On Seeing a Tourette Syndrome

Neurology is a field where there are a lot of syndromes. Well, not per se, medicine itself, is very vast. So it was pretty impossible to know about all the syndromes available out there. At least I thought it was, my brain is just too small to learn about all of them.

It wasn't until a few days ago when my colleagues who was in the neurology clinic came and enlightened me about an interesting syndrome called the Tourette Syndrome.

It is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder, commonly found in children younger than 18 years old, and beyond that, it won't be Tourette Syndrome anymore. Usually the child will present with multiple physical tics, or maybe a vocal tics. Tics mean sudden, repetitive, non-rhythmic, stereotyped motor movements involving discrete muscle groups. So if the muscles involved produces physical movements, you get physical tics, and similarly for those of vocalisation.

So usually, they'll repeatedly hit themselves. Or hit the table. Or slap their own face. Or they'll shout foul words. Over and over and over again. So had you not picked it up, you'd prolly think that this child is a wacko.

Having said that, people with Tourette Syndrome have a normal life expectancy. They can live up till an age like normal people do. Just that, they might not be able to do certain things, like driving. But in certain circumstances, like the patient that we know of, she managed to obtain her driving liscence, because she said she was able to control her tics if she concentrate hard enough.

And so, having said all that, Tourette Syndrome does not require medications as the tics will wear off as the child grows older. It's rare to see Tourette Syndrome in adults, but it's not impossible too. It is a spectrum disorder, meaning it can either be mild or severe, but it's not degenerative, meaning it would not deteriorate and get worsen, therefore it's not life-threatening.

So now that I've brought this up, you can read up on Wikipedia if you're reaaaaalllyyyyy interested.

Otherwise, there's a video if you're on high speed internet connection.