Wednesday, March 28, 2012

My Life With Tourette's Syndrome

I'm always posting something about cute items for sell, promotions, or the great giveaways to enter. But, I never post anything personal to let you cuties know more about me. So today, I decided to talk about my life with Tourette's Syndrome.

I never had ticks as a child growing up so when I started twitching and jerking on the right side about 6 months ago, I was terribly concerned. My husband took me to the local emergency room hoping to get some answers as to why this was happening. What we got was a work excuse for a week, prescription medicine for seizures, and a referral to a neurologist. No answers. The appointment with the neurologist the following week included an EMG test, a MRI, and two neurologists observing my twitches and jerks. Finally, we would receive an answer to what's going on.

The answer was that I was suffering from a form of Tourette's Syndrome that only effects the motor skills. I was told that at my age, 29 years old, developing Tourette's as an adult was a very rare thing but not impossible. He gave me some information on my new diagnoses, a prescription to control the ticks, and reassurance that I would be just fine. I must admit that I wasn't devastated at the diagnoses. Just relieved that I had an answer to what was going on with my body and ways to deal and cope with it.

The medicine has helped out tremendously but is not a cure all. I still have ticks and really bad "episodes" at night. When it's really bad, my right arm jerks to the left. my head jerks to the right, and my right leg kicks. All of these ticks are violent, so it hurts a little and I'm exhausted when it's over. But, I'm still alive. I still get to spend time with my family, friends, and the love of my life. My personality and sense of humor has not changed at all since the diagnoses. I'm still ME - just with Tourette's Syndrome. I've even gotten used to stares when the ticks start up when we're in public...well kind of.


2 comments:

  1. You are a wonderful person and diseases do not define who we are, I am glad to see that you know this and it will continue to give you strength, as for the looks and stares of others, I say people will be rude and there really isn't anything we can do about it except carry on with who we are and how we treat others.

    ~Mo
    www.mokekumileicreations.com

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  2. Thanks Mo! Your words give me warmth and encouragement to keep moving forward. My friends have told me that they noticed it. They always thought I was just dancing. Lol! Oh boy, what a dance!

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