A nervous tic is characteristic of emotional individuals who are experiencing stress and who are in conditions of struggle with surrounding circumstances. This condition is an involuntary repetitive contraction of muscles (including vocal muscles).
Nervous tick. Causes
Specialists have not yet established the exact triggering mechanisms of the syndrome. Provoking moments can be stressful situations, traumatic brain injuries, infections, prolonged chronic intoxications (alcoholism, smoking), vascular pathologies of the brain, professional factors. In addition, there is a nervous tic of hereditary origin.
The manifestation of the syndrome is diverse. Nerve tic can be localized on the facial muscles. This condition is characterized as mimic hyperkinesis. Twitching of eyelids, movements of lips, cheeks, nose, head, tongue should also be referred to it.
When involved in the process of vocal muscles, a person can cough, sigh, utter phrases in full or make any sounds. In this case, the nervous tick is of a vocal nature.
There is also a group of ticks of limbs. For such conditions, twitching of fingers, hands, restless movements of the shoulders, legs, tumbling of clothes, scratching are characteristic.
Hyperkinesis can be isolated (only mimic, for example) or differ in generalization (a combination of two or three types of ticks, covering a large amount of muscle).
Disorder in mental abilities in such conditions is not noted. Not observed and their effect on physiology. However, the state of the nervous system with ticks can be quite severe.
As a rule, patients are distinguished by tension, social complexes, shyness. Patients try to appear less in public, avoid situations in which the likelihood of ticks increases. In some cases, sleep disturbance is noted as a result of frequent and extensive seizures.
Diagnosis of the disease is not difficult for a neurologist. The regularity of repetitive movements, patient complaints, family predisposition, risk factors speak in favor of the condition.
Differential diagnosis is carried out with Tourette’s syndrome, convulsive seizures. EEG analyzes the electrical activity of the brain. In order to exclude organic pathology, computed tomography is performed.
How to treat a nervous tic?
It should be noted that the treatment of the condition includes several stages and the application of various measures. Treatment of ticks involves the use of psychotherapeutic methods, physiotherapeutic procedures, drugs, acupuncture, therapeutic exercises. Of the medicines, antipsychotics, sedatives are quite common. Botox is used to eliminate mimic nerve tics. Of great importance in carrying out effective treatment is the normalization of the regime of rest and work, as well as good nutrition and sleep.
Some experts use a specific way to get rid of the condition. The patient is forced to repeat, copy a nervous tic to a state of exhaustion.
It should be noted that the prognosis of the disease is relatively unfavorable. This is due to insufficient knowledge of the causes of tick states. In medical practice, there is a certain number of cases in which, even after successful treatment, the conditions returned again, after several years, or from the very beginning of the disease there are alternating periods of exacerbations and remissions.