As we count down the hours, minutes and seconds to 2012 and a New Year, we thought it would be appropriate to think about ways we hope 2012 will be a different, better year in the Tourette Syndrome community — for individuals and families alike.
What research do you want to see take place?
What scientific breakthroughs do you believe are possible?
What are some of your family or individual goals relating to TS?
How do you expect TS to affect you in 2012?
Those are just a few of the questions we would love to see addressed as we usher in 2012. Please consider taking a moment or two to ponder this issue and leave your response in the comments section, or — if you feel led — make a post of your own about it. It’s up to you!
We look forward to hearing from you, and have a safe, happy and prosperous New Year!
Parents, we are trying to write up a story on these New Year’s Resolutions, so please don’t be shy! Post yours today!
Non-drug alternatives: For my son, nothing beats swimming. I would be interested in trying acupuncture, but he has an absolute terror of needles, so that’s an appointment that could get very ugly. Acupressure is something we have toyed with, with limited success.
First sentence should say “I would like to *see* research….”
I would like to research specifically targeting Tourette’s — no more “Well, this drug worked for schizophrenia/ sleepwalking/ athlete’s foot, let’s throw it at Tourette’s and see what happens!” I would like to see research on treatments that are less brutal than methods such as deep brain stimulation. I think sometimes doctors and researchers forget that there are humans — often, children — on the receiving end of these treatments.
I expect that in the next five-ten years we will see a better understanding of how neurological disorders are related/ interrelated. I hope that this understanding spreads more into the mainstream.
On the topic of both research and family/individual goals, I want to help my son find an opportunity to do TS-related research. He has some interesting ideas for managing tics that seem to be borne out by published works, and I would like him to be able to test his hypotheses and see if he can come up with more humane treatments for tics.
I would like to hear more about non-drug alternatives, like Jennifer’s experience with neurofeedback. I, myself, am taking my son to acupuncture.
I’d also like to work on encouraging all of us to see our kids’ non-TS gifts so we can find more fabulous people who don’t call our kids names. That just breaks my heart, Jennifer, and I want you to know there’s a little dude in L.A. who would NEVER do that. Name calling is for non-enlightened kids and I”m sorry there aren’t more out there to support your son and all our TS kids. Shame on the boring, uneducated bullies! Andrea
My resolutions for my son who is 9…1) Do not forget to give him his medicine morning, 3pm and night time. 2) Do not let anything stop me from getting him to his neurofeed back appts. four hours a week 3) Get everything he needs for school next to the door in the evening so when the “break down” happens, it won’t turn into a, well, can’t really describe it! 4) Work on creating a better social life for him with boys who won’t call him names.