The reason I wanted to be the leader here on the TS forum is because I have lived with Tourettes my whole life - as far back as i can remember. From a child's perspective it is a daily nightmare to be doing these things and not having control over it. Same goes for OCD, and unfortunetly a lot of these disorders come as a 'package deal' which just makes it even HARDER to deal with. I know my mom worried about me daily because the kids at school were not kind at all.

Your son is very lucky to have a parent who is trying to understand TS. What kind of tics does he have? Did a doctor diagnose him? Have you seen a neurologist & is he on any meds? I was sent to a neurologist in the mid 80s but back then they didn't know much about TS so I wasn't officially diagnosed until this year. I don't always agree with putting kids on meds, but I think you have to weigh the negatives against the positives and go from there.

It's really good that you put him in sports, that is the perfect outlet to get rid of built up energy and frusteration - having these disorders isn't easy so a lot of times we tend to internalize the anger and then it comes out in other ways which could be the rage storms you mentioned.

Do you and your son talk about it? Sorry for all the questions i'm just trying to get a better idea of your situation so I can help

Again, welcome to the group - PM me anytime if you wish to talk privately.

cherrie

This is Nevayda's daughter, Kate. I am 22 with tourettes. I used to have rage storms until I was about 15. My mother put me into a medical group home for rehabilitation for about half a year. It was called Sara Reed. I would find one in your area. You have to think about your child, yes, but you also have to think about YOUR health and well being. I think that medication is more than neccasary for severe tourettes, you can not let your child go without it. Get him on health insurance, find a neurologist and to warn you, finding the right medicine is a long, drawn out process. You have to have patience your child will go on medications that make him worse, make him better but have terrible side effects, and medications that work but arent right for him. I did not go onto the right medications until I was about 18, and I had a overmedicated breakdown in the hospital because eventually I grew out of the need for the medications and had gotten better. I did go on medications that were working around age 12, but I gained 100 pounds on a medication called rispiridal. Right now I am on geodon for my tourettes, normally used for skitzophrenia but it is now used for tourettes. Make sure your child does not have depression and take him for a full psychological analysis testing. Good luck to you and if you need to talk my email is katekovach@yahoo.com and that is my yahoo im as well.