Posted by yxibow on August 11, 2009, at 23:30:51
In reply to Have I really got Tourette's - please help..., posted by jms600 on August 11, 2009, at 16:48:37
> Hi
>
> Can anyone tell me if I am suffering from Tourette's syndrome? I am 29 years old and over the past 18 months or so I've been experiencing this compulsion to shout out swear words and obscenities when people are around me - usually either at work in the office or at home with my family. When I'm alone I don't feel any compulsion to do it.
>
> I have read that sufferers feel a sense of relief after they swear loudly but I really don't think I would get any relief. I would feel extremely upset, embarrassed and ashamed if I did do it.Tourette's does fall into the OC Spectrum disorder conditions but it has some distinctions. What you mentioned -- I do believe like some tics, there is some "relief" gained from it. Some people have even taught themselves tricks to divert this into some other tic, I believe.
What you have described here sounds more like a "ph-antasy", a dark disturbing obsession. I can't say for sure, but knowing my OCD personally for years it sounds more like that.
> I also have other compulsions - such as wanting to push my girlfriend into the road when she is walking along side me or stabbing my brother with a knife when we are sitting down at the dining table eating together. These 'feelings' really upset me.
This sounds like "Pure O" -- an obsession that again is dark or disturbing, a "ph-antasy".. usually a single track that runs over in the head.
They're not compulsions, unless you've really committed a crime.... (not that I'm suggesting that you have.. that falls into a different Axis of disorders).
There really isn't a compulsion going on here -- its unwanted thoughts. They are, as I know, among the hardest to gain relief if they're very strong.
> I've told my psychiatrist but he seemed to dismiss my concerns and put them all down to OCD, which I have suffered from as a child. I have not had any diagnosis of Tourette's in the past.
>
> I am currently taking 225mg Effexor, 40mg buspirone, 600mg lithium and 10mg Zyprexa. I thought the Zyprexa would help if it is Tourettes but it hasn't done a thing.I'm curious about the whole medicine combination here... I mean, I'm sure your biochemical imbalance is different than mine, but it sounds like a combination more suited to some form of depressive/bipolar disorder.
I know that if I tried Effexor now there's a good chance I would get anxious, my OCD would rev up, and other really not good things would happen.
If you respond to BuSpar... well, that's good... a majority of people don't. (for anxiety)
The Lithium I'm not sure either -- is there suicidality or some other thing going on ?
Adding an small amount of an AP to an SSRI (and Effexor is an SNRI, so it may or may not hold water here), has been a fairly established way of trying to improve the chances of the SRI/SSRI in use of being helpful to those who have strong OCD and don't otherwise respond.
Have you ever tried Anafranil ? It isn't the most clean agent but it can be even stronger than say, Luvox for some people who haven't responded otherwise for OCD.
I would also agree with the other poster that random violent thoughts pass through everyone's mind at some point, its just a question of how upsetting and how persistent they are to someone. Not going to go into it, but I had such a thought about a pet today.. and if I look back at it, it was a bit revolting.
Point being, not everything is a pathology or attributed to what one is diagnosed.. there doesn't have to be multiple self-examinations or other diagnoses lumped together just because something fairly isolated happens.I can sympathize with "pure O", although mine is not technically so because it isn't one, or a select group of thoughts, but rather lots of things come into my head every minute... I have a lot of fears when I'm in certain situations and I catch myself "creating scenarios", what would I say/do... and trying to stop these thoughts.
Also random words just push through my mind, I mean totally random ones... its hard to say where they come from, just sort of like a jumbled encyclopedia shaking loose things. Makes me feel a bit strange.
-- tidings
-- Jay
poster:yxibow
thread:911603
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090810/msgs/911704.html