Tourette Syndrome
By Patrick Geary
What is Tourette Syndrome?
Target Population
- Kids often show the signs of tics at ages 6 or 7, and in many cases the tics lower significantly as they get into the teenage years.
- Men are 3 to 4 more times likely to have Tourette’s.
- As stated by Lawrence Scahill, who studies neuropsychiatric disorders at Yale Child Study Center, a possible lower bound for the syndrome is 1 in 1000 people and a possible upper bound is 1 in 100.
Identical twins often share Tourette syndrome, but in about 20% of cases one has the syndrome and the other does not. Even when both have tourette's, their actions with the syndrome can be different. The the lighter twin at birth often has more serious symptoms.
Onset
Diagnosis
Signs & Symptoms
Tics like blinking and shrugging
Blurting out profanities
Both motor and vocal tics
To have the symptom tic must be:
Be present for more than 1 year
Start before age 18
Not absent at any time for more than 3 months
Not be due to a physiological cause like substances or a medical condition
Motor tics include:
Simple actions like eye blinking, head jerking, arm or shoulder shrugging
Complex actions like jumping, smelling, touching things or other people, twirling around
Vocal tics include:
Simple actions like throat clearing, coughing, sniffing, grunting, yelping, barking
Complex action like saying words or phrases that do not make sense in a given situation, saying obscene or socially unacceptable words—called coprolalia
Treatment
Connections
I do not know anyone with Tourette’s, but Everton/American National Team goalie, Tim Howard, has the disorder. I picked this condition because I have heard a lot about it, and I wanted to learn more.
Works Cited
Olson, Steve. "Making Sense Of Tourette's." Science 305.5689 (2004): 1390. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 28
Jan. 2016.
Rosenblum, Laurie, MPH. “ Tourette Syndrome: TS.” Conditions & Procedures InBrief, 1 Jan. 2015. Consumer Health
Complete- Ebscohost. Web. 28 Jan. 2016.
"Tourette Syndrome." Overview. 21 Nov. 2015. Web. 28 Jan. 2016.