A Medical Oddball

I went to a neurologist in January about him helping me with my movement disorder. I was hoping that he could cut down my FND symptoms. He can't, however he thought maybe I also had Adult Onset Tourette's Syndrome which is super rare. He started me on a Tourettes medicine, and it has made the tremors 80% better. I can actually function somewhat normally again. I still have FND, but I guess I have Tourette's too because the medicine is working so well. I apparently can still have seizures and the brainfog is definitely something I contend with regularly. The tremors haven't gone away, and sometimes I still can't walk, but the tremors are so much better! I guess I should call them Tics now? I haven't officially received a diagnosis, but I can say because the medicine has worked so well I do have Tourette's.

So let me tell you how rare it is to get Tourettes in adulthood. Normally it's a childhood disease, and it can persist into adulthood. But getting it in adulthood when you didn't have it as a kid is SUPER rare. It's rare enough that there is absolutely no information on it on the internet. I'm exaggerating. There is a little information on it, but not enough to be substantive.

Apparently the co-morbidity rate of ADD and Tourettes (as well as OCD which I don't have to any glaring extent) is pretty large. I've already been diagnosed with ADD. Which is awful at the moment. It takes a lot of focus to get anything done now-a-days. It takes so much discipline and all the tricks I know to focus. That normally means at least a minute or two between and sometimes in the middle of sentences.  I'm hoping when I go in next time I can talk to the doctor about getting some ADD medicine too. I want to write. It's the only thing I can really do well that I can make money off of at the moment.

I also still have Functional Neurological Disorder. I almost had a seizure Saturday night as if to confirm that. I'm concerned that I wont be able to teach because of the FND. I took my Citizenship Class students (who are all adults) out to a museum and it wrecked my brain. I was so foggy during the museum. I felt like my brain was made of air, and then later that night I almost have a seizure (I caught it in time with meds.) Watching all those episodes of Fushigi Yuugi probably didn't help either. Watching movement on screens is a known trigger for my seizures.

So I have ADD, FND, and Torettes. The good news is 2/3 of those are treatable to almost normalcy with therapy and pills. I'm taking the additional diagnosis as good news.