dolphinspirit

Matt, I will definitely let you know when I know more about the MRI. He told me the machine and study was coming in a couple of months. I figure even if the technology is too new to help me, maybe it will help others down the line. Your daughter sounds really lucky to have a father like you. I'm sure having a parent who is helpful and understanding makes a huge difference. Sandy

My appointment went a lot better than expected. The doctor I went to is supposedly one of the top motor disorder/tourettes researchers/doctors in the country. He said there's no doubt it's tourettes and that you don't have to have a "verbal", you just have to use your vocal chord area in your tics. I've had tics for 25 years. I ranked high on the tourettes scale (and the program created by tourettes doctors around the world to classify symptoms). He said a medication could make it stop but it only suppresses that part of your brain and you'll start doing it again as soon as you stop. And you could take it forever but they don't know the long-term side effects. I don't need it to totally go away, I just need it to change because this one's hurting my jaw so bad and giving me such bad headaches. So I'm going to try behavior modification therapy and if that doesn't work then I might take the medication just for a couple months to see if it lessens or changes the tic to something that doesn't hurt. He was all excited because all these movement disorder and tourettes organizations have all pitched in to have this multi-million dollar MRI machine built that only scans the brain for areas that generate the tourettes behavior. Washington University in Saint Louis is getting the machine for clinical tests and he needs to scan people's brains who have tourettes and have never taken medication. Apparently that's pretty rare, so my brain and DNA are a goldmine for him. I was very happy that he was open to non-medicinal treatments (even if he is a bit bias because of his research). I really liked him and I’m very glad I went. Sandy

Thank you all so much for the support and information. Carolyn, I will definitely look into seeing the doctor you recommended. I want to avoid medication, that's why I've waited this long to go see someone. My parents never took me to a doctor for any of the tics when I was younger. I'm afraid they had the philosophy of a lot of people who don't understand it... "why don't you just stop doing that." I ordered the book: Tics and Tourette's: Breakthrough Discoveries in Natural Treatments. After reading the information on this forum and learning about the alternative doctors, I actually have a lot of hope. Anyway, I go to the psychiatrist tomorrow and I feel I'm better prepared now. Thank you all very much. Sandy

Hi everyone. I'm new to the board. It's comforting to know there are so many great people out there dealing with similar issues. I'm 31 years old and have had terrible tics since I was a kid. They always involved doing a weird motion with my head, pressing in on my stomach while holding my breath, making my eyes go funny directions, and I could go on and on. They always changed over time. I have always done a lot of rituals too like pressing down on light switches after they are already off and emptying a cup after it's already empty. The rituals used to be worse but seem to have gotten better with age. Anyway, I'm a business person and it seems like as an adult, I do tics that aren't as noticeable to people, but that hurt me. I've been doing one for a long time now that involves a really abrasive holding/sucking/forcing my breath while pushing my jaw out. I have some tissue damage to my jaw and need this tic to stop or change. The pain from my jaw makes me go to bed sometimes because I just can't stop doing it and I have headaches all the time. I went to a psychologist a while back and he said I have Chronic Motor Disfunction (since I don't have a verbal he said it wasn't tourettes). He was no use and was using me as a guinea pig since he didn't specialize in tics. So now I'm going to a psychiatrist next week (I live in St. Louis and supposedly we have one of the top motor disorder centers in the country). Anyway, I was wondering if anyone could tell me what to expect. I tried the psychologist first because I knew they couldn't prescribe medication. I am so worried a psychiatrist will want to put me on drugs right away and I'm so scared they will make me not think clearly. Any advise or shared experiences would be appreciated. I wish all of you luck and peace. Sandy