r/Tourettes

My granddaughter is almost 8 years old and her tics are beginning to be more noticeable. I am trying to be supportive and help her parents advocate for her in school as her dad, my son has Tourette’s and had a very hard time years ago. Right now her tics are the typical sniffing and throat clearing but also her body is starting to flinch as well as a chirping noise recently.

Also- if you as an adult with Tourette’s are comfortable sharing- what symptoms of Tourette’s are the most bothersome and what treatment if any are the most helpful?

Hi all! I have both motor and vocal tics with some undiagnosed tic disorder. I thought for a long time that my tics were just highly inconsistent, but I think it’s more that they combine randomly.

I have maybe six or seven different vocal tics (though they switch out every few months or so), along with a ton of different motor tics. I almost never have vocal tics without a motor tic alongside it, but what motor tic happens changes quite often. When it’s just motor tics, it’s often 2-3 separate tics that happen simultaneously, mixing up regularly.

Examples (not descriptive, I hope):

- A vocal tic, something with my hand, something with my neck. A short while later, the same vocal tic, something with my arm.
- Lower body motor tic, something with my arm, something with my neck (the neck motor tic is very common for me). A short while later, something with my head, something lower body, something with my hand.

Note that most often, each of these combinations will happen repeatedly (anywhere from several to dozens of times) within a few minutes before stopping and eventually (at least 10-15mins later) returning with a different combination. It doesn’t always switch combinations between bouts, and combinations will sometimes come and go, but often times it switches.

.

What are your thoughts? Does anyone else experience this?

I'm 18 and l've had tics basically all my life, but in december 2025 they started to get like really noticeable and annoying, so I went to the doctors and the first time I went my doctor told me to "try not to tic" and to try message therapy. But like I'm not really looking for therapy, I just want to get a diagnosis because I really want to know what the heck is causing my tics, and I'm pretty sure it might be Tourette's because I have all the diagnostic criteria and I even have adhd and autism which are co morbid. Anyways, I went to the doctors a second time and this time I was asking about tourette's and about getting a referral to a neurologist and he told me that neurologists don't treat tics and that Tourette's is what high functioning autism used to be called. Which is wrong, I'm 99% sure??? Anyways so after that, my tics started to get a bit better, but then they recently started to get annoying again, so I went to the doctors again and this time he told me I could do like therapy for tics and on the paper he gave me it says my diagnosis is just tic disorder, which I don't know if that's a valid diagnosis. One, because he's a general practitioner, two because he's never like actually assessed me, and three because I don't think just "tic disorder" is even a real thing..

I'm basically wondering if a diagnosis is even worth it at this point because my tics aren't THAT noticeable around other people (they still are really annoying). I do really want to know though what is causing them. And I'm like really sure that it is tourette's but I don't want to self diagnose, and I just want to make sure it isn't anything else serious. And also my mom doesn't understand why I want a diagnosis so bad, but I've tried telling her that I just want to have confirmation on what I have and she's like "well just tell people you have Tourette's"... I don't know what to do lol... sorry if that was a lot!

Also I live in a small city in Ontario so it’s kind of hard to get a new doctor lol

I was already having a sort of difficult day and told someone about my tics, and they had such a kind and normal response that it i’ve thought about it since.

It was within a therapeutic environment, but I’ve had doctors react sub optimally. It was very refreshing honestly

Bruh, just had an MRI and had to be still for 15min straight. No stimming or anything. As soon as I was in a separate room to change back into people clothes I started ticcing up a storm. I'm so thankful my darling was in the waiting room to hold me up while we made our way to the car.

It's so wild to me that I had to get my wiggles out immediately as soon as I wasn't within eyesight of other people haha.

My oldest was recently diagnosed with Tourette’s. Obviously his tics have been present for some time to qualify for a diagnosis. Since diagnosis and learning more about Tourette’s I am now wondering if he has a lot more vocal tics than I originally thought. He has a propensity to repeat swear words over and over again. He is 7 and also has ADHD. How do I begin to differentiate this from being a tic vs not? I’ve tried asking him if he feels he can’t control the words he is saying and he will sometimes say yes. On rare occasion he will say “I think it’s funny”. Other times he says “I don’t know”. He doesn’t like attention brought to his motor tics and I try not to with his vocal tics but it is very hard not to address it when he is saying inappropriate things. I understand he has no control over his tics and am able to ignore them if they are tics. I just don’t want to ignore inappropriate behavior if it isn’t a tic. His verbal tics aren’t always in a noticeably different tone of voice. He has a lot of echolalia (delayed) as well which makes for interesting conversations with people that aren’t close to us.

