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WHAT IS TOURETTES?
Tourettes is a neurological condition that affects the nervous system, which causes sudden jerky 'tics' or uncontrolled movement and outbursts of speech which can be offensive. (1) Tourettes usually develops in young children and is carried on and exaggerates into adulthood. It often comes hand in hand with OCD too. (1)The name 'Tourettes actually comes from the 19th century, after a french doctor called 'George Gilles de la Tourette saw the symptoms, identified and named the disorder
(1) As for the tics that I mentioned, the verbalized tics can be grunts, clicks, moans, coughing or even shouting random aggressive words that are not necessarily usual for the person. such as impulsive swearing ect.
The other symptom is physical tics, such as kicking, fidgeting, slapping themselves, (1)jerking of the head or jumping up and down. The list is endless. Some sufferers only exhibit one of these traits, whereas it is common for both to be seen. However the symptoms do not have to be so severe; they could be as simple as small sounds or movements. Or it could be more severe; entirely subject to the individual. (1) These tics are not life threatening by any means - but can prove painful or uncomfortable (such as the head jerking) and Adults with Tourettes may end up feeling embarrassed or self conscious about their disorder.
(1)"ticks are rapid repetitive, involuntary muscle contractions"
WHY DO PEOPLE HAVE TOURETTES?
(1)The reason for Tourettes is unknown - there's speculation it possibly has something to do with the part of the brain called the 'Basil Ganglia', which is the part that controls bodily movements. The Basil Ganglia is thought to send out the wrong signals, resulting in the 'tics'. Tourettes can not be cured, as far as we know, but there is medical help to treat it and manage it. (2) It is known however, that it can be hereditary. (2) There is also speculation that a thing as simple as a common sore throat could trigger early stages of tourettes. (2)Your body produces the anti-bodies to fight the infection, but they accidentally start attacking parts of your brain instead, affecting how your brain functions.
There are two types of therapy available to help sufferers:
(1)There's 'Habit reversal therapy' - which is about looking closely at the triggers and when the ticks happen and trying to figure out prevention for those triggers
(1)And Exposure with Response prevention (ERP) - which is almost like increasing the trigger that make the tic happen, and trying to make the sufferer immune by holding on as long as they can.
If both of these fail, there's always the medication - muscle relaxants and Dopamine comes into play again. In rare circumstances surgery might be suggested, though it is incredibly rare. ADHD and OCD came come hand in hand with this disorder too. (1)Children with Tourettes may fly into sudden rages and display anti-social behavior towards other people if these other disorders are present.
After displaying the disorder for ten years after the symptoms started, two thirds of sufferers start to improve. (1)Tourettes syndrome can affect more people than you might think - 1 in 100 people will have it, and the symptoms usually start around the age of 7, but become more apparent in the ages between 10-11.
(2)over 300,0000 people have Tourettes, in the UK. There are simple tics which can include; coughing, sneezing, squeaking, blowing, screaming, to the more complex tics, such as swearing, saying the same phrase over and over, and repeating what others may say. Tics happen in certain situations that the sufferer may find particularly stressful. (2)It tends to be stress that sets them off on the majority. But feeling ill, tired or anxious can also lead to triggers.
(2)The different types of Tourettes have different names; for the sufferers that copy other people and recreate and repeat whatever physical movement the other person does, is called 'Echopraxia' . This can appear in one of two ways- delayed or immediate. With immediate Echopraxia, actions are copied pretty much right after the person performs them; whereas with delayed Echopraxia, the action may not be repeated for perhaps hours,days or even weeks after.
(2) The other type is called 'Echolalia' which is a lot like Echopraxia except this one is with words instead of actions
(10) Coprolalia - swearing and blurting out rude words or insults.
(2)The final one is called 'Palilalia' which is when the sufferer blurts out phrases as opposed to just single words.
(2)A lot of people with tourettes find it hard to focus at school and may get constant mood swings, which may result in them being rude to people around them unintentionally.
(2) Sometimes people get misdiagnosed with tourettes. You have to rule out any of the coinciding conditions before you can properly decided whether someone has tourettes or not. You have to rule out Autism (which affects behaviors anyway) and Dystonia - which is a condition that makes the sufferer have unintentional and unusual body and muscle spasms.
(3) People with tourettes cannot simply 'hide their tics'. It takes a lot of effort and hard work to help them live in a normal society, in severe cases. Some people with Tourettes have suppressed the need for them to have these tics for as long as they can, until they can't help it anymore - it has to happen. So it does, even if they don't want it to.
