Autism and Tourettes

For anyone who has Tourettes or is autistic or both.

[funcharmxxxx]

TOURETTE's Q's

Hey guys, so I am doing an awareness project & I honestly would want to ask real people instead of internet.

Q1: Are there any management strategies for Tourette’s? & what is it? Is it helpful?

Q2: What medication and therapy do you use? How much is it? How many times do you use it? (which country? so i can convert it to cad)

pls & thank you 🙏🏼✨

[autismandtourettes]

thanks!! well my question is, would recommend medications & therapy for people with tourette? & also will that need a big budget? like, how much approximately?

Sorry for slow reply, I've been quite busy. I personally wouldn't, I decided that I couldn't be bothered with the side effects, plus I'd have to remember to take them and I'm terrible at that. It's quite individual about whether it would suit everyone. As for money, where I live it would be completely free, other countries I have no idea, sorry. Maybe someone can chime in with any additional comments?

[autismandtourettes]

hi, i want to take part in raising awareness in tourette's. & before i do that, i want to make sure of some things. is it fine if i ask you some things?

Yeah sure go for it.

[tourettestoucan]

Executive functioning problems are super common in TS. Hopefully this post helps you guys explain it to the people in your lives. 💕

[autismandtourettes]

one time on a really bad day my vocal tics (squeaks, grunts, that kinda stuff) were acting up so much that i ended up having a really sore throat for like three days afterwards n even then they still took ages to really cool down again

.

[autismandtourettes]

When people try and make you tic.

[autismandtourettes]

my latest tic is saying "heck" at random and everyone knows it's me cause i say heck all the time

.

[autismandtourettes]

[affirmationbanners]

<3

open to requests

[temeraire]

edited-to-be-less-angry tourette’s psa:

- don’t!! tell someone who is obviously dealing with tics or compulsions to stop or that theyre crazy or stupid or a twitchy freak or stare at them or make them feel uncomfortable. like i promise i Know i look weird. it’s p common to have anxiety abt vocal and motor and facial tics and how people notice and look. but i cant help it & i cant stop it any more than you can stop swallowing! while it’s possible to temporarily suppress tics, it’s uncomfortable and borderline painful sometimes and it’s unfair and often impossible for someone to suppress them for hours

- please don’t refer to tourettes a mental illness!!!!!! its a neurological disorder, as in a permanent and inborn alteration to the brain. also: its not temporary; its a disability. telling someone they’ll “get over it” or talking about “recovery” or a “cure” is similar to telling someone born without an arm that it’ll “grow back”. my brain is physically different to yours; it’s not a psychological thing. (edit to clarify: this isn’t meant to imply that mental illnesses all have cures/recovery, or arent disabilities! they can be just as permanent and affect people just as much as any neurological disorder)

- hooooo boy if someone tells you they have tourettes dont say theyre “making it up” or “faking it” because they dont have a swearing tic. coprolalia (compulsive swearing) affects a tiny minority of people with tourettes? don’t you ever think you know more about how someone else’s brain works and let alone tell them that they can’t be some way because of a damn stereotype!!!

- “oh wow you have tourettes? do you know lots of tourettes people then? i think x has tourettes bc of (nervous tic like playing w their hair/person likes to swear/stupid habit thats obviously not a tic) what do you think?” NO!!!!! often people have never met anyone else with tourettes. i’ve been advised against seeking a support group because of the high likelihood that i’ll adopt tics from other people there (which is a real and very annoying thing) and i know others have too. it’s pretty common to be isolated with tourettes. and im not going to diagnose someone else with a damn neurological disorder because you’ve noticed a nervous tic or some habit they have or because they have a potty mouth. that’s pretty out of line.