How do I begin navigating all of this? I don’t want to keep asking him if everything is a tic because I know that doesn’t help the situation. I also know telling him to stop will make it worse. I also have a 4 year old who will copy his language. When that happens it seems to add fuel to the fire and his swears increase. Could my 4 year old exacerbating the tic by copying it? How do I differentiate this vs the ADHD tendency to want to be the center of attention? I also notice certain phrases and words being repeated after certain auditory input (usually a song on the radio that has inappropriate words censored or sounds like inappropriate words but aren’t). Can tics be triggered in this manner? I know as he gets older he will be able to better tell me what’s going on but in the meantime this is all so very hard to navigate. Any helpful feedback?

Also any tips for dealing with boomer parents who only see a child who misbehaves and are very strongly in the “I am the adult, you are the child, you do as I say” camp? I’ve given them all the information about ADHD and Tourette’s and they keep getting offended by every little transgression. It’s to the point I can’t rely on them to babysit. I’m assuming they are a lost cause at this point?

I'm moving into my university later this week, and I'm a little worried. Idk if I should let my roommate know about my tourettes now, and let him ask any questions he wants before we're face to face blah blah blah, or if I should just go, tic, and be like "oop ignore that I've got tourettes. It will happen again"

Like what do I dooo man?????

my fam doc took me off the one med that worked for me in a long time and put me on fucking seroquel.

i was on clonazepam that was prescribed to me by my neurologist who’s actually an expert in tic disorders. unfortunately i don’t live near that neurologist anymore so when i went for a refill my dumbass fam doc decides that noo it’s too addictive so let’s put u on a med that don’t do shit and make u gain crazy weight.

i’m in so much pain because of my motor tics im losing my mind. my neck is killing me, my arms hurt and my tics are coming back as strong as ever when they’ve been managed for the first time in my life.

he took me off of it cold turkey after i’ve been on it for around 5 months and he refuses to refer me to a neurologist because my case according to him is not severe enough. mind u he’s only seen me with my tics under control while on meds. im just so upset and have been crying all day cuz of how much pain im in. ppl just don’t understand how painful repetitive tics can actually be

hi again, ive had my tics since i wss about 12 (16 this year) and i had an assesntment / appointment at CAMHS today and the woman started talking about the NeuPulse Band that is seen at the end of the I Swear Film, its all thats been on my mind, although its not a device purley made to support and decrease tics so im a bit weary ( and is its £500 ) i would save up and get it but im wondering if anyone on here has one or knows anyone who does and does it help?

ive always watched people like shay and baylin on tiktok because its nice to see people who have the same struggle and shay once said she wouldnt get rid of her tourettes if there was a cure because its a part of her, which i 100% agree with but on the pain side of things it gets annoying.

my tics can get pretty painfull from self injurious to js neck strain, and its tiring, ive been debating saving up for it all day but im in need of a second opinion

note: i do have motor and vocal tics (including corprolalia and corpropraxia) but as of right now im diagnosed with 'tic disorder' rather than tourettes

edit - im not on any meds to help the tics either

the main question of this rant / question is does anyone have any input or think i should start saving for it?

Hi I've been doing these face twitches for years (not since childhood) so I know its not tourette syndrome and I've been trying to research what kind of tics I may have and I'll describe them...

Eye rolling

Eye winking

Blinking hard

Raising my eye brows

Rarely I'll clench my jaw

Rarely I'll make a bop bop sound

I do take seizure meds and have audhd. Not sure if that helps but ya

I’m not really sure if I even have tics but ive been having this problem and don’t know which sub to go on. For a few years ive been tensing my neck muscles in a pulse like way because of the comfort my body gets from it and occasionally do it while cracking my neck. Recently it’s been getting more frequent and is leaving my neck sore and painful. Do I go to a massage place to get rid of the pain? A doctor? I’m sorry like I said I’m not diagnosed and not even sure if it’s tics at all but would like to know what anyone whose experienced stuff like this has done to help themselves

