Tourette's Syndrome

My brother and I were exchanging YouTube links last night for these hilarious live tv bloopers, when I came upon one that (I think) showed a weatherman suddenly screaming profanity at one point of his segment. I thought it was pretty funny, until I read the users' comments. One of them said "You people shouldn't be laughing. The weather guy might have Tourette's". And that sobered me up.

Tourette's Syndrome is a condition where a person has "tics", which can either be physical or vocal. They can't help the tics, they HAVE to perform them, else they'll feel all wrong. There's no known cure and the medicines they have to help with the tics only do so much.

These kids explain it simply.



This video is a summary of a longer show. Watching it made me tear up a little bit, seeing the kids explain how they go through life dealing with Tourette's. You can see how some of them are very mature for their age, and I think this is because they've had to learn life's lessons a lot earlier than most of us would.

Sometimes I think we are a little insensitive when we laugh at some of the things people do or say, when in fact we're just ignorant.

Anyway, I found the videos of the actual show on YouTube and decided to watch it. What surprised me even more was a portion of the show that talked about OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and how it's a part of Tourette's.

I discovered that I have this disorder, though I don't know it's intensity. One of the kids gave an example, saying that when he touched something with one hand, he had to do it again with his other. And that got me thinking of how I have to scratch my arm in the exact same place that I scratched the other. And when I'm walking, and I notice that one foot has stepped on a crack, I'll find the next crack and step on it with the other. It's sort of like looking for balance. When I don't balance it out by doing it on the other part of the pair, I'm terribly aware of it, and I keep thinking about it. So I do it eventually.

I've always thought that it was a little annoying that I had to do all that, just to make myself feel at ease. So I can't imagine what these kids are going through, and I decided to see if I can find the full show of that clip. And I did. And boy was it an eye-opener. I'm not going to embed the videos here, but I'll give you guys the link. It has 3 parts.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

So I guess no matter how big you think your problems are, look around you. More often than not, you'd be proven wrong.