(4) Children as you can imagine get bullied a lot - but having tourettes just makes them even more of a target! Children with tourettes need a tolerant and understanding environment to thrive in. Its not going to help them if people/other children keep pointing out their flaws and ridiculing them. They KNOW they're different. they KNOW they can't stop the strange behavior - if they had the choice, do you think they would be like that? The best thing you can do if someone you know, or someone in your class has tourettes, is to be understanding and kind. (5)In fact, as mentioned before about suppressing the tics; if a child at school has to try and suppress their tics until they get to a safer environment (home) they suddenly relax - and ALL the tics almost come at once. They flood out. The longer they are suppressed, the more readily they'll happen when the child is relaxed.
(6) I found a website which had an interview on with a sufferer of tourettes and his story. His name is Tom Baker and he is twenty and from Liverpool. He carries something called a 'Tourettes action ID card (7) which is a card, similar to credit cards in size and shape, that you keep in your wallet/purse. The aim of the card is to show it to people when you go into Pubs, restaurants - anywhere really. You may not want to go into the story of your tourettes or even divulge personal information about yourself to someone you don't know. So the card has a passport sized picture of the holder on it, and clearly states you have been diagnosed with tourettes. (7) A lot of people using the cards have said it makes them feel a lot more comfortable going into public places.
Tom Baker says (6)"I want people to understand how much of a struggle it can be for us" His interview went on to say sometimes his behavior can result in awkward public situations. He also said he is so proud to be working for the 'Fixers' website, as he feels he is helping to raise awareness about this serious issue. Not many people know much about tourettes - and his job is to change that. (6) Tom Baker also said that his Touretttes in particular always comes across as him being aggressive - but that is not the case. In his short film that was alongside his interview, it started with him on the train, swearing in front of a woman and her kids. She gave him weird looks and pulled her daughters closer to her; thus proving the lack of understanding about this disorder. He said (6) his tics can be exhausting and just while he was walking down the street, his head was twitching and he blinked repetitively.
(6)He said 'People often treat me differently because they think I am either drunk or anti-social. They are afraid I might hurt them as I am not in control of my own behavior."
In his interview he said that he wished that there was an on/off button for his tourettes outburst, but he knows there Isn't. Therefore he has to accept its just who he is; which is why he wanted to make the short film. He said that he intends to visit schools to teach others more about his condition.
(8) I found a short documentary video about a young boy who has tourettes. The caption for the video was 'so f****** funny, you'll cry' - which immediately drew my attention, as I was curious to see how on earth tourettes would be called funny in any way. It opened with a comedian on a stage at the Apollo theater - joking around, saying tourettes is just people with predictive text verbally and they just couldn't turn it off. People laughed and had a good old chuckle, but the next part of the video was just so sad! The young boy was curled up on a chair on a public bus, trying to hide his face from people next to him. He kept jerking and swearing loudly and involuntarily, and you could see he was obviously embarrassed! This is nothing to be joked about. It's a serious disorder that can affect people's lives.
When the sister(who was filming the video) recorded herself chatting with her brother, the brother said
(8) 'If I make a noise, and it doesn't sound right - like it did in my head, I have to do it again until it does sound right'.
In the video it was incredibly disturbing and sad to see how much this disorder affected this young boy's life. His sister videoed him just doing everything things, such as watching TV, drinking a cup of tea, and trying to eat a yogurt. Everything was impeded by these constant jerking movements he did. It was similar to how a newborn baby might move- throwing their heads back and uncontrolled expressions. It really puts things into perspective. If you saw someone with tourettes out and about, you may think, as (6)Tom Baker said, that they are being aggressive or anti-social. But when you see these symptoms carry on at home, and how frustrated it makes the individual, its heartbreaking. He tried to eat a bowl of noodles, and just before he could close his mouth around his fork, his arms flew out, sending food all over himself. He must get so angry that he can't control himself! But he just carried on eating. There was a clip of him at the hospital, looking like he was having a seizure - he was going berserk on the bed. He needed strong sedatives to calm him down and four people to hold him down. (8) It took three sets of sedatives before he was calm enough to be aloud home. While he was on the hospital bed you could see him crying while he was struggling to suppress the movements. I started to tear up watching this, It is just so sad. (8)The sister made the film to shock all those people who laugh at tourettes and think its funny. She stood up for him and that I think is admirable and so sweet. Now he goes to college three times a week and leads as close to a normal life as he can.