Hey! I was diagnosed around 1.5 years ago, and I kinda thought my tics have settled down a bit now. I get the odd bad days, but mostly it's just my neck jerks and subtle clicking sounds that I'm fairly used to and don't take much notice of. However, recently, whenever I've had a bad attack with lots of vocal tics (clicking and popping sounds), I almost feel like a preliminary urge for a spoken vocal tic. Like my mouth opens and goes to say something in the middle of the attack, but then I take control before I can verbalise anything. Kinda scared because it feels like I'm about to say "F*ck off", and I am NOT a person who uses profanity whatsoever in daily life. I found myself slipping into following my friends on a recent camp and swearing a bit, so idk if this has set it off, but I'm scared that this will develop into one of my tics. Has anyone experienced similar to this?

I haven't heard of anyone else having this and am not sure Its a tic but I contracty pelvic region (the downstairs area to be specific)almost like doing a kegel . Its extremely uncomfortable and I can't stop doing it but it's not one of my usual tics.

Hi, so I am not diagnosed with Tourette’s and I’m not asking to be diagnosed either. I’m not set on the fact that I have Tourette’s but I don’t know where to go for this advice, I’ve read lots of coping mechanisms but I wanted to make my own post.

Some background: I started having physical tics when I was 11ish. It initially was triggered by wearing sports bras, I would hunch my neck forward, and flex my neck.

They got so bad again about two years ago, first it was furrowing my eye brow so hard my forehead for get tired, and I was starting to see actual lines from it (not worried about the lines it just happened quickly from this), that one has gone away, but now I have been flexing my neck/jaw all the time and flicking my wrist. Both cause extreme me to be extremely uncomfortable by the end of the day. I also have been doing this tongue clicking thing ever since I started doing it to my daughter a few months ago, that one doesn’t bother me, it’s a little funny because I’ll just do it to my husband and dog sometimes.

I finally decided to talk to my doctor about it, and his response was that it’s probably stress from having my baby in January, and being tired. He said a lot of people have nervous tics and that I should excise and do some yoga/stretching to release the energy in my body. He didn’t really hear me when I said I’ve had them since I was young even though I said it a few times.

My biggest question is does exercise/ movement actually help? I thought the idea was interesting, I’ve stretched a bit more the last few days and it hasn’t decreased. Episome salt baths seem to help a little bit. Also if my husband rubs my neck and shoulders really hard that seems to help a little too. I’m kind of at a loss. I also have been self conscious because almost every single time someone takes a picture of me I’m flexing my neck and it’s terrible. I literally randomly met a famous person that I love recently and I was doing it in my photos with him, and I’m soooo disappointed.

I feel like I have a lot of sensory issues probably due to neurodivergence in a lot of way and when something is bad sensory-wise (for example I was just cutting my dinner and the knife scraped against the fork in a way that was really awful) it will trigger my tics horribly. And worse, then my mind just keeps replaying whatever experience over and over in my head and triggering my tics again and again. I get some of my worst/most extreme tics this way. Anyone else?

Hello,

I have a new tic that is causing me some pretty intense pain in an area of my body that I feel like is not great to have.

I don't want to describe it in case someone else starts having the same tic, and I would also prefer if someone has any advice to share it without describing their tic.

Lidocaine helps with the pain but I'm worried long term this is not sustainable, and I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions.

(To add more detail, it's the repetitive nature of the tic)

I have no clue how to describe this but I have two tics that mostly happen at the same time and it’s where I flip people off and mouth “fuck you” while also thinking “fuck you”, and like any other tic, I can’t control it. Does anyone else do this?

Before posting I did read the wiki, but didn't find anything related to my "condition". Sorry if I missed anything.

So, when I was a child I had tics which were involuntary (I think), but I guess that's just normal. I specially rolled my eyes, it was very annoying. But as I grew up, I started having these kind of mandatory movements I had to perform, otherwise I'd feel VERY pressured to do them. I'm in my 30s and still have them. They're not always the same though. In a year, these will change. For example: contracting my calves, opening my arm making a specific muscle stretch, twisting my wrists, etc etc.

I know having Tourette's means having involuntary tics, including at least one vocal tic. As far as I'm aware, I don't have any vocal tic.

What may this be? Thank you for your time.