It appears to help a little

[Greyhound]

Nothing seemed to be working, except the magnesium seemed to do a tiny bit in helping me to be slightly less irritable (and allowed me to be able to put my hands together symmetrically without mental discomfort lol)

 

Anyway, yesterday, all I took before bed was Candida Clear, acidophilus and chlorella. No magnesium, zinc, taurine*, B6 or C. This morning and at lunchtime, all I took was Candida Clear and chlorella. The tics, although not particularly bad are slightly worse.

 

The motor tics are slightly worse, in particular the eye tics

The voal tic is about the same

The mental tics are slightly worse

The phantom tics are slightly worse

My mood is about the same

My heart seems to beat too hard with a small amount of activity like it did before

I seem to be too hot too easily again which got slightly better recently

I feel slightly faint sometimes, which I think I did before I started supplements (maybe heat- or heart-related?)

I think I seemed to get confused slightly more easily (I get confused anyway, but it seemed just slightly worse this morning)

 

So...maybe they are doing something after all?

 

*Taurine seems to negatively affect my mood, but not if I take it just before bed (although I don't know if it's doing any good either).

[emma1]

I am still trying to learn all of this -- what is a "mental tic?" Thanks!

[Chemar]

I am puzzled by what you mean by "mental tic" as well greyhound

 

are you referring to an OCD linked tic??

 

just wanted to mention again that we saw best supplement results with consistent regular use of the combinations optimized for my son's needs. whenever we jumped around with dose and combos we saw waxing follow

[Greyhound]

Oh blast I forget I haven't told anyone what I mean by mental tics lol

 

This might be helpful:

http://au.geocities.com/jones_kacm/uwstics.htm

 

I have echomerimnia, copromerimnia, palimerimnia and I mentally manipulate a lot of my phantom tics.

I used to also have counting, listing, or reciting tics.

They feel like a cross between tics and compulsions and are very difficult to explain.

Actually, I do have mental 'grunts' too, so not all mental tics are complex.

 

Here is a video I made to try to simulate mental tics while trying to take in other information (to try to demonstrate how distracting they can be:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7v9z7KV6dI

[Chemar]

ah ok yes I see this is terminology made up by Jones to explain what are commonly known as OCD-linked tics

which occur often in people with TS

[emma1]

I just looked at the YouTube clip. My daughter is having ocd thoughts, which might be quite like "mental tics." At least, I believe they have the same impact -- very difficult to concentrate when your brain is busy with other issues.

[Greyhound]

ah ok yes I see this is terminology made up by Jones to explain what are commonly known as OCD-linked tics

which occur often in people with TS

That sounds like you know who Jones is and that you don't approve of him (her?) calling them mental tics. I don't know who Jones is, but I do like the term mental tics because I do feel there is a difference between these and obsessions/compulsions, albeit an unclear difference.

 

To start with, I think the tic/compulsion divide is more of a continuum where at one end you have the absolutely involuntary tics, and the absolutely 'deliberate' compulsions, with all points in between.

 

Tic-------------x-----------------|---------------x---------------Compulsion

 

Far left:

Tics you just can't seem to feel coming and just seem to 'pop out'.

 

Cross on left:

At round about this point in the scale, you can feel the tics coming and they just sort of 'come out', but there's some feeling of 'just gotta do it' even though you're doing it anyway.

 

Centre:

An example you might find here - which is a typical case of 'tic or compulsion' - is evening up. This is where you feel the need to even something up (e.g. make two things parallel with each other or touch yourself against somthing) which is a need/urge which is fairly conscious but is also often done automatically. Of course, evening up can be more to the left of the centre on the scale or more to the right, but often seems to be somewhere near the middle (or slightly to the right).

 

Cross on right:

These are things which you just have to do and you know this, but when you're used to it, it may come automatically, like counting to ten then jumping once after you swtich on a washing machine, but you think about it as you do it.

 

Far right:

These are conscious 'deliberate' actions done to satisy your needs/urges. They are not automatic but you need to do them.

 

This is, I think a scale of how automatic things are, in a sense, because tics are like automatic compulsions and compulsions are manually performed tics. It's like OCD and Tourettes comprise the same urges/needs, but it varies as to how automatically the brain wants to go about satisfying those urges.

 

Now, if we apply this to mental compulsions and mental tics, an example of a compulsion would be, for example, to count up to ten to satisfy a non- or less-automatic need or urge or to neutralise something, whereas a mental tic would be automatic/semi-automatic, for example 'ONE-two, one-TWO, three four five, five- SIX, seven, seven eight nine TEN, NINE-ten, nine-TEN' where is happens for less of a 'reason', and more just come out because it comes out or because of a mental or sensory urge which feels different to that of a mental compulsion.

 

I think the distinction between mental tics and mental compulsions is even more blurred than the distinction between motor and vocal tics and compulsion, but I feel there is a difference all the same.

 

[Chemar]

Hi Greyhound

 

not sure why you felt I didnt "approve" of Jones terminology re "mental tics"??

We actually have their "Chemistry of TS" linked in our essential threads http://au.geocities.com/jones_kacm/chem.htm and altho I know that their explanation is a little flawed, nonetheless it is very helpful in promoting understanding of the chemical mechanisms that lie behind tics

 

re the "mental tics" I see no problem in that classification, but it is a terminology not used outside of that reference and so that's why we werent aware of what you were referring to. As with the chemistry article, again a helpful attempt at explaining a complex issue, albeit that in simplifying it can become slightly flawed. My son would disagree strongly that most compulsions are "deliberate" tho...he has found they are frequently as involuntary as the tics....they are there and they "have to" come out and just do and trying to stop them only creates much higher tension and therefore accentuates them.

He has always found those linked tics to be the most bothersome in the scale with which they interfere with his life

 

 

but yes, OCD linked tics are something that many people with TS experience and it appears that tics can become OCD related as well as vice versa.

[Greyhound]

Sorry, I misinterpreted your 'tone of writing' (quite usual for me)

 

Thanks for explaining it. It's a shame it's not more well recognised, because it does explain what I experience so much better than obsessions or mental compulsions.

[emma1]

My daughter will get words "stuck" in her head. Someone will say something, and she will get a word(s) stuck there. She says it just stays in her head, and she cannot stop thinking about it. Our doctor seemed to think this was "pure O" (obsession) with some rituals (she sometimes used to count to a "good" number). However, under your explanation, it almost sounds like a "mental tic." What do you think? And what helps your mental tics -- anything?

[Chemar]

Hi Emma

 

honestly from all the research/references I have looked at, along with expert guidance by our physician, what is being described as a "mental tic" is in fact OCD/TS linked tic. The same things that help the tics and OCD help here. OCD is primarily related to serotonin deficiency (although other neurotransmitters/amino acids play an important role) and so most helpful IMHO is boosting serotonin for the OCD while keeping magnesium levels etc optimized for TS tics. As mentioned before, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be really helpful for all things OCD related, *provided* one has a good therapist. I always add that because some therapists sadly seem to be more intent on changing the patient into the therapist's own mold instead of helping them adapt within their own

[Chemar]

ps Greyhound.... so sorry if my tone sounded disapproving LOL I tend to post while working and sometimes am short on time so post quickly and I guess can sound "brusque" ...dont mean too!!

 

I do think "mental tics" is an understandable way to try to describe the complexity of these linked OCD or whatever-tics... so many people have these that we have encountered who have Tourette Syndrome with the spectrum of disorders that can often accompany it, that I do think it is as important in the symptoms as just the motor and vocal tics that accompany TS itself.

[Greyhound]

That's okay Chemar, I'll let you off just this once

 

I just interpreted it, that's all