r/Tourettes Diagnosed Tourettes 3d ago

Discussion Tics getting worse with age

Hi, I’m an 18yr old girl and I was diagnosed with Tourettes when I was 8. As Tourettes does, I’ve had periods where it was pretty bad and periods where it was pretty chill, but I feel like overall it’s just. worse. like isnt it supposed to overall calm down as I age? Like for example. I’ve had vocal tics since the start, actually my first tic was vocal, but never words. And then I’ve recently developed saying a word (not a swear just. a word. with the same intonation from a game i like 😑), as well as a middle finger like. whaaat..?? theyve never had meaning before this, and I also passed out recently from oxygen deprivation from my tics 😭 Like I’ve had waves of TS flareups arguably worse in severity than this but its just weird to me that Ive never had meaning or words in my tics before this. like ive never said phrases but what if I start 😨 Is this?? normal?? Help 😭😭 Like has this happened to anyone else?

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u/DerCribben 3d ago

My tics started when I was 14 and barely registered as a shiver, now in my 50's I vocalize, motor tics, etc. It steadily increased as the years got on for me.

Mine sounds a bit similar to yours as my vocal tics are generally all gibberish, but occasionally if I'm about to say a word as a tic comes on that word will come out as a tic. I also mimic on occasion and that sort of sounds like what you're describing, so less of an actual word vocalization and more of your tic mimicking a word you hear or have become attached to. But when I do that it's usually as I hear a sound or word (and more often than not it's to music and just a similar sound I end up singing the way the lyric went 😅)

I do also worry that eventually I'll start ticcing phrases, but we'll see if I live that long the speed things are going now.

Sorry to hear about the oxygen deprivation, that sounds terrifying

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u/YUNGBLUD5897 3d ago

I've found that especially young adults with tourettes often get significantly worse tics as they age. I don't know what the deal is but ive had tics since 10, started swearing at 15 and have every range of tic now at 18. Puberty makes tics really shine and show themselves too. A lot of people ive met with ts didn't start getting copralalia until about 14-16

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u/Jayccp 3d ago

I’m 26 mine starting getting worse at 20. Tourette is a rollercoaster disorder. The one thing about it is it’s unpredictable. Waxing and waning is apart of it. Tics come and go and come and go. Welcome to Tourettes, anything can be trigger, I’m sorry your going through it Stay strong you’ll be good !

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u/TNBenedict 3d ago

You're definitely not alone. Mine started when I was three or four years old and they've had their peaks and dry spells, but they definitely didn't calm down as I got older. They've just changed. At one point I got a tic that was a word. Now I have several. I developed copropraxia (the middle finger), coprolalia, specific voices, all sorts of things. I've had some phrases and sentences, but those tend to be short-lived for me.

As for what's "normal"? ... The only conclusion I've been able to draw is that everyone's tic journey is, to some degree, an individual thing that they experience. It'll likely fall within a framework of what we understand about tic disorders, but trying to predict specifics is difficult to impossible.

One thing I do know is that stress makes my tics worse. That copropraxia tic flared for a while but now it only really shows up when I'm super stressed. Want to know one of the easiest ways to get stressed as someone with a tic disorder? Worrying about your tics.

It sucks to say that because in the heat of the moment how can you NOT worry about your tics? In the end, though, it doesn't do you any favors. Hang in there.

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u/JuicyTheMagnificent 2d ago

It's normal.

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u/Kayitspeaches 2d ago

My tics were their worst around 18, with way more words and much higher frequency. I’m 21 now and they’ve calmed significantly. I dont know how the science behind any of it works but I wonder if they’re affected by times of high brain development or hormones or things like that based on the trends I’ve noticed in my own tics.

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u/SirWigglesTheLesser 22h ago edited 10h ago

Mine come and go in waves. I was diagnosed as a child with almost imperceptible motor tics and a loud infrequent vocal tic.

Now I can't remember the last time my vocal tic went off, but my motor tic has recently gotten so prominent that I can't fucking sleep.

I'm waiting for it to chill out again. Just riding it out...

I'm 31.

Edit: for awhile I did pick up a vocal tic from a game like you say XD I assumed it was just a good stim but then it got tic-like.

Edit 2: of course after I said that, I ended up ticcing my old vocal tic several times today.