Tourette syndrome is a mysterious medical miracle that has puzzled doctors for more than a century. People with this disease will have convulsions and other behavioral problems, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention deficit disorder.
Besides, they are cursed by a stereotype that they curse loudly and inappropriately. In fact, 10% people did experience these verbal outbursts, but many people were still stigmatized and isolated.
I have been studying Tourette's syndrome for many years, and recently published a book on treatment and the spectrum of common behavioral disorders related to it. Swearing is not even the most common one.
In fact, in the past few years, many exciting life-changing treatments have been adopted by Tourette's patients and their families. In this disease, we have reached a crossroads, where it will become more and more important to re-educate the public and widely provide new treatment methods.
French scientist Jean Martin Schecott, the founder of modern clinical neurology, named Tourette's syndrome after his student George Albert Ghiles de. In 1885, Ryder described nine "diseases" with convulsions.
Researchers soon noticed that Tourette's syndrome appeared in many generations of many family members.
However, the new knowledge that happened to many generations came slowly. There is still a big gap in our understanding of the syndrome, and half of the cases are still undiagnosed.
Even the exact number of people affected is hard to know. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one in every 362 children has Tourette's disease, accounting for 0.3%. On the other hand, the American Tourette's Disease Association estimates that the incidence of this disease is twice that of ordinary diseases, and one in every 65,438+066 children (0.6%) is affected.
Some symptoms of Tourette's syndrome are mild, and the symptoms are not annoying blinking or slight physical convulsions. In many cases, exercise convulsions will disappear in late adolescence or early adulthood. Many patients even lead a relatively normal life.
The lessons learned from the brain improve the understanding of syndrome, which increases with the overall understanding of the brain by scientists.
The normal function of the human brain seems to be determined by repeated rhythmic oscillations, many of which are like pop songs on the radio. These oscillations will change and adjust, and they control various human behaviors.
If the oscillation "gets worse", it may lead to disabling convulsions or other behavioral symptoms of Tourette's disease.
"" ""
An important secret of developing a new treatment for Tourette's syndrome is that we can change these oscillations through rehabilitation therapy, cognitive behavioral intervention therapy (CBIT), drug therapy, such as ligustrazine, and even deep brain, including inserting a small straw probe into the brain. Electricity can be conducted through this probe, disturbing the abnormal oscillation that causes convulsions.
Continued research will also help to keep the genetics of Tourette's disease opaque. Although the disease often spreads in families, no one has found that DNA abnormalities are related to all cases, even most cases. At the same time, however, technology is providing new detection and treatment methods. Scientists have recorded the twitching signals of the human brain and even deployed the first intelligent device to detect and suppress convulsions.
Some researchers are studying my new generation of drugs to reduce the complications caused by traditional drugs (such as haloperidol) on Tourette's syndrome. Scientists are also looking for ways to suppress or regulate inappropriate brain signals and develop new drugs with new brain targets, such as cannabinoid receptors.
Using marijuana to treat the symptoms of Tourette's syndrome has certain scientific significance. Cannabinoids are naturally produced in the human body, and cannabinoid receptors are distributed in many areas of the brain. In fact, CB 1 cannabinoid is a high concentration area in Tourette's disease-related brain regions.
Suffering from Tourette's syndrome, and in the eyes of casual observers, the growth rate of Tourette's syndrome patients exceeds it in adolescence or early adulthood, but most of them are not. In most cases, obsessive-compulsive disorder and behavioral characteristics may persist or even escalate when motor and voice convulsions weaken.
If these behavioral characteristics of Tourette's syndrome are not diagnosed and treated, it will make normal life more difficult and have a greater impact on people than obvious motor and voice convulsions.
Although there may be new treatments in the future, patients and their families can do a lot today. Many changes, often very simple, can be integrated into patients' lives.
Comprehensive nursing teams from different disciplines played a key role. For example, social workers can help make personalized school education plans, and connect families with resources to turn difficult school situations into success stories. Rehabilitation therapists can now successfully solve convulsions in many cases without using a single drug.
Our nursing team has treated nearly 65,438+00 patients with dyskinesia at the University of Florida, and tens of thousands of colleagues at the tourette Association Center of Excellence in the southeastern United States, including neurologists, psychiatrists, rehabilitation experts, social workers and scientists from the University of South Florida's Emory University, the University of Alabama and the University of South Carolina.
There are good reasons to try different treatments, even if it doesn't seem to work. Patients need to learn how to recognize when a scheme or treatment scheme doesn't work, and how to discuss with doctors and nursing teams to try other methods. The key point is that if left unchecked, in some cases of Tourette's disease, brain vibration will lead to neck spasm, which will lead to injury or even paralysis. Today, even the most serious cases have the opportunity to receive deep brain treatment.
Although Tourette's disease is still mysterious in the eyes of the public, we must teach families a variety of choices to provide tangible benefits for the quality of life. This is definitely worth shouting.
Michael Okun, Professor of Neurology, University of Florida
This article was originally published in Dialogue. Read the original. "