Tourette Syndrome

A nervous system disorder involving repetitive movements or unwanted sounds.
Tourette syndrome starts in childhood.
It involves uncontrollable repetitive movements or unwanted sounds (tics), such as repeatedly blinking the eyes, shrugging shoulders, or blurting out offensive words.
Treatment may include medication or psychological therapies.

 

Cluster Number:
Wiki Number: PW217
Diagnosis: Tourette Syndrome
US Patients: 1% of school children and adolescents
World Patients:
Sex Ratio:
Age Onset: Ages 5-7; increases to ages 8-12; then decreases for 2/3 dramatically, can have adult onset or adult recurrence from childhood
Brain Area: dysfunction in neural circuits around the basal ganglia, combines genetic and environmental factors; poor brain circuit connections
Symptoms: Motor tics and vocal tics with blinking, coughing, throat-clearing, sniffing, facial movements. Nearby muscles “urge” first for 90%
Progression: corprolalia (obscene, inappropriate or derogatory remarks) occurs in 10%,; obscene gestures may be “muscular tics” for a few
Causes: Heritable 10X-100X;forceps delivery, paternal age, pregnancy stress, tobacco, caffeine, alcohol or pot during pregnancy, premature
Medications: None
Therapies:

Youtube Video: How Tourette’s Syndrome Impacts My Life

Amazon or Library Book: Coping with Tourette Syndrome

Click the book to link or order from Amazon.

Support Group: tourette.org; 888-486-8738 (Tourette Association)

4 CURRENT ARTICLES
FROM PUBMED

The world-wide medical research
reports chosen for each diagnosis 

Clicking each title opens the
PubMed article’s summary-abstract.