The onset is typically young at seven to ten years of age with more mates being afflicted than females. Nowadays it can be treated with psychiatric medications but not cured. Many sufferers also are haunted by obsessional thoughts that are only temporarily relieved by compulsive rituals. At times attention-deficit and learning disorder features exist as well. Tics are involuntary motor movements of the neck, head, body and limbs.
Mild tics can occur without the patient's awareness.
More severe or complex tics may be briefly suppressible but are performed compulsively when irresistible urges or uncomfortable sensations overwhelm the patientfs free will. Most often ticcing movements include chronic eye blinking, tongue protrusions, and shoulder shrugs. Vocal tics may include involuntary barks and howls, yelps, grunts, and coughs. Symptoms usually wax and wane, but Tourette Syndrome is most disruptive when its symptoms persist and uncontrollable cursing coexists with outlandish body contortions and sudden movements, ritualistic touching, a compulsive urge to imitate the actions and behavioral movements of others, and echolalia. The latter term refers to the uncontrollable repetition of one's own words or the words and phrases of other people.