Tourette Syndrome

Symptoms

Tics can range from mild to severe and generally appear before a person is 18 years old. The disorder can affect people of all ethnic groups; males are affected three to four times more often than females. About 100,000 Americans are estimated to have full-blown Tourette syndrome, and as many as one in 100 is thought to have partial expression of the disorder. The majority of all cases fall into the mild category.

Some movement tics include:

• Eye blinking
• Biting lips or cheeks
• Grimacing
• Head jerking
• Shoulder shrugging
• Body twisting
• Head banging
• Touching other people obsessively
• Repeating actions obsessively

Some vocal tics include:

• Grunting
• Coughing
• Barking
• Swearing

Tics can come and go, worsen and improve, and change to entirely different tics.

Many patients with tics will frequently exhibit other health concerns as well. Problems with attention, repetitive behaviors (called compulsions), sadness, worry (anxiety), and learning occur in some but not all tic patients.