A History of (my) Tourette's.

When I was 11 years old I noticed an odd twitch in my shoulder. As I made the long perilous journey through high school these twitches only got worse, and soon became one of my most endearing features, and I was soon known affectionately as “Twitch”.

At the age of 16, my mother decided that having a child that acted like an electrocuted spider wasn’t the best fashion accessory and so started dragging me around to see doctors and the like.

After a year or so I finally found myself sitting in front of a Neurologist with wires sticking out of small rubber pads placed seemingly randomly all over my body.

A few lights flashed.

I raised an eyebrow.

“Well, there you go.” Said the doctor, smiling genially towards my mother. “Nothing wrong with her, she simply has habit spasms.”

Problem solved, case closed.

For my mother at least as she decided the twitches were caused by stress, regardless of the fact I am rarely stressed and constantly twitchy.

Stressed? No. Twichy? Yes.

When I was 19 and left Sydney for Brisbane I decided to restart my investigation.

Several GP’s and a few years later, finally when I was 23 I got to sit in front of a Neurologist and explain my case.

MRIs, CT Scans, EMIs, and lots of other acronyms later, I was sitting in front of a young female Neurologist who was shaking her head over my results.

“It doesn’t make sense, we can clearly see you have a problem but your test results are shooting blanks. If only you had depression.” This last point she mused to herself.

“Excuse me, but I’ve been living with depression since I was 15.”

“Really?” She exclaimed, with a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes. “Do you have anger management issues? Or Obsessive Compulsive issues? What about Anxiety?”

I spent the next half an hour giving her a crash course of the last 10 years of my life from depression to insomnia and a very neat wardrobe.

“Well that explains everything! You have Tourettes!”

Finally, after 11 years I had an answer.

I twitched with joy.

Can you see the Joy?

After leaving the hospital I sent messages to all the people who my twitching had affected over the years.

True story, although my mother wasn't a part of it.

Four years after my diagnosis not much has changed in my life, other than finally having a name to my condition and learning to control it as much as possible without medication (that’s another story!).

Ultimately though, Tourette’s is a blessing as much as it is a twitchy spasmodic curse.

After all, whenever I get a rage on, go on a cleaning spree, or keep Boyfriend awake all night with my alternating bouncy or irritable insomnia – at least I have an excuse.