Tourette Syndrome

Have you ever taken notice of someone repeating the same bodily movements that seemed to be forced or involuntary, such as an eye blink or nose twitch? Have they vocalized phrases that were blurted out, like grunting, throat clearing, shouting, or barking? If so, the person may be suffering from a neurological disorder called Tourette syndrome. Tourette syndrome is diagnosed once an individual exhibits these multiple motor or vocal tics for more than a year.

The causes of Tourette syndrome has yet to be established even though people have suffered with the disorder for centuries. However, evidence does show that the disorder roots from abnormal activity in a neurotransmitter called dopamine. Other neurotransmitters, like serotonin, may be involved as well. Genetics seems to play a part in the disorder, so it also seems to be inherited. Whether the individual is male or female influences the display of the gene.

If one parent has the disorder, there is a fifty percent chance that a child will inherit it. Inheriting the disorder is three times higher for a son than it is for a daughter. Emotional and physical health or external stress also contributes to the development of this disorder. Tics present more when one with the disorder undergoes stress, undue pressure or extreme fatigue. An internal feeling that is uncomfortable is relieved through the tic process.

Noradrenaline is said to be the most significant stimulate that causes the various tics because medications that imitate noadrenaline causes the involuntary behavior. Some people with underlying brain disorders, that are inherited from birth, can acquire this disorder. But the majority of people with Tourette do not have another underlying disorder. Also, people who have had brain infections, such as meningitis, have movements very similar to tics once they recover. But this is rare. Research is still being conducted on the causes of Tourette syndrome and there is hope that a cure will be discovered in the near future. Read the rest of this entry »

There is disagreement regarding the causes of Tourette’s Syndrome. In recent years, it has been more widely accepted that both genetic and environment factors play a role with Tourette’s patients. Studies have shows that vast majority of people with the disorder inherited it from their parents. However, the exact cause of the disorder is unknown.

It is believed that Tourette’s results from dysfunction in the cortical and subcortical regions of the brain. This causes circuit failures connecting the regions. The frontal cortex, thalamus, and basal ganglia are also involved. It is also thought that some types of obsessive-compulsive disorders are genetically linked to Tourette’s. However, a genetic relationship with other disorders has not been established.

Genetics definitely plays a role in Tourette’s. Statistics show that an individual with Tourette’s has about a fifty percent chance of passing it on to one of his or her children. However, not everyone who inherits the genetic predisposition will show symptoms of Tourette’s and very few children of people with the disorder require medical attention for the condition.

Tourette Syndrome is a disorder with variable expression. Some people have milder tic disorders that are transient. They may not be diagnosed with Tourette’s. Other individuals have more severe tics.

A person’s physical health, emotional health, or psychosocial factors can influence the severity of Tourette’s Syndrome. It has also been observed in some cases that autoimmune processes can affect the onset of tics and exacerbate them. Statistics show that males are also much more likely than females to suffer from the disorder. Read the rest of this entry »

Tourette syndrome, also known as Tourette’s syndrome or simply Tourette’s, is a brain disorder that affects connective in the hypothalamus region of the brain. Individuals with Tourette’s experience tics, which are body movements or sounds that occur unpredictably and intermittently.

A person with Tourette’s may exhibit normal behavior the vast majority of the time. However, the onset and amount of tics displayed is unpredictable and the quantity varies. Some days a person with Tourette’s may experience a great number of tics while the next day, they may experience only a few.

To be diagnosed with Tourette’s, the individual must experience both motor and vocal tics for an extended period of time. Shoulder shrugging, facial grimacing, eye blinking, and head jerking are motor tics. Examples of vocal tics would include sniffing, throat clearing, yelping, tongue clicking, and other noises.

Two of the most common tics for individuals with Tourette’s are throat clearing and eye blinking. Other tics people with Tourette’s experience include facial movements, coughing, humming, sniffing, grunting, and shoulder shrugging. Obsessions, compulsions, impulsivity, inattention, and mood variability can also be characteristics of the disorder.

Tourette’s is the most severe of spectrum of tic disorders. There are two categories of tics, simple and complex. Example of more complex motor tics would be smelling, jumping, touching other people or things, twirling about, or more rarely self-injurious actions such as hitting one’s own head as biting oneself. More complex vocal tics are using socially unacceptable words in public or uttering words or phrases out of context. This is known as coprolalia.

Coprolalia is the commonly associated symptom of Tourette’s as it is frequently used in portraying people with the disorder in movies, television, and other forms of media. Other symptoms of Tourette’s include echolalia, which is the repeating the words of other people, and palilalia, which is repeating one own words. Read the rest of this entry »