Yay, coprolalia.

[Tina]

Hi Outa,

The vocal tic, coprolalia, is known as the swearing tic, but encompasses not only swear words but other unacceptable words such as racial slurs or demeaning insults.

If your husband is lying on the couch in a calm and relaxed state, he probably does not feel the need to hold in or redirect the words that pop out, especially if the urge takes him by surprise. Living with someone with Tourette can be a bit of a double-edged sword - you want them to feel accepted and loved so they are comfortable and "at home" but at the same time, it sounds like your ear-drums are taking a bit of a pounding.

Maybe there's a gentle way to ask him to modify his outbursts when you're close -- without making him feel stressed about releasing his tics in what he obviouslly knows is a "safe" environment.

[Outa]

I think he's already doing his best. I can not ask him to be reserved all the time - having a tic disorder myself I happen to know how consuming staying alert can be.

Now he got a new coprolalic tic in the form of "sex". This is in a way worse than the previous ones, because most people do swear at times but honestly no one shouts "sex". I hope it will not star on his top ten for a longer time.

[ommadawn69]

I know this reply is a little late, trying to catch up to threads and thought I would add to this. Megan also has this same tic. At first she just had unusual vocal tics like barking like a dog, meowing like a cat, or just make odd noises. But then she started to use swear words that she wouldn't ever use before. She would use the "F" word, and the "S" word. She also uses words like "SL*T" in phrases, which sometimes sound funny. When we go out anywhere, like a restaraunt, we do get the "looks" from people when she uses words, but how we manage is by still engaging Megan into conversations and not go silent when she makes these outbursts, so it might make her feel uncomfortable when she can hear what she says and then no one says anything. I just continue talking, almost like she was just saying something to the conversation. Or I might make light about it, which she laughs. At first it was a little uncomfortable for myself taking her out when she did this, I was talking to the waiters letting them know she has Tourette, but if they ask I will have Megan educate them. As now I don't want to go and have the need to go into places and sort of forewarn people. I thought I needed to do that. Now I don't do that anymore. If people stare I will let them know she has Tourette and leave it at that. If they want to know more Megan can educate them.

I know it may seem very difficult in dealing with this than the other vocal tics, somehow that may be manageable. But to Megan with Tourette it is still a tic, no matter what she says or how she says it, so I take that way of looking at it as well. And I don't look at it as "what will others think", I think how can I help Megan and make her comfortable.

That is my two cents worth.

[hyzenthlay]

Watching this thread, because I identify with it. I've never really been open about it much, but I do this in spades. It's not just so much the stereotypical quick, random outburst of swearies that I do. It's the constantly rotating, constantly evolving stuff that I try to keep most people from hearing. But when I'm alone, or in comfortable surroundings i.e. people that do know, I let fly, and it ain't pretty. Racist Nazi stuff, repetitive rhymes with racist stuff in them, loud racist and obscene outbursts...drives me crazy inside, but I have to let it go somewhere, My partner controls it by gently telling me that I'm ticcing, which does stop me, but it also sends me into a state of remorse, where I feel I have to go and hide away. I'm not racist...I'm anything but...so why in the world am I repeating all this stuff?

[Steve]

so why in the world am I repeating all this stuff?

I think it's just the nature of Tourette; and the fact that you have comfortable times and places where you can express your tics, even if the tics happen to be coprolalia, I believe your best advice would be to allow yourself to express your coprolalia and whatever other tics you might need to express, without one bit of remorse.

I have come close to that point myself, and I say close, because I, like you, will occasionally feel a passing sense of remorse when I express my vocal tics when I am alone, but having met some wonderful younger people with Tourette, who have grown up in much more understanding and informed surroundings, and who feel comfortable enough with their tics to express them without restraint, I realize the remorse I feel stems back to the time when I was being punished as a child for my tics.

Did you happen to grow up, like me, in an atmosphere of misunderstanding and ignorance about Tourette that may account for your apprehensions, Hyzenthlay?

[Spikey]

hyzenthlay i know how you feel. I was diagnosed with TS when i was 5 and have had a foul mouth ever since. ha!
i'll be out in public and have a sudden urge to yell anything racist, mostly i have a tic where i see someone and yell out what country i think they are from. This can be hard to deal with in a big city but I don't think it makes us racist or means that we have racist thoughts. I know for myself my tics are mostly about pushing limits and boundaries. things that are usually taboo

[hyzenthlay]

I didn't get my under-the-table diag until I was an adult. So I grew up in a world where what I was dealing with didn't really have a name. People just thought I was weird. Coprolalia had yet to come onto the scene, which made having Tourette useful to me. I was able to keep people seeing me as weird, but essentially harmless, so, although it made making any friends difficult, people left me relatively alone. This kept them from finding out what else was going on inside me, namely, my transsexuality that I had known about since I was very young. Once in a while, effects of either or both of these would bubble to the surface, and I would get beat up for my trouble, but over all, growing up with both meant a life of solitude. Because there wasn't really any copro, remorse didn't really come into it at the time.

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@ Spikey: That sounds familiar...trying to push boundaries...let's see just how outrageous I can be, just as long as I'm alone.