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Avatar universal

This is driving me crazy and I don't know what to do.

Hey! All of this started a few months ago. I had a really bad phase with a lot of panic attacks and severe depression etc. Shortly after all of this calmed down i couldn't stop flexing my toes for about a month. I had this urge to just flex them, often bad enough to the point where my toes started cramping. It stopped from one day to the other and since then its my eyes. I can't stop squeezing them shut. The urge to do this is unbearable. It feels worse with the right eye. I just have this unbearable urge to squeeze them shut or to blink really hard. I try not to do this which evolves in repetitive blinking all day long. I can't stop. Well, I can, but it's driving me crazy. This awful urge in my eyes isn't going away and I feel like my eyes are burning when I stop. It's horrible. I had people comment on this. Mostly my parents. My mother asked me at least 10 times now whats up with my eyes and she seems really annoyed about it. I tried to explain it to her but she reacted really pissed off. I don't know why. I googled a bit and read a lot about Tourette's and I'm afraid that might be it? I don't know what I'm supposed to do? This goes on all day long and I can't handle it anymore. I don't even want to be around anyone anymore because it's not stopping. To have this urge and this feeling all day is killing me. Is there anything I can do? What happens when I tell a doctor about this? Is there anything they can do to stop this?
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Avatar universal
Thank you so much for your answer! I remember when I was a kid (in kindergarten mostly) I often had the urge to touch everything with both my hands. When I touched something with my right hand I wanted to touch it with the left the same exact way so that they feel even. That rarely ever happens these days, only sometimes when I'm drinking tea or something because the feeling of the heat is more intense I guess? I'm 18 now. I never took any medication. The only thing that happened were the mentioned panic attacks (my depression as well as the anxiety already started at around 12/13) which were pretty horrible and often lasted hours. We were on vacation when I had the first one and I never had them that bad before and had them daily for about 3 months after that. During those 3 months I barely ate anything and put off sleep as much as possible because I had pretty horrible nightmares. It started to calm down after that and that's when the tics started. I don't know why this is happening now. I remember that my uncle had pretty bad tics and I have another uncle who has ADHD. I haven't seen them in years so I don't really know more about that.
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This is the first time I have come across this and im so relieved. I have severe PTSD and when I have severe panic attacks I have a facial twitch and a jerking of my neck on my left hand side. It was very bad for about a yr and when I changed doctors they immediately took me off the anti depression meds the stutter and very bad tics went away but I still get these symptoms when I am having a very bad panic attack. This is the first time ive found that others can have the same physical signs of a panic attack.
17218185 tn?1454677673
Sorry to hear about your suffering, but it sure sounds like Tourettes. TS usually starts during childhood, can get worse around puberty, then often subsides in late 20s. You didn't say hold old you are, but it seems strange that the tics are just now starting. Were you taking a medication for depression? Because certain meds (like Risperdal) can actually make tics start that were not a problem before! Best to consult directly a neurologist than to waste time on other docs who won't recognize TS (or other neurochem problems) anyways. Check-out the Tourette's Syndrome Associations website for a listing of specialists who know/treat TS. Don't waste time, the sooner you get a clear diagnosis, the better. However, be wary of neuroleptic medications, some help, some harm. Psychiatrists are less likely to help you at the beginning, but may help for the follow-up treatment. TS is genetic, does anyone else in your close family have tic/twitchy/obsession/depression problems? My son took Intuniv (Guanfacine) for 2 years and it worked very well for his tics, and it is not going to make anything worse (like antipsychotics/neuroleptics may). It was a tried & true med for highblood pressure for many years, but it tends to make you sluggish in the morning. It's used for hyperactivity sometimes also. Good luck, and don't dispair. Get plenty of sleep, avoid caffeine, avoid sugar-overload, take a quality vit-mineral supplement, drink 2 liters water daily, get lots of exercise...all that diminishes the tics.
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