Tourette 's interferes with a person 's motor function and causes the individual to perform semi-voluntary physical movements called tics. Tics are involuntary, rapid, repetitive, and stereotyped movements of individual muscle groups. Tics are divided into two categories, simple tics or complex tics. Simple tics are sudden, brief movements that involve a limited number of muscle groups. Some examples of simple tics are throat clearing, sniffling, barking, coughing, yelling, animal sounds, eye blinking, head turning, shoulder jerking, and flexing fingers. Complex tics are distinct, coordinated patterns of successive movements involving several muscle groups. Some examples of complex tics are repeating parts of words or phrases, talking to oneself, assuming different intonations, and using obscene words. Although it is not clear what causes this disorder, scientist have speculated that there is an abnormality in the genes affecting the brain 's metabolism of neurotransmitters such as dopamine that trigger the tics.
Tics are controlled by medication, but many medications pose serious heath hazards for the patient because they can have unusual side effects. An example of these medication types is the neuroleptic. Neuroleptics are the most effective of any drug in the
Bibliography: http://www.angelfire.com/ok/onedayatatime/ http://www.classes.cec.wustl.edu/~jpk1/tourettes.html http://www.mentalhealth.com/book/p40-gtor.html http://webmd.lycos.com/content/dmk/dmk_article_1452712