Guest guest Posted November 28, 1998 Report Share Posted November 28, 1998 Whoa!! Let's stop the RLS/Tourett's link before it gets any further and scares people to death. Talk shows are perhaps the worst source of medical information available, followed closely by TV news and newspapers. Tourette's Syndrome (TS) is an hereditary disease of the brain manifest in childhood and expressed more frequently in males than females. It appears to be an autosomal dominant type of genetic disease with varying degrees of expression. TS is characterized by motor and vocal tics of an involuntary nature with no obvious purpose. The vocal tics are often of a profane nature (coprolalia) and of a repetitive type (echolalia) of someone elses words or the patient's words. TS tends to get better after puberty. It is very frequently associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and/or attention deficit disorder (ADD). Abnormalities of the caudate nucleus of the basal ganglia of the brain have been demonstrated on PET scanning. Specifically, there appears to be HYPER-activity of the D2 dopamine binding sites in this area resulting in excess expression of dopamine activity. Dopamine suppressor drugs are used to treat TS. These drugs aggravate RLS and Parkinson's disease. RLS and TS are at the opposite ends of the spectrum of dopamine activity, if you believe that RLS is due to low dopamine levels. Most neurologists feel that there is no clinical relationship between RLS, Parkinson's disease, dystonia and Tourette's Syndrome. There are several sites on the Web dealing with TS that go into it much more deeply than the above, if interested. Any search engine will get you there. Dr. Levin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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