Nervous tic: causes, treatment in adults

The nervous tic is a rapid repetitive non-rhythmic movement caused by the contraction of certain muscles. Most often, the muscles of the face and arms are contracted, but absolutely any muscle groups can be involved. The nervous tic occurs against the will of a person, can imitate a fragment of normal, purposeful movements, but in itself is an absolutely useless action. Sometimes by effort of will it is possible to suppress occurrence of a tick, however for a short while. Tiki appear only in the waking period. They have no pattern, always fast, jerky, with a different repetition interval. Nervous tics are pathological conditions, but they do not always require treatment. About what causes lead to the appearance of tics, what they are and how to deal with them, you will learn from this article.

Nervous tics are the result of an increase in the activity of the so-called extrapyramidal system of the brain. This system is responsible for the reproduction of many automated movements of our body, that is, it works relatively independently without the involvement of the cerebral cortex. When for some reason an excitation circulates in the extrapyramidal system, this can be expressed in the appearance nerve ticks (although this is by no means the only symptom of increased activity of the extrapyramidal system).

The causes of the appearance of tics

Violations of the cerebral circulation can cause a nervous tic.

In general, depending on the cause of the onset of nerve tics can be divided into two large groups:

• primary;
• secondary.

The appearance of primary tics does not depend on anything, that is, one can not trace any connection with another disease or provoking factor. They are also called idiopathic. Primary tics often occur in childhood (usually up to 18 years). They can disappear with age or remain in the period of maturity. In addition to tics, there are no other symptoms of the disease in this case. Primary tics have a genetic predisposition.

Secondary tics have a clear cause-and-effect relationship with an event or a transferred disease. It can be:

• craniocerebral trauma;
• encephalitis;
• disorders of cerebral circulation;
• taking a number of medications (neuroleptics, levodopa drugs, stimulants) or drug use;
• brain tumors;
• a number of mental illnesses (such as schizophrenia and epilepsy);
• neuralgia of the trigeminal nerve;
• carbon monoxide poisoning;
• neurodegenerative diseases (in this case, tick is only one of the symptoms).

Secondary tics are almost always accompanied by some other signs. In the case of their appearance, the primary disease must first be treated. In this case, nervous tics can stop without the use of special drugs (directed against tics).

What are the nervous tics?

By the nature of the manifestation of tics are:

• motor (that is, in the form of muscle contraction);
• vocal (when they are sounds);
• sensory (the appearance of an unpleasant sensation in some part of the body, forcing the patient to perform some kind of action).

Also, ticks can be conditionally divided into simple and complex. Simple are relatively simple muscle contractions, reproduced by one or two muscle groups. For the realization of complex tics, a sequential contraction of several muscle groups is necessary.

To make it a little clearer, here are some examples of possible ticks.

Simple motor tics can be:

• blinking or blinking;
• blinking;
• twitching the wings of the nose or head;
• tongue poking out;
• licking of the lips;
• shrug;
• retraction of the abdomen;
• clenching the hands into fists;
• throwing your foot forward;
• deflection of the shoulder;
• pushing the pelvis;
• constriction of sphincters.

Complex motor tics are:

• Jumping;
• flipping your fingers;
• rubbing certain places;
• beating yourself in the chest;
• sniffing;
• turns when walking;
• repetition of gestures, including indecent ones;
• repeated touches.

Vocal tics can also be simple and complex. To simple it is possible to carry:

• inappropriate whistling;
• hiss;
• pohryukivanie;
• snorting;
• coughing;
• snorting;
• sobbing;
• clinking of the tongue;
• squeak.

Complex vocal tics are:

• repetition of other people's words;
• repetition of own words;
• utterance of abusive words.

Nervous tics can be local, that is, only one area of ​​the body (for example, the circular muscle of the eye) is captured. And they can be generalized when other muscle groups are involved in the process. There is a feeling of the appearance of new signs of the disease, although it is only the capture of new muscle groups in the ticotic process. Usually the process spreads from the top down, that is, initially only the head participates, and then the trunk and limbs join.

Before the appearance of tick movement, a person feels the internal tension that passes when performing a tick. If the tick is suppressed by effort of will, then this tension builds up, insistently demanding the fulfillment of tick movement. And the tick must appear again.

