Thursday, July 23, 2009

Tourette syndrome.

Tourette syndrome is a condition that affects a person's central nervous system and causes tics. Tics are unwanted twitches, movements, or sounds that people make. To have Tourette syndrome, a person must have two tics that affect body movement and one that is a sound.

If you are having trouble imagining what tics are like, they're kind of like hiccups. You don't plan them and you don't want them. You can try tricks to make the hiccups stop, like drinking water upside down, but you can't just decide to stop hiccuping. Hiccups that last too long can even start to hurt and feel uncomfortable. Tics can be like that, too.

Sometimes, tics can also be a little like "scratching an itch." You don't really want to scratch the itch, but you just can't help it. In these situations, a person has some control over the tic. The person feels an urge to make a movement or a sound before actually doing it. The person can even hold back the tic for a while. But eventually the person will have to let the tic out.

Who Gets Tourette Syndrome?

Tourette syndrome is more common than doctors once thought: It affects at least 1 in 1,000 to 2,000 people and maybe more. It is believed that about 100,000 Americans have Tourette syndrome. Many more may have other tic disorders that are less severe.

Tourette syndrome is more common in boys than in girls. It almost always starts before age 18 — usually between ages 5 and 7. Even though kids with Tourette syndrome can get better as they get older, many will always have it. The good news is that it won't make them sick or shorten their lives.

Sometimes a person with Tourette syndrome might have other conditions, like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or trouble learning.

Why Do People Get Tourette Syndrome?

Tourette syndrome is probably, in part, a genetic condition, which means that a person inherits it from his or her parents. Tourette syndrome is not contagious. You cannot catch it from someone who has it.

Doctors and scientists don't know the exact cause, but some research points to a problem with how nerves communicate in the brain. Neurotransmitters — chemicals in the brain that carry nerve signals from cell to cell — may play a role.

Tics

People with Tourette syndrome have motor tics and vocal tics. Motor tics are movements of the muscles, like blinking, head shaking, jerking of the arms, and shrugging. When a person with Tourette syndrome suddenly begins shrugging, he or she may not be doing it on purpose. This may be a motor tic.

Vocal tics are sounds that a person with Tourette syndrome might make with his or her voice. Throat clearing, grunting, and humming are all common vocal tics. A person with Tourette syndrome will sometimes have more than one type of tic happening at once. Tics can happen throughout the day, although they often occur less, or go away completely, when a person is concentrating (like working on a computer) or relaxing (like listening to music).

The type of tic often changes over time. The frequency of the tic — how often it happens — usually also changes. Tics are usually worse when a person is under stress, like when he or she is studying for a big test. Tics are often also worse when a person is excited or very energized about something, like at a birthday party or a sports activity. Tics can even occur when a person first falls asleep but usually diminish dramatically and disappear completely during the deeper stages of sleep.