We have a friend of ours that has Tourette syndrome. Not the more rare but highly publicized version that causes people to curse randomly, but the more common kind that just causes nervous ticks such as random movements or noises. Why am I mentioning this? Because at this moment I am sympathizing with that person in a rather unique way. The medicine I am on sometimes causes me to have a sort of nervous tick. My tick involves my tongue, I am either constantly rubbing the roof of my mouth or creating a sort of vacuum that causes my mouth to collect saliva. Over time (a day or so) it will cause the beginning of a sore on my tongue.
I think the most frustrating thing for is that I know am doing it. I know what will happen if I don't stop and yet somehow I am unable to control it. I want to say to myself, "Just Stop!" I feel like it should be that easy and yet I can't explain why its not. I can force my tongue to relax and perhaps not do it for a moment but it feels like I'm going to choke. Its like I've become acutely aware of my own swallowing and now I'm so conscious of it I'm screwing it up. Its just so frustrating not to have your body respond to your commands. Overall though it is a little humbling because its just a glimpse of what other people with more severe neurological disorders go through.
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