Tourette syndrome

Have you seen people doing weird actions repeatedly? These people might suffering from a mental illness called Tourette syndrome. We can't deny the fact that we also have our own mannerisms but we can control it if we want to. Tourette syndrom is different from a normal mannerism, it is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder that causes a person to make repeated and uncontrolled  rapid movements and sounds called tics.

Tourette syndrome (simply called Tourette's or TS) is named after a French Physician and neurologist, Georges Gilles de la Tourette, who first describe this disorder in 1885.

Tourette syndrome is passed down through families, although the exact causes is still unknown. A person with Tourette's has about a 50% chance of passing the genes to of his/her children, a condition of variable expression and incomplete penetrace. Between 1 and 10 children per 1,000 have TS; as many as 10 per 1,000 people may have tic disorders, with the more common tics of eye blinking, coughing, throat clearing, sniffing and facial movements.

Tourette's doesn't affect intelligence and life expectancy. Some people with TS are able to hold back their tics, but this only leads to a stronger outburst of tics once they are finally allowed to be expressed.

Symtoms:

Early symptoms of Tourette syndrom can be seen during childhood, between ages 7 and 10.

The most common symptoms of TS are usually facial tics - commonly eye blinking. However, facial tics also include nose twitching or grimaces. With time, other motor tics may develop such as head jerking, neck stretching, foot stamping, or body twisting and bending.

Some people with TS may utter strange and unusual sounds, words or phrases then continuously clear his/her throat, cough, sniff, grunt, yelp, bark or shout.

Tics may occur many times a day, but they tend to improve or get worse at different times. The tics may change with time.

This is Jaylan Arnold, he has Tourette Syndrome.

Treatment:

There are no specific medical or screening tests that can be applied in treating TS. In addition, all medications might just bring side effects which may worsen his/her current condition. Instead, there are available medications that may able to help reduce specific symptoms.

Deep brain stimulation(DBS) has given encouraging results both for the main symptoms of Tourette syndrome and for the associated obsessive-compulsive mannerisms. 

Fact: Tourette syndrome is four times as likely to occur in boys as in girls.

References: Wikipedia , NBCI , Tourette-syndrome