Tourette Syndrome & Tic Disorders Support Group
This community is dedicated to those afflicted with a tic disorder. A tic disorder is one in which uncontrollable muscle spasms that can range from small annoyances to major disruptive occurrences. .
I believe I may need a little something extra to help keep the tics under control. Currently I'm taking max doses of Ability Maintena and Topamax to address the tics and for psychological issues. Approx. 80 to 90 percent of the tics are under control. What I really need, I think, is a third drug of medium strength to deal with the remainder that doesn't have a lot of side effects. Right now this extra drug is clonazepam (Klonopin) 2 * 0.5 mg taken as needed. This is fairly effective for mild episodes (my tics tend to come in bursts) and so far it appears to deal with my blocking tic which is a tic where you get a spasm in your vocal chords that prevents you from speaking (you try to talk but you can't; at times the accompanying sensation can feel painful). I'd like to find something that might be more effective than this. I don't like to use benzodiazepines also.
Is baclofen worth considering? Note that I also have chronic headaches. I'm seeing a neurologist today about this. Yesterday my pdoc told me that it's probably a long shot. It appears that there has only been very limited clinical experiments done on it with regard to TS.
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Is baclofen worth considering? Note that I also have chronic headaches. I'm seeing a neurologist today about this. Yesterday my pdoc told me that it's probably a long shot. It appears that there has only been very limited clinical experiments done on it with regard to TS.
~ For great hand-picked articles, photographs, and cartoons, plus stimulating discussion on today's events, please visit the Current Events Discussion Group found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/currentevents2013/ ~
deleted_user
Baclofen helped my tics but I had trouble with sleepiness and dry mouth.
speedturtle
The tics have seemed to have sorted themselves out except for an occasional bout of the blocking tic block, so I don't believe any additional medications are required at this juncture. I'm guessing that it took the 400 MG Abilify Maintena (monthly injection) a few months to completely kick in and when this happened the other symptoms where suppressed. This is really good news because I was dreading to have to take another drug on top of the many other drugs other that I was already taking. For one reason or another this problem sorted itself out. Now I only experience a few tics here and there --- nothing that would require a pharmacological intervention. The 1 MG of clonazepam taken as needed is all I need to control the occasional bout of blocking tics that I encounter.now and then. When I do experience a blocking tic episode it's very difficult for me to speak because the words in my mouth can't get out instead I feel a painful spasm in their place. My vocal chords freeze up on me on every other word or so that I try to say.
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