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 NEW ORLEANS (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- More than 1 million people are thought to have some form of Tourette syndrome. While medications and newer treatments like Botox can offer relief to many patients, they often don't work for those with the most severe form of the condition. But that could all change soon.
There's nothing Shawn Huhn would not do for his daughter Monica. He says, "She's my little sweetheart."
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But until two months ago, there was a lot he couldn't do for her. Shawn has severe Tourette syndrome. The relentless tics made it nearly impossible to even hold Monica. "All day long, every day. Basically it's like a constant aerobics that I was going through," Shawn says.
He isolated himself from never-ending stares -- staying close to home and his family. "What I've had to deal with in my life, I felt like committing suicide because I thought I was the stumbling block for a lot of people," Shawn tells Ivanhoe.
 Neurosurgeon Donald Richardson, M.D., from Tulane University in New Orleans, says, "The patients with really bad Tourette's are pretty isolated. So it's a pretty devastating disease in its more severe forms."
Dr. Richardson offered Shawn hope with a deep brain stimulator. It's been used in other brain disorders, but it's a first for Tourette's. Electrodes stimulate Shawn's brain by communicating with a device implanted under the skin.
If it is turned off, the tics return. Turn it on, and the tics disappear. Dr. Richardson says, "It was so dramatic in the operating room that I was impressed. I'm not very easy to impress."
 Shawn has waited 31 years for a life he's excited to live. Now, he says, he finally has it.
Dr. Richardson says Shawn is the second person with Tourette syndrome to receive the deep brain stimulator in America. The device is FDA approved and has already proven to be effective for disorders like dystonia and Parkinson's disease. Dr. Richardson says private insurance companies should cover the cost of the stimulator.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Tulane University Hospital and Clinic
New Orleans, LA
(504) 988-5800 or (800) 588-5800, then press *
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http://www.tuhc.com/
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