tourette's and stuttering
Question:
G’day, I am actually a stutterer gatecrashing your listserv. I’ve read some research connecting tourette’s and stuttering – eg. high incidence of stuttering amongst those with tourette’s, both involve excess dopamine levels, the gene basis may be similar. Unfortunately, medical research into stuttering is scant due to the psychological/learned stigma that has been falsely attached to it for so long. I am interested to hear if anybody with tourette’s and a stutter have experienced a decrease in their stuttering through nutrition, drugs etc. I am particularly interested in nutritional aspects as I am have experienced some benefit through taking a significant dosage of multi vitamins and minerals, and am doing some further investigation into the whole area of nutrition, diet, allergies etc. thanx in advance, Paul
Response:
On Sat, 27 Mar 1999 12:55:27 +1000, Paul Jeffery <astrad…@bigpond.com> wrote: >I am actually a stutterer gatecrashing your listserv. I’ve read some >research connecting tourette’s and stuttering – eg. high incidence of >stuttering amongst those with tourette’s, both involve excess dopamine >levels, the gene basis may be similar.
My son was evaluated and found to have a stuttering problem before we realized he had Tourette Syndrome. During the one year that he worked with a speech therapist, he went through some med trials for the TS (and other diagnoses). While on clonidine, a med commonly used to reduce tics, his stuttering went away. We eventually took him off the clonidine for other reasons, and the stutter returned – which proved to all of us that for this one child, it was indeed a tic. FWIW, he did NOT have the typical stutter at the beginning of words. Rather, he had a tendency to repeat syllables or words within a sentence. For him, it is relatively minor, in comparison with his other issues, so we have simply learned to live with it – it did NOT respond to speech therapy, but was definitely tic behavior. Vicki H.
Response:
I have an abstract for an article but I haven’t been able to get my hands on the actual article, so can’t tell you more … it is: "Features resembling Tourette’s syndrome in developmental stutterers," Brain Lang, 1998 May; 62(3):455-64 by Abwender, Trinidad, Jones, Como, Hymes and Kurlan (Roger Kurlan, that is). This study looked at 22 stutterers, and found that eleven had motor tics, and OCB’s were observed at rates similar to those seen in persons with TS … "Findings are consistent with models suggesting extrapyramidal involvement in DS (developmental stuttering) and raise the possibility that DS and TS are pathogenetically related." I know that other research disagrees with a genetic linkage … but anyway … I haven’t gotten hold of the whole article, so can’t comment further. BB2 – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Vicki Hill wrote: > On Sat, 27 Mar 1999 12:55:27 +1000, Paul Jeffery > <astrad…@bigpond.com> wrote: > >I am actually a stutterer gatecrashing your listserv. I’ve read some > >research connecting tourette’s and stuttering – eg. high incidence of > >stuttering amongst those with tourette’s, both involve excess dopamine > >levels, the gene basis may be similar. > My son was evaluated and found to have a stuttering problem before we > realized he had Tourette Syndrome. During the one year that he worked > with a speech therapist, he went through some med trials for the TS > (and other diagnoses). While on clonidine, a med commonly used to > reduce tics, his stuttering went away. We eventually took him off the > clonidine for other reasons, and the stutter returned – which proved > to all of us that for this one child, it was indeed a tic. > FWIW, he did NOT have the typical stutter at the beginning of words. > Rather, he had a tendency to repeat syllables or words within a > sentence. For him, it is relatively minor, in comparison with his > other issues, so we have simply learned to live with it – it did NOT > respond to speech therapy, but was definitely tic behavior. > Vicki H.
Response:
My daughter is the one with TS, but I have a brother with a severe stutter and my son was at risk and had spesch therapy at age 5 and never developed a stutter. My brother has OCD and I do see a connection genetically between his stutter and my daughter’s TS. BTW, he has a son with ADHD. Jean
Response:
My son’s first tic was a stuttering and speech problem. He responded to vitamins B6 and magnesium until his TS became full blown. Now on Tenex, the stutter is almost non existant. I also have an uncle who had a life long stuttering problem until his forties, when he started on a high blood pressure med. Carol Paul Jeffery wrote in message
<36FC489E.F7784…@bigpond.com>… >G’day, >I am actually a stutterer gatecrashing your listserv. I’ve read some >research connecting tourette’s and stuttering – eg. high incidence of >stuttering amongst those with tourette’s, both involve excess dopamine >levels, the gene basis may be similar. Unfortunately, medical research >into stuttering is scant due to the
psychological/learned stigma that >has been falsely attached to it for so long. I am
interested to hear if >anybody with tourette’s and a stutter have experienced a decrease in >their stuttering through nutrition, drugs etc. I am particularly >interested in nutritional aspects as I am have
experienced some benefit – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->through taking a significant dosage of multi vitamins and minerals, and >am doing some further investigation into the whole area of nutrition, >diet, allergies etc. >thanx in advance, > Paul
