Tourettes getting worse.

Hi, my tourettes is getting alot worse, non stop movements and frequent vocal tics, its getting to the point where my shoulders are in such great pain, each tic is agony, and i cant sleep most of the night, ive been on haliperidol for almost 5 years and its not realy working anymore. My life is quite stressful at the moment one of the main issues being my father with a brain tumour, and other things such as depression and an anxiety disorder, this may not help my ts at this present time. Im waiting for the local mental health service to refer me to the adult services as i recently turned 18, but theyre doing a very poor job of it its taken them months to actually acknowledge the fact i even needed to bee transferred. i was jsut wondering if anyone as experienced had any advice or experience on these sort of issues.

Any response would be muchly appreciated.

Thanks

Dave.

Hi, I have been diagnosed with tourettes for a long time now, i am currently 17 and have been taking haloperidol for 9 year. I have noticed myself that i seem to be taking the medication and it works for a while or sometimes not at all, i usually just up the dose and take more even though you are not supposed to, sometimes this works though. I am currently waiting for a letter from the hospital about my medication as the side effects of the haloperidol are getting me down and i feel this is making my tourettes worse as well. Do you feel the same way?

I have tourettes. I am an Aspie. I highly suspect OCD on a slight level. But I don't take pharmaceuticals, as I have decided by the age of 10 or 11 that it isn't for me. I would suggest an activity therapy like word math (using the mathematics table on a word basis) to help yourself get to know yourself better and better understand others, therefore reducing the effect of tourettes. Also, think about becoming involved in sports, as you're actively engaging your mind. Other than that, that's the best I have atm.

Sounds like a sketchy thing but I think marijuana may be a perfectly valid option. I tried using it (not abusing) for a bit and it made the tics disappear for a solid two hours or so at a time. They eventually came back but not as harsh, until I had stopped using it for a month or so (perhaps the time it takes to leave the body). If nothing else it can be seen as a "time out" to relax the muscles and re-cooperate for a little while.

In all honesty, I think that the best course of action for tourettes and other types of stimming (like Asperger's) regarding marijuana is to take it for a week/few days on, same off, over a number of months. This will possibly allow your body to develop methods and thought processes to divert such tics. Plus, you might even enjoy the buzz.

Myself, I have used marijuana for multiple years with various results, and through experience I can suggest a number of things you might want to consider, like:
-strains of cannabis, and sativa/indica considerations
-mental addictions, and your resistance to them
-mental stability, as using marijuana might cause you to panic or become paranoid after extended usage
-social understanding of other, and your own involvement
-method of consumption
-and if necessary, say there's a trait you don't agree with, just how much you're willing to burn/digest/vaporize/absorb into your skin (there's creams available at legal dispensaries), or if it's the right method of treatment for yourself.

These are all difficult decisions, and it is just as likely to make it worse as better if you abuse your intake. Rest assured though, there is no measure that is too much for the human body to keel over with, as you would pass out long before you could ingest or inhale enough considering the current methods of consumption are limited. Nobody has died yet to an overdose that is known of, unless there is a possibly of an allergy (over a hundred die from peanuts a year, for comparison...damn you Mr. Peanut!!!).

Hi,

I have been living with tourettes for a while.. and to me he's like a little friend that comes out to bother me.. im 21. and my tourettes are usually under control.. my family and relatives dont understand and well, they are too ignorant to find out more.. they just think i have a defect. i dont get affected much, just weird stares and stuff.. mine are like sniffles, n twitches in my fingers, continuous jerking of my neck and shoulders and my eyes tend to blink alot. it gets really uncomfortable and i feel that i cant breathe and losing control. most people around me dont know whats going on with me.. coupled with anxiety disorder, it gets rather hard.. i get it real bad when im emotional or especially tired.. and so i try to keep all these under control. i find it best to take a deep breath and try to clear my mind.

Hey, i'm 23 and i've had ts since i was 9. Weed works in the short term but you can develop long term psychiatric symptoms that we are more susceptible too (i learned this the hard way and now have a few comorbid conditions,) I wouldnt recommend using anything thats unregulated anyway (you can get a nug laced with pcp for example.)

So don't turn to illegal drugs as an escape.
What i've noticed is that stress has a direct correlation to tic symptoms and i believe ts is a response to environmental stimuli in its main capacity. So take a meditation course, work out, masturbate, basically do everything in your power to reduce your stress. I do will power exercises that help me condition my tics. for example, when one muscle group is aching from the pain of ticing for so long try to condition yourself so that each time you experience a tic in that muscle you consciously snuff that tic and tic somewhere else. Channeling tics in this manner is a most powerful ally. Im sure this doesnt need to be said but get aware of camouflaging your tics. I used to tic my middle fingers so to satisfy the sensation i would stretch out all my fingers and really harp on the middle digits. Now my tics are for the most part under control, i still have a few in my jaw but i've completely mastered my phonic tics and made them inaudible. When people ask me what it feels like to snuff a tic i say "next time your nose itches put your finger right above the itch but dont scratch it and wait till it goes away. Then imagine it comes back in a few seconds or moments depending on the frequency of that tic." its tough to do but it is possible.

Most of all keep your head up and stay strong. If someone gives you an ignorant dirty look ###$ em, they're not worth your time anyway and they dont have half the mental fortitude you do.
-Andrew

Hey, I am 30 and it seems like the more stress and anxiety I have the more persistent I tic. I would not recommend any of the medicines that I have tried because they all made me crazy, but I see Dr. Jankovic at the Baylor Medical Center in Houston Texas. He is the best specialized Dr. in movement disorders mainly Parkinsons and TS. I take 3 1 mg xanax a day and have been since I was 21. It helps a lot but you have to be careful because the medicine is addicting. I have to be careful myself because if I take enough than the tics go away altogether, but that is a very unsafe and very short term solution. But it is an idea.

Read my post under 'The cure for tourettes'?

I don't know if I'd say mine has gotten worse but it has become more problematic as I get older. It's become harder to function as I'm not an adult no longer living with my parents. They split up so it's not like I can go running back to them whenever I feel I need to. I'm surviving on very little money from the state at the moment. I can't seem to find a job. It's so hard to maintain my composure with so many obstacles pressing on me.