Julie Gardener
New Member
Tourette's Syndrome by Blake Goodacre
I am twenty years old. I started smoking marijuana when I was 13, for the same reasons that most teenagers start. My father has Tourette's syndrome, and I was not really aware of what that meant until I was about 17 (I had never lived with him until then). Of course, throughout my teenage years I smoked marijuana with all my friends, and no one ever gave it up because it did nothing wrong to their lives. When I was 19, I finally discovered that I have Tourette's syndrome. I have never taken any medication for it, and I decided that I never would. I have always had trouble in school, especially in my last few years (I dropped out of high school at least four times).
I just recently began college, and I found myself having trouble once again with all the usual symptoms of a Tourette's sufferer: distraction, physical discomfort from twitching, lack of sleep, obsession, etc. I just dropped out of school again. It began when I failed my first math quiz. This was very surprising to me. Throughout my entire life in school I had been top of the class in math, entering and winning math contests even. I figured out the problem: I stopped smoking marijuana for my first week of school. I do this for such things as starting a new job, or in this instance, starting school. It is probably because I never realised that I smoke so much marijuana because of my Tourette's. I just thought it would be a good idea to straighten out my head to begin college.
Well, when I don't smoke marijuana, I cannot walk down the street without having obsessive angry thoughts about every human being I pass. My tics are terrible and they become extremely painful by the end of the day. I can't sleep because my head won't stop jerking. If I go just two days without touching marijuana, I will wake up in the morning with a pulled muscle down my neck and into my back. This becomes extremely terrible for the next few days to come, because I can't jerk my head without the muscle feeling like it is being cut with a knife. The only thing I can do is try and hold my head still. Well, you know what happens when a Tourette's person does that to the tic: it becomes much more extreme. I just came to this website, and read a story quite like my own. I have now realized that my suspicions of marijuana's magic powers are true! How horrible that it is illegal! I am a Canadian, and I feel for those sufferers from disorders like mine in the United States. Canadians can't get marijuana for free, but it is much cheaper and easier to get without the cops breathing down your neck. Marijuana MUST be legalized!
Source: Comments and Observations
