For those who have had the "fun" of tourettes; how old were you when you first noticed symptoms?

I was....four...roughly, when I remember my first motor tic, rippling movements of my abdominal muscles which other people saw whiel I was in a swimsuit, and I didn't even realize I was doing until they pointed em out...and then I was like holy sh!t, what the heck is that?!

Muahhahahah....ah the joys of doctors who follow as if it were some infallible natural law, the trends on statistics charts...failing to realize, real people account for the outliers, no matter how far we lie from their beloved Standard Deviations!

Yeah. TS "tends" to improve sometime between the onset of puberty and young to middle adulthood. And then there's this recently-recognized period of re-worsening between the 30s and 50s which can occur. Of course, us outliers....some never improve, some improve and worsen cyclicly around the same rough points throughout life, some continually get worse and worse....

Ah, the things my tics have done to me....I was born with hypermobile joints, although tics that cause pain and stretch these joints out even more are a joy...chipped teeth due to dystonic reactions to meds that were "supposed" to "help"...2 years out of school...2 more years, thus far, in school but struggling....being subject to tic attacks so severe I push a wheelchair in front of me when I go places, especially school, waiting until all I can do is collapse in it, buckle myself in, and convulse....having driving restrictions...memories of times all I could do was punch myself in the face and scream because it wasn't me in control of my body...memories of meds that caused things worse than my horrific tics, if you can imagine that...being bonafide the weird one in the entire school...my family nearly going bankrupt from trying to find a doctor that could help me....watching my brother develop tics as well, and fearing what TS might bring him...knowing if I don't improve I'm not gonna have a life...being crippled by something nobody understands, not even me, and that changes daily, so I can never adjust to it.

Yeah. That pretty much covers it. Tourette's sucks. Bottom line. But there's one thing it's given me: maybe it's anger, disguised as productivity, but one way or another, I've become obsessed with neuroscience and disability related issues, and I'm determined to do SOMETHING to help people like me, you, and whoever else is stuck with TS out there, and folks with other awful strange diseases....to let the world know I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. I feel like the people affected by disorders are the best ones to research them. We KNOW we're not just some stupid number on a chart that a doctor uses to decide if our experiences with our diseases are "real" or "valid" or not...and decide that way whether or not to research how to treat our disorders.... We have the truest motivation possible.... I'm not going to get better, unless somebody really determined takes the time, takes their lifetime, and devotes it to finding treatments, and predicting treatment outcomes.

I don't believe we'll develop a cure within my lifetime...the brain is incredibly complex, beautifully complex, and when it screws up, grotesque and still incredible. If we ever fully figure out the brain, I fear it would prove to be knowledge to profound, too deadly, for humanity to handle. I do believe, though, that slowly better, more effective, more targeted treatments will be developed that will at least better-treat symptoms, and maybe even cures.

I'm sorry you've got CT, joint damage, and the teeth....seems like older ticcers tend to lose or break some teeth. Maybe I'm just lucky or just not quite as severely affected as you are, but I have yet to break any bones or teeth, although I've come close.

I noticed my first tics when I was 12 and they were very mild. I'm now diagnosed as severe. I'm 16 and I still have the same tics just way more added on. It says it goes away a lot of the time or that symptoms lessen but I've never talked to an adult who that is true for. I know it's true but I've never talked to anyone with that experience. Mine have gotten worse, but I'm not an adult yet. I haven't even had it for 20 years and I have carpal tunnel, damage to my back, multiple concussions, black eyes, my joints pop out of place constantly and I have a lot of problems in my shoulders and fingers too.

I'm no longer definite how Tourette's matches into this. Seems like your MD described it perfectly. Interesting that i have a sister eleven years younger than myself who did exacting what you describe as a child, younger child. She did not even know she used to be doing it. We might factor it out & she'd say it used to be her motor. In any event, she is now forty three, happily married mom of three & a math instructor. She stopped humming. So my recommendation to you is to ignore your acquaintances & they'll ultimately stop once they see they get no response from you. Enjoy your new bf. You don't have anything to explain.