The Cleveland Clinic defines Tourettes as a neurological disorder that causes uncontainable movements and vocal sounds.” Dr. Mohammed Aldosari, of Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Pediatric Neurosciences, shared about the connection between tics and TikTok — and how to educate parents.
“Initially, everyone thought they were seeing an isolated phenomenon,” Dr. Aldosari mentioned, “but it turns out that we’re all seeing it — a different age of onset, and disturbingly, an explosive onset. In just a few hours, maybe a day or two, girls who have no history of tics suddenly start to experience a lot of movement and vocalization.”
Around the world, doctors are seeing patients with the same sudden onset of “uncontrolled movements:
- Repetition of seemingly random words or phrases, including “beans,” “woo-hoo” and “flying shark.”
- Repetition of swear words and other obscene phrases.
- Hand/arm movements, including clapping and pointing.
- Hitting or banging body parts, other people or objects.”
And, the staff at Henry Ford Health are reporting the same findings.
“These teenage girls who are exhibiting tics aren’t necessarily fitting within the normal tic disorders that we’ve known, like with Tourette’s syndrome or epilepsy,” says Omar Danoun, M.D., a neurologist at Henry Ford Health. “For example, they’re talking in a British accent, or their movements are weird, or they’re saying British words.”