CAN SOMEONE HELP ME

[gothic]

i have a question about ocd and touretts

[JSGeare]

OK. Shoot.

[gothic]

is there any medican that u can take for touretts and ocd for facial tics that wont give u worse tics

[SteveGoryan]

Hey buddy,

   Sorry, no.  There isn't any medication any of us can take that will actually decrease the tics.  The worse tics you refer to aren't very likely to happen to you from any of the medications you can take.  Why?  Because most Psychiatrists and Neurologiest won't give it to us.  Tardive Dyskenisa  is a "side effect" for some meds that are supposed to help with the tics, noises, OCD and Mood Swings.  

   I've been sporting Tourettes all my life.  I'm almost 39 (in May)... when I was young - prior to 10... my folks didn't know anything about TS.  I was born thin, got chubby in early grade school, becamse a nice shape in high school but it was then that the Tourettes hit me.  Non one around me had ever heard of it (Remember this was about the early/mid 80's I think).  My dad told me one day that maybe we should see a doctor about the tics.  I laughed at him... stupid old man, I thought.  What the hell is a Doctor going to do about nervous tics.  Again, remember, I was 14/15 ish and knew everything.  LOL

   We went to the Dr. and he did a barage of tests then sent me to a neurologist who did his tests, then sent me to a phsyciatrist who did his tests, back to the Dr., then to a phsychologist and then back to the neurologist where I was diagnosed with Tourettes.  My PhD gave me prescription of Haldol.  Started me off with 2mg a day.  If you've never taken Haldol, don't ever let anyone talk you into it.  It's an anti-psychotic and it's horrible.  You hear the horror stories of all the people who take all these meds... Haldol is the worst I've ever had the misfortune to experience.  Let me put it this way... in 8 months on the drug, I went from 160 pounds to 310.  I had so many side effects that I was never warned about, that I thought I was finally going crazy.  I started looking around for institutions in case I needed to be locked away to protect myself and others.  I bought a bottle of my prescription from Walmart for 1/8 the cost I'd been paying and pulled out a 2foot long list of the drugs chemical composition and pregnancy warnings (4 little squares total) and the rest of it was full of the side effects.... a good 60% of which I'd been experiencing fo the last 6 years on the drug.  I quit immediately - didn't even bother to finish the bottle, didn't cut down slowly.. I was pissed!

   In 4 months I went from 310 pounds to 220!   4 months!  Since then, I've tried Klonodine, Clonopin, and a bunch of others I admit I can't remember.  All of which were SUPPOSED to help with OCD, moods, and maybe even help me calm down a little so as o avoid the tics so much.  All in all, whatever we get is not for the tics - it's for the OCD and related stuff.  

   I just quit Lexapro.  I was weighing in at about 220, I now weight 285... 65 pounds of weight gain and I've been on it about 6 months.  Yes, it's true, some of us are "predisposed" to weight gain... I'm certainly one of them.  But I feel so lethargic and don't care to do anything at all.  I get these overwhelming draws to certain foods.  Sandwiches mostly.  I don't want pizza, I don't want chips or cookies or candybars.  I love the sweet taste of soda I admit, but I don't like noodles or pastas or greasy foods... but I HAVE to have my breads.  Needless to say, now, I feel bloated all the time, my stomach sticks out farther than ever before - I look like I'm carrying twins for cryin' out loud - my butt is so big I'm thinking of getting a bigger car just so I can be comfortable (OK, that part's not true, but it's not a bad idea....)  Anyway... my first week off the drug Lexapro I endd up so incredibly ill.  I had a headache from the depths of the most intense lava-sess-pool from hell, I was seriously nauseous, but never got sick, so weak, so cold and sweating just from walking across the room, motion sick from any motion... it lasted about 2 days.  I thought it could be food poisoning, but I read a bunch about the side effects of quitting Lexapro and it sounds like I had that withdrawl.... bad.

   Long and the short of it is this: try Valerian before you go to sleep - it stinks, but it might help.  Try St. John's Wort  when you wake up.  Take at least double the daily recommended dose of B vitamins every day.  Drink lots of water.  Eat as many fruits and veggies every day as you like but don't overdo it.  Best way to do this is to force yourself to eat a "snack" once a day I've found.  1 Veggie or 1 fruit as a snack to start... nothing more... and get sunshine and excersize.  Believe it or not, these few things will help the tics deminish.  They won't go away, but you'll notice a difference in a week or two I bet.

   Be very, very wary of taking anything from the medical industry.  While you might actually find a Dr. who's generally concerned with you and not his kickbacks from the drug companies, do as much research as you can about anything before you pay to have that thing filled and you start taking them.  Miricle cures usually aren't.

Steve

[SteveGoryan]

Sorry about all the spelling errors and typos.  I was writing this fast, in the dark and I'm not the best typist as you can see.  :-)

Steve