I feel like people don’t talk about how dangerous having a tic disorder can be. There’s a general attitude that tics are inconvenient (which, of course, they are) or that they’re funny, and while both of these can be true (the first moreso than the second), I don’t often see people talking about how painful or dangerous tics can be.
Tics can be incredibly paintul or dangerous, even in “milder” cases.
A tic can make you run into a busy street.
A tic can make you hit yourself or smash your head into things or hurt yourself in any number of ways.
A tic can make you eat something toxic.
There are infinite ways that a tic can cause you harm, whether temporary or permanent, or even death in more severe cases.
I guess I just want to say this, because my own tics have been quite dangerous at times, and I feel awareness around these types of tics is sorely lacking.
My tics have made me throw breakable objects at other people, including several coffee mugs. I have also thrown said objects at myself.
My tics have made me punch solid surfaces until my knuckles bruised and bled.
My tics have made my punch my chest until I can’t breathe because of the pain.
My tics have caused my joints to dislocate from the sheer force of jerking my limbs around.
My closest call was when I almost stabbed myself in the chest. I have a tic where I snap, then slam my fist into my chest very hard. I was trying to cut a bagel in half one night, and while I was holding the (very sharp) bread knife, I suddenly ticced.
The only reason I did not stab myself was because I had been holding the plate to my chest while I cut the bagel on the cutting board. The blade hit the plate instead of me.
If that plate had not been exactly where it was, I easily could have seriously injured myself or even died.
Tics can be painful. They can be dangerous. Let’s please keep that in mind before we try to portray Tourette’s or other tic disorders as being “funny quirky lol xD so randum” disorders.
(Please note that while I am only referring to motor tics in this post, vocal tics can also cause a lot of harm and danger as well; I do not have vocal tics since I have motor tic disorder, not Tourette’s, so my examples are limited by my experience.)