Nervous tics intensify on the background of anxiety, excitement, lack of sleep and during rest. Also, external stimuli can also lead to their amplification, especially comments about the tick itself (for example, if someone says, "Stop clicking your fingers"). When a person performs a purposeful action, on which he is concentrated, then the tick can decrease under the influence of impulses of the cerebral cortex.

Treatment of nerve tics

If the primary tics cause discomfort to the patient, interfere with social adaptation, they require a medical correction.

The approach to the treatment of nerve tics is determined by the cause of their occurrence. If these are secondary tics, then the treatment of the underlying disease is a prerequisite. In most cases, tics will disappear as soon as the symptoms of the underlying disease stop. To treat the same primary tics approach is somewhat different.

If the primary nervous tics do not interfere with the vital activity of a person, do not limit its social opportunities, then in such cases, medicamental treatment is not resorted to. This may seem strange, but, nevertheless, it is. The fact is that the ticks themselves are harmless to the human body. They do not threaten him with anything in terms of health (in most cases). But the drugs used to treat tics, can harm the body, given their side effects. And this harm can be more significant than from the very tick. Among the antitussive drugs there is absolutely no safety.

If there is a need to eliminate tics, several groups of drugs are used for this purpose. The general principle of selecting drugs is to move from the safer to the more effective. In this case, the goal is set if not completely disappearing tics, then at least reducing them to an acceptable level (that is, to ensure that ticks do not interfere with social adaptation).

Among the drugs used to treat tics (in the above sequence), it should be noted:

• Phenibut (at a dose of 250-750 mg per day);
• Baclofen (30-75 mg per day);
• Clonazepam (0.25-4 mg per day);
• Clonidine (0.075-0.3 mg per day) and Guangficin (0.5-1.5 mg per day);
• Metoclopramide (20-60 mg per day);
• Sulpiride, or Eglonyl (100-600 mg per day);
• Haloperidol (1.5-3 mg per day);
• Risperidone (0.5-2 mg per day).

All of the above drugs belong to different pharmacological groups (for example, Phenibut is nootropic, and Sulpiride is an antipsychotic). And their effective doses, as you can see, can be very different. In severe cases, some of the drugs are combined with each other to achieve an increase in the antitussive effect. If you believe statistics, then only 70% of cases of nerve ticks, these drugs have a positive effect. The remaining 30% of cases remain resistant even with the use of even larger doses of drugs. Appointment of any drug should only a neurologist. The doctor must weigh the prospective benefit with the risk of side effects and bring this information to the patient.

Sometimes botulinum toxin injections are added to the treatment process. It is injected into the muscles that reproduce the ticotic movements. This temporarily paralyzes them, and ticks are not reproduced. But then everything returns to normal. That is, this therapy has only a temporary effect.

Among non-drug ways of treating nervous tics, massage and acupuncture should be mentioned. The sessions of a relaxing massage can reduce the readiness of the muscles to realize tick movement, thereby reducing the frequency and amplitude of tics. Acupuncture reduces the excitability of the nervous system, thereby indirectly affecting the frequency of tics.

Psychotherapy plays a unique role in the treatment of tics. Her methods do not help to reduce the ticks themselves, but they change the attitude of patients to tics, correct the accompanying mental disorders that sometimes arise in connection with tics. With the help of methods of psychotherapy, the removal of internal tension is achieved, the tolerance of tics is facilitated.

Also, special techniques have been developed that train the patient's ability to arbitrarily control tics. It means committing a competing movement when there is a sensation that precedes the tick.

General recommendations for nerve tics can serve as the following:

• compliance with sleep and rest;
• no coffee abuse and energy drinks;
• the desire to reduce all kinds of stresses and conflict situations.

The essence of these recommendations is to create a quiet background for the nervous system, without any exciting side effects. In this case, the exciting impulses in the extrapyramidal nervous system occur less frequently, and therefore tics occur less frequently.

Summarizing the above, we can say that nervous tics in most cases - this is relatively not a serious disease. At least, it does not carry a risk to life and does not reduce its duration. Methods of treating nervous tics, of course, are far from perfect, but their application allows to improve the condition of patients and allow them to lead a more full-fledged way of life.

The first channel, the program "Live Healthily!" With Elena Malysheva, in the section "About Medicine", a conversation about a nervous tic (see. from 3: 0 min.):

Elena Malysheva. Causes and treatment of a nervous tic

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The doctor-neurologist Tarasov S. AT. tells about the tics:

Tiki. Treatment of tics. Clinic and diagnosis of tics.

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