Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome
Alternate Names : Tourette Syndrome
Symptoms & Signs
The most common initial symptom is a facial tic -- other tics may follow. Contrary to popular belief, use of socially inappropriate words or phrases (coprolalia) occurs in only a minority of patients. Tics may occur many times a day, but they tend to improve or worsen at different times. The nature of the tics may vary and change with time.
Many patients explain that the tics are not totally involuntary, but that "things just would not feel right" if they did not do them. In this respect Tourette syndrome differs from obsessive-compulsive disorder, in which patients are compelled to do the behaviors out of fear of impending doom.
|
