The terrible cold has arrived but strangely enough my tics are having a rest, no more slapping or thumping myself. This cold has brought with it a big black cloud of misery, just hanging over my head. (is it just us Smiths fans who have the monopoly on misery?) I can’t think of anything that might cheer me up, having Bret Mackenzie (Flight of the Conchords) sing a song to cheer me up might muster a smile but that’s about it.
This is blog entry is really part of the previous one because I should have explained how I’ve reached this point but the only way I can think of linking it would be by using some sort of time machine. (Cue Uncle Rico’s time machine).Maybe watching Napoleon Dynamite might cheer me up?
It’s taken quite a while for me to reach this stage, it’s been at least a year and half maybe longer of twists and turns and missing information. Even though I’ve had TS since the age of 11 during my first year at secondary school it became apparent that the numerous facial and vocal tics that my school friends had tried to “cure” me of on countless occasions was actually Tourette’s syndrome. I was about 29 when I was diagnosed by Dr Hugh Rickards in Birmingham, and at that point is more out of curiosity and to give some sort of tangible reason for these strange happenings.
I suppose things started to get worse (my TS) when I was sent to my local hospital (George Eliot in Nuneaton) by my GP with suspected appendicitis, after a few days of poking, prodding, some excellent catering and a selection of different painkillers a couple of fibroids were found in my uterus, so I was sent home and told to get a referral from my GP if the fibroids caused any more pain. Of course they did, so I was referred to the lovely Mr Lawrence at George Eliot for further investigations (and kicked the unsuspecting gynaecologist with a leg tic) he found that as well as the fibroids I had endometriosis (another horrible female affliction) Endometriosis if let untreated gets gradually worse as time goes by so it was time to try and nip that one in the bud. The first treatment on the list was to try an injection called Depo Provera, this turned out to be awful, it took a lot of the pain away but in its place left the worst mood swings known to mankind and my tics had become much more intense. This is the point where my TS has grown up from being a mischievous child and transformed into moody teenager who hated me and was out to get me. Tics included a rather annoying and sometimes painful head shake, slapping myself across the forehead and thumping my thigh, at one point my thigh was covered with painful bruises and looked not unlike the injuries my friend incurred when she came off her motorbike after slipping on diesel. It was at this time I asked my GP to re-refer me to see Dr Rickards; she couldn’t do that but referred me to a neurologist at George Eliot Hospital. I got to see the neurologist at George Eliot who referred me to see Dr Rickards and also referred me to see a psychiatrist at the Caludon Centre in Coventry, my appointment to see the psychiatrist came through and I began to see her on a regular basis, yet still no news from Birmingham, my psychiatrist could see my tics gradually get worse so she did a bit of research and found that the reason why I hadn’t yet heard from Birmingham was that I hadn’t actually been referred! She referred me straight away, she also prescribed Haloperidol to try and give me some respite from the tics. The next day I ended up in A&E my jaw had clamped shut causing me the worst pain I’ve ever experienced, I was sent home with some diazepam and told that it would ease over the next couple of days and not to take any more haloperidol (??!!!). After this painful and scary experience my psychiatrist then suggested I try risperidone, I was very wary yet I needed something to stop myself beating myself up and to have a good nights sleep I decided to think about it, I was then discharged – no more psychiatrist.
And then, news from Birmingham, there in black and white, I my hands a letter, an appointment to see Dr Cavanna, not Dr Rickards but he’ll do nicely.
Tourettes not just a tic disorder
On behalf of my daughter aged 11
Trying to understand- urges or tics?
Totally fed up.