Verbal tics, anyone else? Need advice!

[laralou]

Ugh. I am under so much stress right now. I have a lot of issues- depression, ADD which makes it next to impossible for me to focus during stress, and OCD plus severe anxiety. I only take Paxil right now, plus Ambien for sleep. In the last two years, I have developed verbal tics in response to stress. They have gotten worse and worse. I am not sure if the tics bother me so much or the feelings that precipitate them. My husband has started mocking them. At first he was just proving to me how bad they were because I honestly didn't even hear myself half the time at home. Now it is just getting to me. I don't feel good when I am making them. I feel terrible, but to be made fun of just makes them worse. I have started taking a Clonopin from an old script when they start at home to calm them down, but that just makes me sleepy. They just get really bad at night from holding them in all day. I teach preschool so the kids don't notice if I slip and do it, and my office mate is aware and totally non-judgemental when I slip during office time.

I know I am rambling but I don't know what to do. If you have verbal tics, what do you do to make them calm down? I can't decide whether to try to get back on the Clonopin since I don't think I'd rather be sleepy than ticcing. I work fulltime, plus do all the house stuff and child care for the 3 kids. Hubby helps but resents it if it is more than once a while.

[AmyKT]

I have verbal and motor tics, but I've never taken anything for them. I notice that they are worse when I'm stressed, so I can relate. I'm sorry that your husband won't help you out as much as you need. And that he makes fun of you. Not cool. I don't have any experience with meds other than anti-depressants, which I'm not on now and which never seemed to affect the tics. My verbal tics are mostly just low mouth sounds, not words, so no one much seems to notice them (though my husband has on occasion noticed, but he thinks they're just my thinking sounds ).

I wish you could get some relief from the stress. That would probably be the best help. Do you have time to exercise? That seems to help me a bit.

[laralou]

Actually I hadn't even thought about exercising affecting the tics. I was planning on starting back anyway. I haven't since October and I need to get back on the bandwagon. I haven't managed to make the time because I was only exercising for weight loss. I'll just make the time now.

Mine are sounds and words/phrases. It just gets so bad at home that it is impossible to not notice. The kids and my husband all comment on it. Usually my husband's comments are supportive, but lately he's been really mean. I don't know what else is going on with that because he is mean about all my issues lately.

I made an appointment with a new psychiatrist for next Wednesday. I haven't seen anyone for a year because my last doc just made me worse, so I quit and just asked my internist for my old anti-depressant back.

I guess I will exercise right now to see if that helps tonight. Thanks for that suggestion. It is nice to at least know I am not alone. There is very little online to help adults with tics.