Tics can be described as sudden urges to make virtually any movement or sound. These can include:
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There are a few characteristics of tics that clearly set them apart from other phenomena such as habits:
* Tics are seemingly random
Habits are set ways of performing actions which only come into play while you are already performing them. You might have a special way of stirring your coffee but you do it, after all, only while stirring your coffee. Unless you make an effort to unlearn them, habits stay part of you for life.
By contrast, the urge to tic can crop up at almost any time of day, seemingly unrelated to anything else you are doing at that stage. Also, tics might suddenly, after months or years of frustrated attempts to "stop doing them," systematically disappear - to be replaced by other tics.
The extent to which tics are perceived to be random differs from individual to individual. Many researchers seem to think that they are totally random and meaningless "nerve twitches," while many people who actually have TS report that there seems to be some sort of frustratingly hidden pattern or meaning to them that they can't put their finger on.
* Tics are strong urges which call for expression
Some Touretters can consciously or unconsciously suppress their tics for anything from minutes to hours. However, the longer tics are suppressed, the more a sort of inner tension and agitation builds up which must sooner or later be vented as tics.
One way to check whether an action is a tic or not is to apply the "try to suppress it" test. If suppressing it leads to agitation, eventually doing the act or another similar act, or a feeling of "why should I suppress it anymore - I want to do it anyway," it is most likely a tic.
* Premonitions and awareness of impending tics
Some Touretters report that they are conscious of the urge to tic before they actually do so. In that case the urge can express itself as fleetingly remembering that you have this tic and want to make it, a sudden idea or image of frustration which you seem to want to express in the tic, or as the feeling that the tics is building up in you like a sneeze.
Some Touretters aware of the urge to tic as physical, unpleasant sensations which they seek to expel through the tics.
In my experience the urge often appears so quickly that the thought is not quite verbalised by the time you do the tic. In other words, you are vague and fleetingly aware that there is some sort of thought flashing into you head, then it emerges as a tic, and more or less simultaneously the words that "go with the thought" appear in your head.
Also, in almost these cases, you have to make a lightning-fast decision not to tic if you want to catch it before it gets out.
* Tics seem to serve no purpose
Whereas other normal urges such as scratching itches and coughing serve some purpose, tics outwardly seem to serve none. For example, the difference between normal swearing and coprolalia is that a Touretter is often not even angry or agitated at anything when he/she swears and the swearing often emerges totally out of context.
The pent-up urges that seek their outlet in tics are never completely expelled and eventually keep reappearing.
To sum up: with normal actions you decide to do something, like get up and leave. After the decision, and only if you decide to act on it, you actually do it.
With tics it is almost the reverse: there is no premeditated will to do them and only if you decide to suppress the tic (and are able to suppress the tic) do you end up not doing the action - for a while.
If you want to imagine what tics are like: imagine being aware of the urge to sneeze without any physical sensation in your nose preceding it. Now replace "sneezing" with any other sudden act you can think of.
Or imagine the urge to close your eyes because a fly is flying straight towards them, but without there actually being any fly. Now imagine that as you resist the urge to close you eyes, the "imaginary" fly is frozen in front of your eyeballs, forever nerve-wrackingly homing in on them until you eventually have to close you eyes or jerk away your face.
Sometimes in conversations certain insignificant words or tail ends of phrases somehow catch your attention and you feel compelled to repeat them...
You find yourself repeating every shuffle of foot and change of stance as someone stands before you, speaking to you. Or you walk behind someone and find yourself mimicking their gait...
You find that those around you often think you addressed something to them, but it's only that you keep saying snatches of your thoughts out loud...
Many Touretters report that they sometimes find themselves falling into a repeating loop of actions or thoughts. Often it feels like the only way to break out of that loop is with a tic.
"Laundromat."
"What?"
"Oh, nothing."
"Armed robbers shot."
"Huh?"
"I was only speaking to myself..."
"Oh."
I once walked past a block of flats that I thought were called "Ultimatum". As I read their name to be "Ad libitum" the sense of confusion was so strong as to be almost physical and I found myself repeating: "Ad libi-Ad libi-Ad libi-Ad libitum -- Enough, thank you!"
eyeblinking
squinting
lip smacking
neck jerking
shoulder shrugging
arm flailing
barking
coughing
hissing
humming
