Tourette's & trichotillomania from anxiety

Hey again hateaddict

I hope that my advice is at least a tenth as good as yours.

I don't have Tourettes, but I do tend to shout out/double over in response to certain thoughts. I've found that I need to immediately refocus on what I'm doing - you'll probably know the 5 things approach, where you name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch (e.g. your t-shirt, your fingernails, the wall, the table), 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell (you might need to walk somewhere to find this, which is further distracting you) and 1 thing you can taste (even if it's the saliva in your mouth). This pulls you back into the space and time you're in, and away from the tics and what other people are thinking.

I also pick my hair to bits, and will pull hair out to pick at it. I put a band around my wrist so I can keep my hands busy with that instead - I'll see how many times I can wrap the band around my fingers, tie the band in a knot and untie it, twist it, whatever I want. People still notice, but I tell them it helps me relax and they don't pay any further attention.

You will know breathing exercises inside out - if you're anything like me, you'll get annoyed at yourself for how many times you have to stop to do a breathing exercise, but they will help you to focus on something else rather than picking or concentrating on your tics.

A final word of advice - if you saw someone else with a tic, I would bet money that you wouldn't judge that person, in fact you would probably help them as you have helped me. Be kind to yourself, and don't put yourself under pressure to stop your tics, as this will just aggravate them. Think about someone else having a tic instead, and how you would treat them.

Thanks anxietybucket. You're right actually, I wouldn't judge them. I guess I just have a hard time being nice to myself sometimes. I'm just afraid that sometimes I do get judged because people don't understand that I have a disorder, but I'd understand that someone else does because I experience it firsthand. I know for a fact that I have been judged, like one time I was on the bus and there were a bunch of older people around me and I was swearing and stuff and I got some dirty looks from hell in a basket. I am trying harder not to beat myself up over it though, so thank you for reminding me.

I have hair pulling compulsions as well along with other obsessive compulsive symptoms. It's funny that I studied Psychology and spend a lot of time meditating and reading/engaging in personal developed but I have yet to really understand the disorder and how to stop it.

I have been using a fidget spinner which is helping keep my fingers occupied. Have you ever thought of something like that? It's going to be hard to quit a habit if you don't have another to pick up.