Nervous tic and its treatment

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Neurotic tics and its treatment

Nervous tic and its treatment

masoud77771401-12-11 16:32:43 +00:00

What is a nervous tic?

Many people experience spasm-like movements in certain muscles. These movements, which are known as tics and jumping muscles, often involve the eyelids and face, but they can occur anywhere in the body.

In most cases, tics are harmless and temporary, however, in some cases, they may be caused by a tic disorder.

Definition of tics and muscle jumps

Ticks: We have two types of ticks; Movement and sound tick. These short-term sudden movements (motor tics) or sounds (vocal tics) occur suddenly and in an unusual way. Tics are often repeated and an action is repeated many times, but they have no rhythm.

Movement tics can be divided into simple and complex types. Simple movement tics include winking, moving the nostrils, shaking the head or shrugging the shoulders, and making fists. Complex movement tics consists of a group of movements that are performed in sequence

Tics are not involuntary movements, that is, people can suppress them for a short period of time, but this suppression causes them pain, and this pressure is released by doing the tic.

Although tics can occur at any age, they are most common in children. About 20% of children experience them and it mostly affects boys.

No one knows the main cause of ticks; It seems that stress and lack of sleep are involved in the occurrence and severity of tics.

Doctors once believed that the drugs used in the treatment of attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder in susceptible children cause tics; But newer studies reject it.

If you have tics, your doctor will begin your clinical evaluation by performing a physical exam, especially a neurological exam and completing a medical history. This helps to rule out the underlying diseases causing the symptoms. Other tests such as brain CT scan and blood test may be necessary to rule out other diseases.

Muscle jumps: Often they occur once, unlike tics, and are not repetitive actions; It is completely involuntary and cannot be controlled or suppressed.

One of the types of muscle spasm is basic benign blepharospasm. Blepharospasm refers to the involuntary jumping of the muscles of one or both eyelids. This situation often occurs repeatedly in periods of time. In severe and rare cases, this type of jump can involve the eyebrows, mouth and neck.

Although the skipping of an eyelid is similar to a blinking tic, it is different because it is uncontrollable and often occurs in adults.

Experts believe that blepharospasm eyelid jump occurs due to wrong stimulation of certain cells in an area of the brain. Bleeding may be aggravated by dry eyes, stress, lack of sleep, caffeine, and strong light conditions.

Common Tic Disorders

Most tics are not serious and have very little effect on the quality of life. But in some cases, tics cause problems and in this case they affect many aspects of a person's life such as school, job and social life.

Doctors use 4 characteristics to identify and diagnose tic disorders:

Age of onset, duration, intensity, motor or vocal nature of the tic

Transient tic disorder

This disorder is more common in young people and affects up to 20% of school age children and it is necessary to start before the age of 18 for diagnosis. Also, the symptoms must not be caused by medication or another disease such as Huntington's disease or post-viral encephalitis, and there must not be Tourette's syndrome or other chronic motor or vocal tic disorders. The characteristic of this tick is the presence of one or more ticks for at least one month and at most one year in a row. Most of the tics of this disorder are movement, but they may also be vocal.

Some studies show that transient tic disorder can be related to neurotransmitters such as dopamine. But no study has enough evidence for the role of neurotransmitters.

Chronic motor or vocal tic disorder: While transient tics disappear within a year, chronic tics remain for a year or more. The characteristic of chronic tic disorder is the presence of one or more long-lasting tics. They can be one of the types of motion or sound tics. In order to diagnose it, the symptoms must start before the age of 18, and it occurs in less than 5 out of every 100 children.

Tourette syndrome

The most interesting disorder is Tourette syndrome, in which physical and vocal tics often occur simultaneously in the same person. Transient tic disorder includes both types, but they often occur separately. In some cases, what seems like a chronic tic can be the symptoms of Tourette's syndrome, which is the most serious tic disorder.

Since many infected people are undiagnosed, it is not known exactly how many people are infected in the United States. Experts estimate that about 138,000 children in the United States are affected. Symptoms usually start at the age of 5-18.

The severity of Tourette syndrome often varies over time. We may have increased tic activity after periods of tic reduction. Fortunately, many people with Tourette's syndrome improve their symptoms as they age.

How is the treatment of tic disorder?

Life with this disorder can be overwhelming at times, but it can be managed with proper treatment. The treatment of tic disorder depends on the severity of the disease. In many cases, especially in children, there is no need for treatment and they recover on their own. It is important for parents and teachers not to react to tics because the child becomes more self-aware and their symptoms worsen. Of course, they should be careful of changing symptoms because in rare cases the disease may progress.

In other cases, the doctor may prescribe cognitive-behavioral therapy, medication, or a combination of the two. Also, because stress makes tics worse, stress control and management techniques are important. In cognitive-behavioral therapy, a person learns to prevent self-destruction by controlling his feelings, thoughts and behavior. Medicines do not completely cure tic disorder, but in some people they reduce the symptoms. Your doctor may prescribe a drug that reduces dopamine in the brain, such as haloperidol or pimozide. Antidepressants may also be prescribed, which help to improve the symptoms of anxiety, sadness or obsessive-compulsive disorder and the complications of this disorder.

Sources:

https://www.healthline.com/health/transient-tic-disorder

https://www.webmd.com/brain/tic-disorders-and_twitches