Symptoms of Tourette’s Syndrome (TS), are often described by motor and/or vocal tics.
Examples of Motor Tics: eye blinking, facial grimacing, mouth movements, head jerks, shoulder shrugs, extremity jerks, gyrating, bending and pivoting.
Examples of Vocal Tics: fast meaningless sounds or noises, clearing ones throat, grunting, squealing, shouting out words, repeating words and repeating complete sentences.
Current treatment options for tics associated with Tourette’s Syndrome are education, behavioral therapy and pharmacological treatment. Mild symptoms may be resolved with counseling or behavioral therapy but medications should be considered if ones tics hinder relationships, social interactions, any school/job performance and/or if daily life activities are impacted.
Current pharmalogical treatments are often discontinued because of adverse events: sleepiness, blood sugar changes, weight changes, and extrapyramidal disorders. Finding a medication that does not have such adverse events would be beneficial for all Tourette’s Syndrome/Tic sufferers.