Are you tic-ing kidding me?

Have you ever been witness to someone with an uncontrollable and repetitive movement; maybe the person continually makes a certain sound? If you have, sometimes you don’t notice it at first; not until the repetitive part comes into play and even then sometimes you might think they are doing it on purpose for some reason. Maybe that reason is to get attention or maybe for amusement for someone that is unbeknownst to you elsewhere. All you know is that it’s different, unique. In fact, that person might be experiencing what is known to be a tic.

A tic is a sudden, rapid, repetitive body movement/sounds that are involuntary and uncontrollable. There are many different types (all fall under categories of motor and vocal [phonic]) and sometimes one person can have more than one individual tic. They could have a motor tic and also phonic tic accompanying.

While trying to get understanding of what is happening to the brain, different studies show that emotions do also hold it’s weight when being in conjuncture with tics. Why does it happen? Is there a way to stop it? Isn’t what I am describing Tourette’s? Are these some of your questions when you see someone who possibly may have them?

I explained how a tic is described but now onto what is happening to the brain and/or overall body when it happens or about to happen. When a tic is about to occur, most feel and experience an uncomfortable urge building to either move or vocalize and get the energy to move out of the body. According to https://www. nhs.uk/conditions/tics/, “Tics can happen randomly and they may be associated with something such as stress, anxiety, tiredness, excitement or happiness. They tend to get worse if they’re talked about or focused on.”

So, is having a tic the same thing as Tourette’s? Technically, no. From Mayo clinic and the National Institute of Health (NIH) - National Library of Medicine - “Tics and Emotions,” Tourette’s syndrome is described as an “excess dopamine in the striatum is thought to excite the thalamo-cortical circuits, producing tics. When external stressors activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, more dopamine is produced, furthering the excitation of tic-producing pathways. Emotional processing structures in the limbic area are also activated during tics, providing further evidence of a possible emotional component in motor ticking behaviors....Tics can be associated with neurological disorders and are thought to be the result of dysfunctional basal ganglia pathways.”

This doesn’t mean that if someone has a tic that they automatically have Tourette’s. It could just be that their body is processing a large amount of data and their brain’s neural pathways are being too stimulated causing excess energy needing to go somewhere. So, the body finds a way.

If you do come in contact with someone who has a tic or Tourette’s, try not to focus on the ‘abnormality,’ they are more than that. Be kind.

Intrigued? Do research and learn more.

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