Since I know there's a mod that has body tics and is pretty good with answering questions about it: I have tics and am going to the doctor soon for medicine. However, my grandpa likes to make fun of my tics and will even say I'm faking and just copying some other members of my family since they have had them much longer (they were 5 when their symptoms shown, I only noticed mine at 12). What should I do to try and get him to stop? It's not really helping my self-esteem much.
I think your grandpa has a few problems himself, it seems. What a lot of people don't know is that tics (Tourette's or chronic motor tic disorder, from what it sounds like to me (I'd get them both checked into at least) - that's kind of how mine are; they started at a young age, begin to get noticed around pre-puberty 12-15, etc.) run in a family. You literally ARE copying your family who also have tics because you are, anatomically and physiologically speaking, a copy of them. Your DNA is theirs, but mixed together. You are a copy of them with some minor changes.
To get him to stop, I'd go one of two routes, mostly depending on what type of person you are and what type of person your grandfather is. I'd try to either supply him with information, or to be honest and tell him it's hurting you when he says stuff like that. Perhaps go both routes. It could work.
Give him information on body tics and the genetic aspects of them. Many body tics come from deterioration of the basal ganglia, a part of your brain that controls motor function and motor spontaneity. Others are, in part, from chromosomal disorders on the SLITRK1 gene - a translocation of the DNA contributes to the tics and increases the likelihood that they happen. Since chromosomes are passed down from family member to family member, it is likely that they will continue to be passed on until the gene dies out (a long, LONG time from now) or someone gets more research done on themselves and either adopts or is able to control which genes are translocated or not.
As for your feelings, be honest. Family members typically don't want to hurt you - typically. I don't think he's really doing it to hurt you intentionally, I think he's trying to lighten the mood of the tics a little and by joking about it, it's coming out the wrong way. I'd speak with him about it. My dad used to do the same thing to me. My friends do and everything, too. "You nervous?" they'll ask me when I start to get a little twitchy. It's nothing major anymore, but I've been handling it for a loooong time now, the remarks, and it's second nature for me to just laugh and be like, "Heh, yeah." My dad was a lot like your grandfather. He would make fun of me, tell me I could control it, blah blah blah.
The fact of the matter is, you can't. You really can't. I've mentioned before about cognitive behavioral therapy, which can help control it a bit but will never remove it completely. Medication is usually helpful to some extent as well. The combination of the two can work wonders.
Keep in mind that some of these links focus more specifically on Tourette's Syndrome, but they pretty much cover all tics as well. A lot of them are just focused on TS because there isn't a lot of information about it out there, so they're filling it up and adding stuff to the archives at the moment. Some other things you may want to read up on:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000745.htmhttp://www.webmd.com/brain/tic-disorders-and_twitcheshttp://www.iusmm.ca/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-and-tic-disorder-studies-centre-/tic-disorders-/truth-about-tics.html
