Living with Tourette’s: Mother opens up about raising THREE children with the syndrome and how she copes with their involuntary tics and violent outbursts of obscene language
- Mandy Maysey has three children who all have developed Tourrette’s Syndrome
- Connor, 25, Jasmine, 12, and Isabelle, 6, constantly plagued by involuntary tics
- She has revealed that her children often pick up new tics from their siblings
An Australian mother has revealed what it is like to raise three children who all have Tourette’s Syndrome.
Mandy Maysey’s children Connor, 25, Jasmine, 12, and Isabelle, 6, are constantly plagued by involuntary body movement tics – often violent – and verbal tics involving obscene language.
Middle child Jasmin started developing signs of the neurological disorder around Easter this year, starting with strange body movements.
Mandy Maysey’s children Connor, 25, Jasmine, 12, and Isabelle, 6, are constantly plagued by involuntary body movement tics – often violent – and verbal tics involving obscene language
Jasmin started developing tics, including slapping herself, around Easter this year
This then progressed last school holidays to repeatedly shouting certain phrases such as ‘Bob Ross is my dad,’ ‘I’m a hobbit,’ and ‘woof woof’.
Just in the last week she developed coprolalia – the obscene vocal tics.
‘So three for three with Tourette’s and three for three with the swearing. I really should do a lotto,’ Mandy Maysey told The Sunday Project.
Jasmine said she regularly hurts herself as one of her tics involves her slapping herself in the face.
She also slaps her mother, which she says she ‘hates every second of,’ which has led younger sister Isabelle to develop the same tic.
Mandy says tics are suggestive and that if somebody else has a certain tic, it’s quite easy for them to pick that up.
Oldest of the three Connor revealed his Tourrette’s only appeared four years ago.
‘It first manifested when I was about 21 as a head nod and it’s kind of escalated continuously from then. In adult life I’ve kind of had to learnt to navigate a whole new world,’ he said.
Tourettes affects about 1 in 100 kids, yet the cause remains a mystery.
Mandy says that tics are suggestive and that if somebody else has a certain tic it’s quite easy for them to pick that up
‘When you go out in public you really have to develop a thick skin,’ Mandy says
Research indicates those under 21 are more commonly affected – as are boys generally more likely than girls to develop the condition.
The symptoms are thought to lessen with age, however, those with the condition must learn to manage it for a lifetime.
‘When you go out in public you really have to develop a thick skin. I can understand for some people it’s confronting to hear the language that comes out of my beautiful children’s mouths. But that’s just part of life, they can’t help it and they have no intent,’ Mandy said.
Mandy says she allows herself to cry but then quickly finds her composure – realising that she is in a supporting role for her children and needs to be there for them.
‘I reserve myself a pity party two or three times a week if I need it I will have a cry,’ she said.
‘I will drive in my car or listen to a sad song, I will bawl my eyes out or I’ll sit in the shower 10 minutes… and then regroup and say ”right, OK, that’s enough”.’
The symptoms are thought to lessen with age, however, those with the condition must learn to manage it for a lifetime