Chronic motor tic disorder

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Central nervous system

Chronic vocal tic disorder; Tic - chronic motor tic disorder

Treatment depends on how bad the tics are and how the condition affects you. Medicines and psychotherapy are used only when the tics have a major impact on daily activities, such as school and job performance.

Drugs used to treat tics include dopamine blockers, such as fluphenazine, haloperidol, pimozide and risperidone. These medicines can help control or reduce tics, but they have side effects such as movement disorders and cognitive dulling.

Botulinium toxin injections is used to treat certain form of dystonic tics.

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In recent years, brain stimulation using permanently implanted electrodes in the brain has shown promising results.

Children who develop this disorder between ages 6 and 8 usually do very well. Symptoms may last 4 to 6 years, and then stop without treatment in early adolescence.

When the disorder begins in older children and continues into the 20s, it may become a life-long condition

There are usually no complications.

There is usually no need to see the health care provider for a tic unless it is severe or disrupts your life.

If you cannot tell whether your movements are a tic or something more serious (such as a seizure), call your health care provider.

Review Date: 03/21/2010
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; Luc Jasmin, MD, PhD, Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, and Department of Anatomy at UCSF, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).