What do you think of people with tourette's syndrome?

I know several people who have tourette's. My first impression? No different than with anyone else. It's a condition that can be dealt with medically and some have had surgery that has totally changed their lives for the better.

Hmm.. I guess a first impression would be what's wrong with you? Tourette's syndrome.. I know a lot about it.. It varies in different degrees of people. They can have small, harmless tics like eye blinking or a small vocal tic like a hum. They can have a medium tics like maybe shrugging their shoulders, stomping their feet, clapping their hands and a few vocal tics like grunts, squeals. Then for a severe case, they can clap/stomp their feet violently, cock their neck so much it gets sore or get headaches for vocal tics, they can shout and be loud etc. A lucky (NOT!) 10% of people with tourettes can have coprolalia which is uncontrollable cursing/racial slurs. You won't be able to understand why you do it whether you have it or not. You just do it. It's like breathing, you do it. To be diagnosed with tourettes, you need to have at least three motor tics which can be anything I stated above.. basically anything movement you can do with your body. Then you need at least one vocal tic.. can be a grunt, squeal, clicking your mouth, or any sound that comes out of your mouth. You also need to have these symptoms for at least a year because it can just be stressed caused. With having tourettes, you are likely to have ADD, OCD, or ADHD or any mix or all three of them.

There are varying degrees of the disease and they are all somewhat unique like a fingerprint. I knew a girl in my grade in HS that came across as somewhat 'slow' and on a different wavelength (for lack of a better word) than the other students. She had some facial twitches but they weren't particularly bad. I later went on to college (very good school too) and met a fellow who had tourette's and he played on the football team. He was a very normal guy but you could tell he somewhat had a different sense of humor. When he would laugh he would make fists and rub them on his face really fast. We used to all get wasted together, you know, how people tend to do once in a while in college, and we all loved him to death he was fun/funny but he was a beast and sometimes would start beating people up. I'm talking in past tense because I haven't seen him in a while but he recently got married and has a good job.

I mind my own business. They are people with issues just like everyone else. Theirs is just more apparent.

I knew a girl that was my age as a teenager who had this and it was severe. I felt bad for her because I knew she could not control it. I was around her a lot so i know about it, and my son was having problems too It can be really hard to watch if it is a loved one with it.

i think they're great people to take to quiet places like church, or libraries. Having them around large groups of children is awesome too. I once took a friend of mine with tourette's to an exorcist because I believed he was possessed by a demon, I now know better.

I think they're just normal peole. I'd be curious about it, but I wouldn't think of them differently.

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