Valhariel

Thanks....I appreciate the advice. I'd like to find a specialist about it and get their opinion but I don't have any health insurance since I come from a very poor family....getting the best treatment isn't much of an option for me right now. That's why I'm looking at the supplements as an alternative...I went to GNC today and bought some l-carnitine but haven't started taking it yet...I plan to go back to my family doctor sometime in the next couple of weeks and seeing what he thinks. He isn't really familiar with Tourette's though and is mostly going by what his medical references say....I don't want to seem presumptuous and start telling him how to direct my treatment though. The Clonidine isn't working, though, so I need to look to a different treatment option. If anyone has some advice on how I might be able to proceed, please let me know. I'm very depressed about my condition since it makes it difficult for me to even relax at home, with my upstairs neighbors being up in arms about it. Thanks for the help, though, it really means a lot to me.

Hi everyone...I just signed up for this board since I was surfing the net looking for a resource that might be able to give me some insight on how to approach my problem. I am a 20 year old college junior and I recently had the courage to go to the doctor and have my condition checked out and, lo, I was diagnosed with Tourette's. Basically, I've suffered from it since I was at least 10 or 11....it started out with facial grimaces but escalated to odd hand movements and other such things like that. When I was 13, I started having a vocal tic where I make a barking type sound and something that sounds like a whimper. This particular tic is the one that has caused me the most problems over the years...the motor tics have come and gone and are only barely noticable for me now. The vocals, however, have only gotten worse...it seemed like they lessened over the past couple of years but they have recently come back, as bad as ever, if not worse. I can handle the whole accepting it deal, since I've come to terms with the fact I have Tourette's, but my big problem is that I live in an apartment complex and my upstairs neighbor has been complaining lately about the noise, something I really can't help. I'm taking Clonidine for it, but it doesn't seem to be helping....I came on here and have been reading about how nutritional supplements can be of some help in alleviating them so I was wanting your advice. My primary focus is helping to lessen the vocal tics, the motors are all but gone. I am about 140 pounds and am 5'7" (I'm a little guy, I know). I just want to know what supplements I should look into and how large a dosage...I don't want to make them worse than they are, but I also need some relief from them. Anyone have some ideas on how I might go about it? Thanks everyone!!