- “(overly sympathetic, pitying voice) oh wow this must be hard for you!! i’m so sorry!” this one is more annoying than anything ??? like. like yes it sucks sometimes but i guess it also sucks that people have to like. sneeze? or cough? or swallow or blink? i and others (typically) don’t want your pity. i’m used to this. yeh, i’ll complain about my speech being interrupted or a sore back etc from tics, but. this is how i live. if i wanted pity i’d ask for it!!! (this is also often accompanied with an “i hope you get over it soon!” which genuinely is infuriating though)

anyway @ any tourettes people (or other tic disorder people!!) i love u and ur tics and i hope youre never made to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable or isolated. youre rad as hell!!

note - i edited this to be less personal and less aggressive, so i’d appreciate if you could reblog this version instead of the previous one!! & if you have any tourette’s-related questions, my askbox is always open.

[thattourettesfeel]

" I wish I knew what tourettes feels like"

[autismandtourettes]

When people tell you that if you stopped thinking about tics then you would stop ticcing. 🙄

[thattourettesfeel]

Suppressing tics for more than a minute

[autismandtourettes]

Hi there, I was diagnosed with Tourette's several years ago (although I was already an adult), and only recently have I figured out I'm autistic. Basically, I'm trying to figure out the difference between tics and stims. I thought all the things I do were motor tics, but they're not always involuntary or uncontrollable, they're just compulsions that I need to "let out", and sometimes I can choose where to let them out, like either with my face or my hands. But I don't do them for the sensation,

Other half of ask:so they don’t seem the same as when I intentionally stim. Do you know if tics can be somewhat controllable, or can stims be an uncomfortable compulsion? Or is the line sort of blurred? Thanks.

—–

Sorry if this exceptionally late, I forgot I turned the email thing off, so I had not noticed I had any asks sorry.

I think there is a bit of a blurred line, which also varies between different people. They can be both I think. As in some tics can be suppressed and some stims you have to do or just happen. I wrote this on the topic a couple weeks back http://autismandtourettes.tumblr.com/post/159420827009/im-not-sure-how-many-asks-thisll-need-so-ill.

That sums up what I know on the topic, other people are welcome to reply or whatever if they have any additional comments :)

[autismandtourettes]

When people tell you to stop ticcing because it's annoying them.

[frenchhorntudors]

Not Your Joke - a poem

My neck snaps back, Sudden. Quick.

Simultaneously: my left calf tenses. My eyes blink. My eyebrows raise.

My shoulder raises. Fingers jumping about. My neck suddenly flicks to the side and I feel a click and pain.

My jaw clenches. Now my neck is constantly nodding. Stomach clenches, pain shoots through my body.

Legs kick out. Feet, And toes start to jump about.

Now my right arm won’t stay still. Oh shit, I punched my head! Thrice! My finger flips up at an unaware passerby.

The sniffing won’t stop. I’ve not got a cold. And, no blowing my nose doesn’t help!

Random words come out. Some end up forming sentences. I say the strangest of things.

‘You’ve got a chicken on your head’ ‘Fuck off’ 'I love boomerangs’

The time all this happens in? I’d say 5-10 seconds. On repeat constantly 24/7, only the content changes.

I’m exhausted. My muscles ache. And I’m in pain.

Tourette’s My reality

Not your joke.

[transphantoming-deactivated2018]

do you wanna know why tourette’s jokes are particularly harmful?

because people with TS are so few and far between that very few people ever meet someone with TS and thus rarely have the opportunity to have their preconceived notions of what TS is challenged

even i have never met another person with tourette’s – which is saying something since i’ve been dealing with the symptoms all day every day for over a decade – so the average person is very unlikely to have their views challenged by an actual example of what TS looks like

and when people think TS looks like rude behavior or uncontrollable swearing and nothing else, that creates so much stigma for people with tourette’s, especially since these people don’t understand that uncontrollable swearing with tourette’s REALLY IS UNCONTROLLABLE and not an individual’s choice or some type of misbehavior

so yeah, my tics aren’t your fucking punchline

they can be MY punchline if i want, but you don’t get to fucking touch that subject unless you treat it with respect