• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Vocal tics

Ephraim Becker

Ephraim Becker

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
Unfortunately, i'm getting worse. I started getting vocal tics (coughing, barking, etc.). People are moving away from me on the trains and it's annoying me also. The tics started a half a year ago when I started taking Risperidone. I'm not sure if the Risperidone gave me the tics or if it's a coincidence. I first had motor tics (rolling eyes) and then the motor tics got replaced with vocal tics. The vocal tics started with coughing and have gotten worse (barking).

I went to the Psychiatrist a month ago and he told my parents that I have vocal tics (my parents thought before that I could stop it if I want to). The Psychiatrist then said to go to a Neurologist to rule out Tourette's. I went to the Neurologist and talked with the doctor there and then took an MRI test. I was supposed to take the second test which involved EKG but the machines weren't working. My Psychologist told my parents that the vocal tics have something to do with anxiety.
 
Good question, Ephraim. There does appear to be isolated incidents of issues with Risperdone, though what they may mean in the "big picture" is anyone's guess.

When it comes to drug therapy, one man's answer can be another man's curse. Something I know firsthand. At least there are other medications your physician may possibly consider if they believe the Risperdone to be a factor.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24750573.2017.1387406
 
Risperidone doesn't cause tics. They may start other movement disorders but antipsychotics don't start tics. In fact doctors don't even think now that stimulant medication causes tics.

It would be wise to go down the route of checking with an educated doctor if this is Tourette's. If they say you can't have it because you're an adult now, that's rubbish information. You can get it as an adult, I got tics at 24 and was diagnosed with Tourette's at 27 last year. And don't let any one say you can't have Tourette's because you're not swearing. Again, absolute rubbish, most people with it do not swear.

It is not uncommon for people with Gilles de la Tourette's to start with one side and then develop the other side, phonic tics then motor tics. I developed motor then phonic and my phonic tics have always been playing catch up.

Your psychiatrist seems pretty clued in though to want to rule out Tourette's. Unfortunately that should be something he knows too but TS is in the dark ages in terms of awareness, like how autism was before the 90s.

Any other questions feel free to throw them my way. I am like the resident Touretter here.
 
I had facial and vocal tics of which were, exclusively, facial and neck twitching and humming, all of which, diminished prior to my 17th birthday. I have happened upon a couple posts, that mention adult-onset Tourette syndrome, which has piqued my interest. I haven't had tics since childhood, but, when I am in a state of heightened anxiety, I experience OCD compulsions that can mimic the tics I experienced.
 
Last edited:
Update: I got the results back from the Neurologist and it says that I don't have Tourette's Syndrome. My vocal tics are starting to go away. I decided to binge watch Star Trek Voyager but the barking tics came back until I finished watching it.
 
Yeah, I've had my barking tic now since about September non-stop. What sets mine off isn't animals, it's people imitating them. Everyone's Tourette's and tic disorders are different but mine are usually around imitation.
 
I started noticing that I have vocal tics. I have done this for as long as I can remember, but I had limited ideas as to what vocal tics actually were, so I didn't know they were actually vocal tics.

My vocal tics are expressed as echolalia and palilalia.

Echolalia vocal tics come out when I'm not medicated. Palilalia tics occur any time, but especially when I'm alone, or if I'm anywhere I am not alone but I'm in my own head. I try extremely hard to mask them if around others. I don't try to hide the echolalia when with my family. They just accept it as one of my interesting quirks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom