Tourette Syndrome
Signs and Symptoms
The main symptoms of Tourette Syndrome is the presence of two types of
tics, motor or vocal tics.
Characteristics of tics:
- Tics can become more severe, more frequent or longer when the person
is under a lot of stress.
- Tics can be suppressed for a short period of time, but the tension
builds up and eventually will be released through a tic.
- Tics often subside during activities that demand attention and deep
concentration and decline during sleep.
- A tic can be controlled for a short period of time, but it requires
a lot of energy and concentration. Attention focused on other activities
(having a conversation or paying attention to a teacher in class) could
be seriously impaired as the subject attempts to exert control over
their tic.
- Tics can be divided in two distinct categories: simple tic
and complex tic.
Motor
Tics
Motor tics develop as sudden, rapid, recurrent, involuntary
muscles movements in the head and facial area. There are two
types of motor tics: simple tics and complex tics. Simple
motor tics involve an abrupt, brief, isolated movement
of a small number of muscles or limited muscles groups.This
category of tics includes: eye blinking, facial grimacing, facial
twitching, neck stretching, shoulder shrugging, head or shoulder
jerking.
Complex motor tics involve distinct movement
patterns of several groups of muscles. This category of tics
includes: repetitive squatting, skipping, or hopping, repetitive
touching of others, deep knee bending, jumping, smelling of
objects, hand gesturing, head shaking, leg kicking, or turning
in a circle.
Motor tics can spread to other regions of the body (shoulders,
arms, legs and torso area), but the anatomical location of the
tics can change over the time. It is not common for tics to
evolve into complex form of manifestation as self-injury behaviors,
like excessive scratching or lip biting. |
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Vocal Tics
Vocal tics are sudden, involuntary, recurrent vocalizations. Vocal tics
occur as single, simple sounds (grunting, throat clearing, sighing, barking,
hissing, sniffing, tongue clicking, or snorting) in the beginning and
can evolve to a more complex forms. Complex vocal tics involve palilalia
(repeating certain phrases or words out of context), echolalia (repeating
the last words or phrases spoken by others) or coprolalia (explosive cursing
or compulsive utterance of obscene words or phrases).
Associated Disorders
Teenagers with Tourette Syndrome may develop associated behavior problems
including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD - a
neurological disorder characterized by limited ability to focus, impulsive
behavior and overactivity), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD - a disorder
characterized by repeated or compulsive actions or rituals), learning
disabilities and sleeping problems.
TS Disorder Progression
Tourette Syndrome' symptoms evolve from simple to complex and from motor
tics to vocal tics. They first occur in the head and neck region and can
spread to more muscle groups from other area of the body including trunk
and extremities. Patients that develop TS syndrome display a combination/
cluster of different motor and vocal tics.
Tics can occur once or many times during the day and they follow a waxing
and waning course decreasing or increasing in frequency and intensity.
Tics are more severe in the first years after the onset of the syndrome
and starting with the mid-teen to the late teen years and early adulthood
the tics improve for the majority of the patient. Although Tourette syndrome
is a chronic disorder with life long symptoms, there are patients that
may have weeks or even years with few or no symptoms.
Only 10% of the patients affected by Tourette syndrome have a progressive
course that lasts into adult years. For most patients, symptoms may completely
resolve during adulthood.
Tourrette's is sometimes mistakenly spelled Turrets Syndrome, or Turretts
Syndrome.
Article by Alina Morrow, MS
Medical Writer,
OmniMedicalSearch.com
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