My Habbit

[Harvey11]

I'm Harvey , 11 I've got Tourette's syndrome , a non stop throat clearance witch leads my parents to frustration how do I stop

[macallabradshaw]

From a parent of a throat clearer myself,yes i must admit i was also frustrated with my daughters throat clearing until i read up on the symptoms of ts and got better informed.now as parents and siblings we just ignore all of her verbal tics from her throat clearing to her excessive loud sniffing.all i can say is time.overtime your parents will be used to your ts noises and not even notice them.as for stopping them.....there are supression methods where you can learn to control them in public places like school but i wouldnt recommend doing it at home.after a day of "stopping" them you will find that when you get home they will be doubly worse.home should be a place where you feel safe to tic and even at her primary school once we informed her teachers and classmates nobody mentioned her throat or sniff tics again.on a plus note sometimes your throat clearing tic will seem to go when it gets replaced by a different tic but with all tics they come and go and the more comfortable you can be doing them the easier they will be to manage

[Pierce]

Hello Harvey. I have TS and so does my son whos 13. Thank you for posting your question. I know as a mum that my son does tics that I find really annoying and sometimes he does tics that hurt me. I also know that I have annoying tics as well. The thing is I also know people that don't have TS that do annoying things. I know and you know that you can't help doing your throat clearing tic and I bet that if you think about it or get nervous or try and stop it that it will get worse. The thing is its involuntary. If you had a broken leg people wouldnt ask you to walk on it because they know it hurts but sadly not everyone understands ts. Have you tried to talk to your parents about it? I would like to think that if you told them how it makes you feel they might understand a bit more. The fact that you have asked for help shows how mature you are. Tourettes Action have a support line that you or your parents could phone for some advice. There might even be a support group in your area. I just want to say a huge well done for posting on here and I hope the throat tic calms down a bit soon. Take care

[Harvey11 in reply to Pierce]

Thank you that may of gave me a lot of advice but I think no one can stop it it's really hard if you understand

[scorpiodog]

hi Harvey i have Tourettes Syndrome and i have noticed some of my ticcs that annoy people start as soon as i see them

one example is my sniffing ticc, one day a lady at work moaned at me and asked me to blow my nose.

now everytime i see her my sniffing ticc goes crazy

Unfortunatley it feels like our ticcs do their best to get us in trouble and annoy people

the best advice i can give is its not your fault and people just have to understand and once you feel the understand that perticular ticc may calm down a bit

my family have learned if they complain or point out my ticcs it has a very negative effect

try explaining to your parents that the throat clearing ticc may get worse as people show their annoyance

Hope this helps

[EsJaySea]

Hi Harvey,

You have had some good replies already. I have been that parent. When my son started with TS he had a really mad laugh, that often came out at really inappropriate times - such as during a sad news story. I told him off and said that people would think he was weird. I quickly realised that he had no control over it and that my reaction was making it worse, and I hope I've made up for my bad reaction in the years that have followed.

A lot of tics seem to be about taboos - that is, things that you shouldn't (or think you shouldn't) do or say. So the more fuss people make about the throat clearing, the worse it is likely to get. Once your Mum and Dad decide to ignore your tics, the easier they will find it. They will have to keep practicing though, because your tics are likely to change over time and they'll have new things to get used to, just as you will.

Best wishes

[NellC]

Hi Harvey. I'm the mum of a 9 year- old boy who has lots of habits. I feel for you, it must be horrible specially when you can't do anything to stop them happening. It must make it ten times worse when you fear that your habits are annoying your parents. As a mum I feel I just want to do something to stop it happening to my son as well, and that is frustrating.

Before I understood about Tourette's I too used to get angry with my son, because I thought he was doing things on purpose. I can still get annoyed and sad too when his tics are bad. Now we understand his tics we have learnt to ignore them and accept him just the way he is,and hopefully now he feels more able to talk to us about his feelings and open up when his habits are getting him down. I wonder if you've tried showing these posts to your parents because all the people who've replied have good ideas that might be useful to them too.