History
Tourettes was founded in 1885; Giles de la Tourette a French neurologist provided the first formal description for this syndrome. He included along with that vocal and motor tics. Vocal tics are manifestations that involve the muscle required for vocalization. Some examples of vocal tics are: stuttering, stammering, abnormal emphasis of a word phrase and inaccurate noises such as throat clearing, grunts, and high pitched sounds. Giles called Tourette syndrome or as he also named it (TS). He then labeled TS as Maladie des tics.
He discovered TS studying an 86-year-old noblewoman named Marquise de Dampierre. He described it as being an inherited neurological condition characterized by Motor and Vocal tics. Those aren’t the only things though. There is OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), anxiety, depression, and self injuring behavior, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder), and inappropriate comments or behaviors. In the 1800s, people said that when you had TS, you were possessed by the devil because of the bizarre fitful behaviors and outburst of uncontrollable profanity. In 1885 Giles de la Tourette proved that theory wrong. TS is an inherited disorder meaning that it is passed down from genes. Its cause is unknown, but some scientists say that it is by the neurotransmitter called serotonin. That means that your brain cannot function right from certain chemicals.
Giles stated that a male has a better chance getting tourettes than a female. Females have a 70% chance of getting diagnosed with Tourette syndrome while males have a 99% chance of getting it. A theory about TS is the gene that interferes with another genetic or environmental change that causes the condition. Dopamine is a chemical messenger in the part of the brain called the basal ganglia. It affects cranium processes that control motion, felling response, and ability to experience pleasure and pain. The basal ganglia control awareness of movement coordination and voluntary movement.