This disease appears before the age of 18. It affects the nervous system.
Syndrome Tourette is a condition of nervous system It produces repetitive movements and sounds in patterns, called tics, that are totally involuntary. Their visibility in the country is almost non-existent, so much so that there is no association formed, nor laws that protect them, as there is in England or the United States.
Imagine having to hold back because of a tic that you cannot control, that this causes you anguish, more stress and even anxiety. This is what a person with syndrome feels like Tourette.
According to American Tourette Association, approximately 1 in 160 boys or girls between the ages of 5-17 in the U.S has Tourette; and it is estimated that 1 in 100 boys or girls has this syndrome or another tic disorder.
In addition, the Portal for People with Disabilities (Discapnet) specifies that this syndrome tends to occur more in men, in a ratio of 4 to 1. In Ecuador there are no solid databases on its prevalence or trend, and tics can often be so mild that people are not aware that they may have it. syndrome.
This medical condition is related to movement disorders and is characterized by having motor or vocal / phonetic tics. The health professional in charge of treating and diagnosing the Tourette syndrome is a neurologist specialized in movement disorders, along with a psychologist and psychiatrist.
According to the clinical neurologist specialized in movement disorders Tatiana Gabriela Aldaz, this is a neuropsychiatric disease characterized by 2 or more motor tics, plus a phonetic tic, in patients that have started before the age of 18 and that persist for more than a year presenting these movements.
Types of tics
This syndrome is basically a tic disease. Aldaz explains that they are stereotyped and repetitive semi-voluntary movements.
Those that come from the body are the motors. Phonetics occur when an involuntary sound is generated, such as clearing the throat, clearing the throat, or there are even more complex tics such as coprolalia, one of the most problematic symptoms to social level since it involves the expression involuntary of obscene or inappropriate words.
Tourette from his own voice
“There are people with this syndrome in the country. Some have it stronger, others very subtle. Living with tourette syndrome is not easy because it is like living with a dual personality, the one you control and the one that bothers you ”. Shubert Moreira is 60 years old and a mechanic. For years he has had tics and explains how difficult it is to have to contain them just for fear of the reaction of society, because that produces stress and anxiety. Moreira has one of the only groups on Facebook in Ecuador, in order to make tourette syndrome visible to break the taboo.
The syndrome usually appears in childhood. This is the case of Gabriel Cuesta, an 11-year-old boy whose parents have tried to create a Tourette Syndrome Association in the country, but they have received multiple obstacles from the system to do so. “In Ecuador we have not had the courage to make this syndrome 100% visible and that is what we want to do,” says Rubén Cuesta. In addition, therapies and medications are part of their daily routine, which has advantages and disadvantages. “All of this medication has side effects. It can affect hormonally, raise your sugar, etc. But it is our daily dilemma: either I expose him to these risks or I have him stressed out with tics. This condition really creates a lot of stress, ”adds Cuesta.
Tic for social networks?
In recent weeks, media around the world have reported an increase in cases of nervous tics among users of TikTok. There are no conclusive studies that there is a correlation between networks and tics, although some studies have been carried out. An example is research TikTok Tics: a Pandemic within a pandemic, which concludes that, we could be in front of a mass psychogenic illness, which means that a group of people begin to feel ill without an obvious justification and that the tik tok tics they are somewhat different from what is typically seen in tourette patients despite sharing the similarity of vocal or bodily tics.
Called web
This is a work with journalism students from USFQ. Alejandra Larrea
