To receive a diagnosis of TS a person must have both multiple motor and one or more vocal tics, not necessarily simultaneously, throughout a span of more than one year. Tics periodically change in the number, frequency, type and location and wax and wane in their severity.
Symptoms can sometimes disappear for weeks or months at a time.
While most persons with TS have some control over their symptoms from seconds to hours at a time, suppressing them may merely postpone more severe outbursts. Tics increase as a result of tension or stress and decrease with relaxation or concentration on an absorbing task. Other symptoms include obsessions, compulsions, impulsions, and mood lability. Inc. You may wish to visit the University of Iowa Department of Psychiatry and the Tourette Syndrome Association, Inc . website for more information. The original, although not official, Tourette Syndrome web site .