Hi
L:
I'm glad my website was of help to you! Best of luck in your diagnosis
process. I have not heard of a yawn myself as a tic, but that doesn't
mean it can't exist...........I have heard of people stretching their
mouths open so that it LOOKS like a yawn though (I have that tic myself),
and sometimes people will even PRETEND they are yawning to cover up
for the embarrassment of feeling the need to do something so strange
all the time (doctors give that kind of 'faking normal' a name: PARAKINESIA).
To put it another way, when I have my 'yawn' tic it doesn't actually
feel the way a yawn does -- I am making the actions, and there is an
urge to MAKE the action, but the urge to tic feels very different from
the urge to yawn. To tic feels to me more like an itch that can be suppressed
consciously, although it takes increasing effort and discomfort the
longer I hold out. A yawn, when it is ready to happen, seems COMPLETELY
involuntary -- when it's ready out it comes! Also, with a tic once I've
completed the action (opening my mouth) the itch is gone. With yawning,
opening your mouth only triggers the beginning of a whole automatic
process of air intake and throat tightening.
Something else I should mention is that, to be diagnosed with TS, you
currently need to have a number of tics, both motor (which from what
you say you have) and phonic (noises). They also need to have lasted
for more than a year and aren't caused by medications (e.g. Ritalin)
or some other condition (e.g. head trauma due to a car accident). Also,
while you can be diagnosed with TS at any age the TICS need to have
been present before age 18 (typically they start around 5-7 years of
age).
Regarding medications, I do not take them personally. MY PERSONAL choice
was that the side-effects weren't worth it, and that I lost as much
positive as negative. The sacrifice wasn't worth the gain. However I
emphasize again that this was what I as Personal Duncan (not almost-dr.
dunc) decided. Meds are right for some, and not for others -- it can
depend on many factors like the individual's priorities, neurology,
severity of tics (more and more often even medical doctors now are realizing
that for tics alone, or for mild cases, medications shouldn't necessarily
be automatically prescribed), environment, support, coping ability,
resources, culture, and age (to name only a few).
To give you detailed advice on specific medications would not be ethical
of me -- you will have to wait for that Physician's List unfortunately
to find a doctor that can learn your unique situation and help you decide
what is right for YOU. What I CAN offer though is a T(r)IC(k)S article
I wrote on making the decision called Suppression
or Expression? That is the Question...
I
hope this helped.
Dr.
Dunc.