(9) Another documentary I looked at showed what life was like for a few different people with tourettes. A woman called Jess Tom (from London) kept shouting the word ' biscuit!' over and over. Better than swearing but when asked 'why biscuit?' she doesn't know. (9) Her tics are so severe that she has to stay in a wheelchair when out and about or walking for long periods of time and she could seriously hurt herself. She also has to wear padded gloves to protect her knuckles as she bashes her fists into her chest a lot. Her chest no longer bruises as its gotten used to the punishment, but if she didn't wear the gloves her knuckles would erode and crack. When Jess is having her tics, they can appear like seizures and are quite scary.
(9)Another Woman called 'Ruth Jadi' (from East London) described having tourettes as like "really needing to sneeze; its going to happen, so just let it. It's going to come out anyway. Or its like a fizzy can, that you're shaking. You want to keep hold of it, but know its going to explode, so you know you have to let it go."
Ruth was shown walking along the subways in London, display characteristics of Palilalia and coprolalia tourettes. She also said she had Echolalia too.
Luke Montek lives in Liverpool was displaying signs of Echolalia and coprolalia tourettes - when asked a question, he had so many facial and verbal tics to do, it took him a while to reply. Luke ha turned his disorder into a money maker. He is a comedian that 'exposes the lighter side of his tourettes'. However when he's not being center of attention for that - in every day life he can't stand people looking at him. At the end of the day its a relief to be home and away from people staring.
Luke, Jess and Ruth all find their tourettes make their lives incredibly difficult.
(9)When Ruth was asked about whether she can control her arms she said 'No - my arms do exactly what they want to do'. Ruth limits the time she spends out and about around other people to limit her embarrassment. (9)She said one not so nice experience she had, when she had first been diagnosed with Tourettes, was that she and her sister went to a restaurant. She didn't really want to go but her sister insisted - then when they finished and were leaving, Ruth got to the car first and was getting impatient because her sister was taking too long in the restaurant - turns out her sister had had to explain to a random man in the restaurant why Ruth was behaving the way she did and he apparently went 'oh....what a shame.' (9)She really doesn't want that stigma related to her. Ruth said its hard to tell people "you know what, actually I'm okay, i'm living my life to the fullest - its just humanity but in a different way. It does cripple you emotionally though. You have anxiety and depression too. It's never going to get cured." (9) The interesting thing however is that when she sings, Ruth's tourettes doesn't seem to bother her. She's learnt to sing when cleaning the bathroom and such - as it prevents her knocking over things and it takes half the time to do - so she's creating coping strategies for herself.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOURETTES?
(2)over 300,0000 people have Tourettes, in the UK. There are simple tics which can include; coughing, sneezing, squeaking, blowing, screaming, to the more complex tics, such as swearing, saying the same phrase over and over, and repeating what others may say. Tics happen in certain situations that the sufferer may find particularly stressful. (2)It tends to be stress that sets them off on the majority. But feeling ill, tired or anxious can also lead to triggers.(2)The different types of Tourettes have different names; for the sufferers that copy other people and recreate and repeat whatever physical movement the other person does, is called 'Echopraxia' . This can appear in one of two ways- delayed or immediate. With immediate Echopraxia, actions are copied pretty much right after the person performs them; whereas with delayed Echopraxia, the action may not be repeated for perhaps hours,days or even weeks after.
(2) The other type is called 'Echolalia' which is a lot like Echopraxia except this one is with words instead of actions
(10) Coprolalia - swearing and blurting out rude words or insults.
(2)The final one is called 'Palilalia' which is when the sufferer blurts out phrases as opposed to just single words.
(2)A lot of people with tourettes find it hard to focus at school and may get constant mood swings, which may result in them being rude to people around them unintentionally.
(2) Sometimes people get misdiagnosed with tourettes. You have to rule out any of the coinciding conditions before you can properly decided whether someone has tourettes or not. You have to rule out Autism (which affects behaviors anyway) and Dystonia - which is a condition that makes the sufferer have unintentional and unusual body and muscle spasms.
(3) People with tourettes cannot simply 'hide their tics'. It takes a lot of effort and hard work to help them live in a normal society, in severe cases. Some people with Tourettes have suppressed the need for them to have these tics for as long as they can, until they can't help it anymore - it has to happen. So it does, even if they don't want it to.
