Having Tourettes for 15 years, I thought I knew everything about them. Or, at least everything about mine, but every once in a while I learn something new.
I have learned a lot about myself during this time. I have my normal everyday tics and noises that consist of hitting my sides, tightening every muscle in my body, as well as squeaks and grunts. I know that when I’m really happy or excited my tics are exemplified. My squeaks get louder and I have a full body tic where I’m smiling. When I’m mad or really upset I usually grunt and have a full body tic. I know I have my tics that only happen when I’m in the car, where I very quickly hit the gas with my foot revving the engine, or I ever so slightly turn the wheel quickly in one direction and then place it back going straight. I know whenever somethings on my head, such as sunglasses or a beanie, I usually have a head tic where I throw my head back. Along with that I have learned that too many sugary foods such as simple carbs (they turn into sugar in your body), sweets, and fruits make them worse. I’ve learned that when my tics are really bad and I have a lot of excess energy running or heavy duty exercising can help reduce them. I know if I do not take my medication at the same time everyday, or if I miss a couple of pills that my tics will get worse. I recover faster from too many sugary foods than missing my medication. There are waxing and waining period for Tourettes, and in the spring they usually get worse.
This is the majority of what I’ve learned, but what others notice and do can take me by surprise. When I have a lot of little tics and I don’t realize them, sometimes someone will let me know and I’ll be stunned thinking, “I thought I hadn’t been ticing at all.” When I get distracted and stop ticing all together because, in a sense, I have “forgotten” I had tourettes, I am surprised when someone brings it up because I didn’t realize I hadn’t ticed in X amount of time. I’ve found out when I become close to people, they normally don’t even realize I’m ticking anymore because they get used to is, which is nice for me to know. But my favorite was when my best friend asked me what I was concentrating on over the phone, and when I asked how’d she knew, she told me I have different tics when I’m concentrating, which I never knew.
Through trials and tribulations I have learned a lot about myself. I am consistently growing and trying to find more out about TS, and about my form of TS. It is just nice to know I’m not the only one discovering new things :)
