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Question 60: HI, I'M 19 AND HAVE TOURETTE'S.
MY MOST DISTURBING SYMPTOM IS MENTAL COPRALALIA. USUALLY MY OTHER
SYMPTOMS ONLY FLARE UP WHEN THIS GOES OFF AND WHEN IT'S BAD I FREEZE
UP UNTIL I GET OVER THAT EPISODE. I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO FIND MUCH
ON THIS SYMPTOM AND I WAS WONDERING IF THERE WAS ANYTHING YOU KNOW
ABOUT THIS. THANKS, J.W. OH. USA.
Hello
J.W.!
It doesn't
surprise me that you haven't found much specific information on your
mental coprolalia J. -- typically, and from a research or clinical perspective,
"a tic is a tic" in the sense that, regardless of what the
particular noise or movement is, they all follow the same "rules"
and come from the same neurology. While there are certain tics (like
eyeblinking) that are common to most people with TS, to have tics that
are unique to you as an individual is not at all unusual. To not find
anything on mental coprolalia specifically shouldn't concern you --
the same tricks, the same psychological interventions, the same strategies,
and the same medications that you read or hear about that help tics
in general would also apply to this tic.
What you
describe as "freezing up" is also something that is often
seen in TS and is called "blocking". Blocking is defined as
a "Short-lived sense of being unable to initiate or implement a
movement even with effort". Other movement disorders, like akinesia,
can involve the inability to move but these episodes tend to be of longer
duration than those seen in TS. Also, this inability to move can be
overcome with sustained effort in akinesia. I myself on occasion have
experienced blocking -- in my situation it usually arose when I was
experiencing self-injurious and painful tics................it was as
if the 'self-preservation' side of me was fighting the TS side of me,
and I was immobilized until a victor was declared for that particular
round.
One last
thing I would want to say is that you may want to learn more about obsessive-compulsive
disorder (OCD) if you aren't already familiar with it. OCD is common
in people with TS and involve more mental symptoms like the one you
describe (particularly if you sometimes engage in certain rituals or
actions to help resolve or get rid of that thought).
I hope
this helps J.W.! Have a great upcoming weekend sir.........
Dr. Dunc.