(4) Children as you can imagine get bullied a lot - but having tourettes just makes them even more of a target! Children with tourettes need a tolerant and understanding environment to thrive in. Its not going to help them if people/other children keep pointing out their flaws and ridiculing them. They KNOW they're different. they KNOW they can't stop the strange behavior - if they had the choice, do you think they would be like that? The best thing you can do if someone you know, or someone in your class has tourettes, is to be understanding and kind. (5)In fact, as mentioned before about suppressing the tics; if a child at school has to try and suppress their tics until they get to a safer environment (home) they suddenly relax - and ALL the tics almost come at once. They flood out. The longer they are suppressed, the more readily they'll happen when the child is relaxed.
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| Characteristics into concept designs for characters |
LIVING WITH TOURETTES
Tom Baker says (6)"I want people to understand how much of a struggle it can be for us" His interview went on to say sometimes his behavior can result in awkward public situations. He also said he is so proud to be working for the 'Fixers' website, as he feels he is helping to raise awareness about this serious issue. Not many people know much about tourettes - and his job is to change that. (6) Tom Baker also said that his Touretttes in particular always comes across as him being aggressive - but that is not the case. In his short film that was alongside his interview, it started with him on the train, swearing in front of a woman and her kids. She gave him weird looks and pulled her daughters closer to her; thus proving the lack of understanding about this disorder. He said (6) his tics can be exhausting and just while he was walking down the street, his head was twitching and he blinked repetitively.
(6)He said 'People often treat me differently because they think I am either drunk or anti-social. They are afraid I might hurt them as I am not in control of my own behavior."
In his interview he said that he wished that there was an on/off button for his tourettes outburst, but he knows there Isn't. Therefore he has to accept its just who he is; which is why he wanted to make the short film. He said that he intends to visit schools to teach others more about his condition.
(8) I found a short documentary video about a young boy who has tourettes. The caption for the video was 'so f****** funny, you'll cry' - which immediately drew my attention, as I was curious to see how on earth tourettes would be called funny in any way. It opened with a comedian on a stage at the Apollo theater - joking around, saying tourettes is just people with predictive text verbally and they just couldn't turn it off. People laughed and had a good old chuckle, but the next part of the video was just so sad! The young boy was curled up on a chair on a public bus, trying to hide his face from people next to him. He kept jerking and swearing loudly and involuntarily, and you could see he was obviously embarrassed! This is nothing to be joked about. It's a serious disorder that can affect people's lives.
When the sister(who was filming the video) recorded herself chatting with her brother, the brother said
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| (13) The young boy in the middle of his involuntarily movements. |
(8) 'If I make a noise, and it doesn't sound right - like it did in my head, I have to do it again until it does sound right'.
In the video it was incredibly disturbing and sad to see how much this disorder affected this young boy's life. His sister videoed him just doing everything things, such as watching TV, drinking a cup of tea, and trying to eat a yogurt. Everything was impeded by these constant jerking movements he did. It was similar to how a newborn baby might move- throwing their heads back and uncontrolled expressions. It really puts things into perspective. If you saw someone with tourettes out and about, you may think, as (6)Tom Baker said, that they are being aggressive or anti-social. But when you see these symptoms carry on at home, and how frustrated it makes the individual, its heartbreaking. He tried to eat a bowl of noodles, and just before he could close his mouth around his fork, his arms flew out, sending food all over himself. He must get so angry that he can't control himself! But he just carried on eating. There was a clip of him at the hospital, looking like he was having a seizure - he was going berserk on the bed. He needed strong sedatives to calm him down and four people to hold him down. (8) It took three sets of sedatives before he was calm enough to be aloud home. While he was on the hospital bed you could see him crying while he was struggling to suppress the movements. I started to tear up watching this, It is just so sad. (8)The sister made the film to shock all those people who laugh at tourettes and think its funny. She stood up for him and that I think is admirable and so sweet. Now he goes to college three times a week and leads as close to a normal life as he can.
(9) Another documentary I looked at showed what life was like for a few different people with tourettes. A woman called Jess Tom (from London) kept shouting the word ' biscuit!' over and over. Better than swearing but when asked 'why biscuit?' she doesn't know. (9) Her tics are so severe that she has to stay in a wheelchair when out and about or walking for long periods of time and she could seriously hurt herself. She also has to wear padded gloves to protect her knuckles as she bashes her fists into her chest a lot. Her chest no longer bruises as its gotten used to the punishment, but if she didn't wear the gloves her knuckles would erode and crack. When Jess is having her tics, they can appear like seizures and are quite scary.
