. and sometime they are directed at anything that is to the right of me. so sometimes moss gets jabbed. lol but the worst times is when i'd jab a wall or a cabinet or something hard...that's when it really hurts. I really feel for the walls and the objects that were hurt by my jabbing and i had to apologize..ya know? lol

the worse ones are the punches. i punch right ON the knucles. index and middle knucles to be exact...usually in the air but when it's on the face and an object, that's when I start feeling guilty for abusing the objects.

w/ that said, i have been thinking that the origination of these doesn't start from my hand but my neck. have a feeling that it is related to my neck jerks. am wondering if i have that under control that it would help alleviate the hand symptoms.

the neck collar, funny you should mention that. i was looking on line w/ moss the other day to see if we can find a more solid one to help.
the ones i used to wear would work for a few days, but then my sweat and the amount of force of tic would wear it out so quickly that they just didn't work anymore. those foam ones were too expensive to replace every few days...so kinda have gave up on those and just relying on yoga and tai-chi. which does seem to help.

but am going to invest in a more expensive neck brace with rigid plastic along with chin support...what do ya think?

hey, do you remember when you and birdude asked me to get bo-tox done? I was hoarse for years and barely understandable? LOL and also developed that stiff neck to the right? and don't want to talk about what they found when they went to inject it. but glad they did and now am 100% johnny carson free.

anyways, monkey suggested bo-tox and I actually have been thinking about it. and hopefully they don't find any -oma this time. lol
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...and alpho and hazel and thanks to the pms and emails, dear folks...

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thank you all for all your advices and inputs. i hope others out there that has similar to what i have will see the awesome advices and inputs that you dear folks gave.

my own question/concern now is how much my spine has been damaged. i think that's the part that scares me. maybe why i haven't been to the doctor. but i will make an appt tomorrow. i promise.

it's funny how i really haven't been thinking about TS these past years. think i have "moved on" from it. and now, i am actually reading up on it again...weird, eh?

my biggest concern is that i might not be able to perform the finger/hand puppet shows anymore for the kids. lololol

might have to do a leftliloquy...

thanks a bunch, folks. this reply took me almost 30 minutes. urrrg...frustrating when i can't type fast.

i type almost as fast as i think and typing like this makes me lose my thoughts as soon as i finish a sentence, i forget what the next is. lol. guess add contributes to that also...

((((((big hugs)))))) and thanks, everyone...i'm going to be fine or deal w/ it one way or another...won't let it defeat me. heckit, i might become the $6.00 man (6 million dollar man might be pushing it, $6.00. definitely. lol)

(Just sneaking in to thank you all...your wonderful caring and advice is helping...sneaking back out)

Hey Muwah!! I'm glad I saw this thread, as I've got so much hip/spine pain and all of the help and suggestions given to you just may help me. My DH has a tens unit, so I'm going to try it and also bought some of the Salonspa patches.

Hope you can find more relief soon. take care and thanks everyone.

Moi...the patches also come in smaller sizes now so there is less cutting. really had to chuckle at the thought of you being plastered with them. LOL

(((Mr. Moi))) I was going to suggest a good chiro too. You know I hated going to chiros, and I most often left feeling worse and very sore to say the least.

Then my massage therapist suggested someone whom she said had healing hands. He isn't the kind that snaps and twists you. I thought well I'll give it a try.

He's amazing. My tailbone pain even let up which I wasn't even hoping for. He also uses low level laser therapy which really helped a lot.

Anyway, there are some really good ones out there that don't snap, crackle and pop. I think acupuncture sounds excellent as well. Since I get massages, though, there is no way I could also afford acupuncture. Darn it.

I love you Mr. Moi.

Keep in mind that I'm saying this as a friend; You really need to come up with a plan where you can make all this a priority and have it fixed. I realize cost/insurance may be an issue but we need to get this figured out and fixed. Keep me up to speed on it please.


I am the MonSter that MS fears.

[I logged in here this morning my time and I started to write my message and my internet went offline and I haven't been able to get back till now (evening). I was still logged in. LOL I would have thought it might have logged me off after a certain time, like 10 minutes.]

Moi, several other things that I would think about right now during this waxing time you're having...

Have you been experiencing more than your usual symptoms of any other conditions that you may have?

If so, then that might be something worth looking into as well. Sometimes treating the co-morbid or whatever else you may have had escallate recently can really help with calming down the tics. Also wondering if your renaissance isn't related to anything in particular, like unusual mood swings, that could be affecting? Sorry to ask such personal questions here.

Some people find that CBT (just an example, there are others) can help with certain symptoms and that in turn might create a less stressful day to day life and then the tics might calm down.

Also, have you had any changes in medication recently?
I have no idea if you take medications for anything, but some medications can affect the severity of tics. Some medication dosage changes can upset the apple cart too.

Do think about other things that might be affecting your level of tics right now because, esp. in people who have TS and comorbid conditions, sometimes working on balancing out other things, be it OC stuff or a number of other things can actually lead to some relief in intensity of the tics.

About the neck brace. Heck, something as you describe might just be a little rigid don't you think? I mean, the soft one can cushion but something really hard like that, esp. attached to your chin as well might cause more problems than it's worth.

Massage, as Doody mentioned is terrific. Actually giving a massage can help you relax as well.

I figure if you're in pain, get pain relief. I'm still not sure of seeing a chiropractor for any type of adjustment at this particular moment until you have xrays etc.. At this stage. I know chiros do other stuff and same with osteopaths. I have two concerns. One being that any type of manipulation or adjustment might only work for a minute or less if your tics are that severe right now.

Moi, you have more than one thing going on... There's the tics and whatever else, and there's the pain and potential for serious injury again and damage. Treat the pain, manage the symptoms, but also remember that if this is a regular waxing period of tics, then it will get better. But in the meantime you have to find out why you have the pain and itching. If this isn't like one of your regular waxing periods then I would be trying to figure out what needs attention to make it all change all of a sudden.

Easier said than done, I know.
You need to see the doctor to figure out if the tics have caused damage to your spine.
No amount of pain relief is going to get rid of the tics, but in the mean time you need to do something or take something for the pain because the more pain you have the more you will tic!

Just adding in here for the 5th edit... I have spinal issues, too numerous to ever mention, but I also have a carpel tunnel nerve entrapment (elbow) that causes me to have numb fingers and burning and itching. There are some really good illustrations in the TOS Forum btw which Jo posted.

Here's just one of them for example: http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post284498-35.html

I can't find the other ones I was specifically looking for I'm sorry. Will try again tomorrow.

AND

Just before anyone wonders what on earth we were doing "asking" Moi to get botox...

We didn't actually 'ask' Moi to get botox as in... Like "hey moi, how about some botox???" It was a serious endeavour for serious reasons and well and truly researched with a particular TS Specialist and then Moi did more investigations etc....

Botox has been used in specific and rare occasions to treat severe vocal tics. We're not talking about using something here for cosmetic reasons because we all know that Moi is pretty enough already (and younger too).

Moi was experiencing some very severe and long-lasting tics that were both painful and harmful to himself. At the time certain doctors had found that a few of their patients received some relief from severe vocal tics (even if somewhat temporary) with use of botox.