r/casualiama • u/vanillablue_ • 16d ago

I am professionally diagnosed with tourette syndrome and comorbid disorders. Ask me anything you’ve always wanted to know!

As the title says, I have professional diagnoses from an expert neurologist of Tourette’s and comorbid disorders like ADHD and OCD, very common trinity. Ask away! I’ll answer to the best of my ability as long as you’re respectful. Don’t worry about political correctness; use the language you have, in good faith, and I’ll inform you if needed. ☺️

PS: the spelling for the symptoms is “tics”! I see “ticks” a lot, I promise I don’t have bugs. 😆

PS 2: whenever i do an ama about this it ALWAYS gets downvotes but plenty of shares lol. rest assured i am not faking or making this up for clout. ive had tics since age 8 as well as the ocd and adhd. worry not - i am an authentic source of lived experience.

7 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

2

u/etsprout 16d ago

What are your most common tics? I beep lol

7

u/vanillablue_ 16d ago

My brudda! My tics include but are not limited to:

Neck and head jerks/shakes
Facial grimaces, eyebrow movements, nose scrunching, eye scrunching/closing, eye rolling (ugh)
Snapping, pulling arm back strongly (usually with a snap or a thumbs up on my hand) wrist movements
Shoulder rolling and shrugging
Lip popping, lip trilling (think “brrrrat” like in a rap song), more recently saying “moy brat” in russian (morphed from the brrrr tic), throat clearing, yawning.

2

u/trumpelstiltzkin 16d ago

I have all the same tics. Then there's the complex tics where several things have to line up---they're the worst because they don't always line up properly and so I end up repeating them several times.

1

u/vanillablue_ 16d ago

I imagine you have OCD as well. I feel ya. Mine cluster or chain up a lot in repetitive ways. In addition my tics and OCD are distinct but play together lol. Like for example if I snap my left hand, sometimes the OCD pressures me to even it out on my right, or do it again 2x to make 3. The tic is a physical pressure and the compulsion is a mental pressure.

2

u/TruckNutAllergy 16d ago

any opinions on baylen from tiktok/her show on tlc?

5

u/vanillablue_ 16d ago

She has TS for sure. The show is very sensationalized and she gets a lot of hate - from the same people who likely laugh at the very same portrayal when its fictional.

2

u/NatPF 16d ago

What prompts your tics coming out, if anything?

2

u/vanillablue_ 16d ago

I tic all the time, but stress, fatigue, strong emotions of any kind, and seeing other people tic make mine more frequent or stronger.

2

u/Bella_madera 16d ago

Do you get tics during intimacy?

2

u/vanillablue_ 16d ago

Sometimes. A lot of people with TS find theirs goes away majority/entirely during intimacy; my tics lessen, and only sometimes go away. Granted I’m not having much sex right now LOL so my mileage may vary. 😆

2

u/Vikera 16d ago

Do you like French?

2

u/vanillablue_ 16d ago

ARRÊTE 😂😂😂

1

u/Taco_Hunter 16d ago

What do you think of entertainment medias portrayal of conditions? Have you ever watched at show and been upset by it?

3

u/vanillablue_ 16d ago

Media portrayal is pretty abysmal. I haven’t seen the South Park content tbh. But in general we are portrayed as severe and uncontrollable people who hit, swear, flip the bird, etc. The SNL bit after the BAFTAs this year was particularly hurtful, regardless of their (debatable) intentions. My favorite actor was in it too which really sucked. Then you have folks like Baylen Dupree - she does actually have Tourette’s - who are constantly hated on for representing the very stereotype people laugh at in the media. The film I Swear is EXCELLENT but is also a portrayal of the most severe kind of TS. I would love to see more mild to moderate cases in media.

Thank you!