(9)Another Woman called 'Ruth Jadi' (from East London) described having tourettes as like "really needing to sneeze; its going to happen, so just let it. It's going to come out anyway. Or its like a fizzy can, that you're shaking. You want to keep hold of it, but know its going to explode, so you know you have to let it go."
Ruth was shown walking along the subways in London, display characteristics of Palilalia and coprolalia tourettes. She also said she had Echolalia too.
Luke Montek lives in Liverpool was displaying signs of Echolalia and coprolalia tourettes - when asked a question, he had so many facial and verbal tics to do, it took him a while to reply. Luke ha turned his disorder into a money maker. He is a comedian that 'exposes the lighter side of his tourettes'. However when he's not being center of attention for that - in every day life he can't stand people looking at him. At the end of the day its a relief to be home and away from people staring.
Luke, Jess and Ruth all find their tourettes make their lives incredibly difficult.
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(9)"Any other disorder and people can use empathy and take it seriously, but when it comes to Tourettes, people just grin and laugh at you" - Ruth Jadi
(9)When asked if there was a cure found, would he be cured - Luke Montek said "No I would not ask for the cure as It's part of me - it's who I am and I don't see why I should change because others have a problem with it"
I watched a few documentary's on tourettes - but every sufferer's story is similar - people see them as mad, rude - bizarre. I will list below in the references the other documentary's I watched and think people should look at if they want a closer understanding on the disorder. I found it all quite interesting and saddening.
References for Tourettes
(1)http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/tourette-syndrome/Pages/introduction.aspx
(2)http://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/tourettes.html
(3)http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tourette/detail_tourette.htm
(4)http://www.gosh.nhs.uk/medical-information-0/search-medical-conditions/tourette-syndrome
(5)http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Tourette-syndrome/Pages/Symptoms.aspx
(6)http://www.fixers.org.uk/news/9034-11208/living-with-tourette-s.php?gclid=Cj0KEQjw_eu8BRDC-YLHusmTmMEBEiQArW6c-P1omzr9-EIX5n91o4jG79sNirojWWpOvDPfONmHmagaAnxU8P8HAQ
(7)http://www.tourettes-action.org.uk/12-ta-id-cards.html
(8)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa-F4mcrgoA
(9)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYRa-fpNonY
(10)http://www.njcts.org/tsparents/coprolalia-part-1-the-nature-of-coprolalia
(11)http://blogs.plos.org/neuroanthropology/2012/05/16/not-allowed-to-have-a-small-heart-tourette-syndrome/
(12)http://blog.deeperquestions.com/blog/the-deeper-meaning-of-tourette%E2%80%99s-syndrome/
(13)http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/04/20/tourettes-syndrome-video-mason-hannon_n_7098962.html
(14)http://www.brainbalancecenters.com/blog/2012/01/signs-and-symptoms-of-tourette-syndrome/
Additional documentries I watched
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOYaOvyPwr4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtCUYUBOnzk
(2)http://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/tourettes.html
(3)http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tourette/detail_tourette.htm
(4)http://www.gosh.nhs.uk/medical-information-0/search-medical-conditions/tourette-syndrome
(5)http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Tourette-syndrome/Pages/Symptoms.aspx
(6)http://www.fixers.org.uk/news/9034-11208/living-with-tourette-s.php?gclid=Cj0KEQjw_eu8BRDC-YLHusmTmMEBEiQArW6c-P1omzr9-EIX5n91o4jG79sNirojWWpOvDPfONmHmagaAnxU8P8HAQ
(7)http://www.tourettes-action.org.uk/12-ta-id-cards.html
(8)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa-F4mcrgoA
(9)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYRa-fpNonY
(10)http://www.njcts.org/tsparents/coprolalia-part-1-the-nature-of-coprolalia
(11)http://blogs.plos.org/neuroanthropology/2012/05/16/not-allowed-to-have-a-small-heart-tourette-syndrome/
(12)http://blog.deeperquestions.com/blog/the-deeper-meaning-of-tourette%E2%80%99s-syndrome/
(13)http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/04/20/tourettes-syndrome-video-mason-hannon_n_7098962.html
(14)http://www.brainbalancecenters.com/blog/2012/01/signs-and-symptoms-of-tourette-syndrome/
Additional documentries I watched
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOYaOvyPwr4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtCUYUBOnzk
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