There are few treatment options for adults with Tourette’s whose tics interfere with daily life. Luis Capaldi has already experimented with injecting Botox into his shoulder to locally paralyze those muscles.
“Medication works well, but there are always side effects. Tourette’s patients who take antipsychotics often experience mood swings or weight gain. Another possibility is “behavior therapy”. Patients try to move their head to one part of the body. To exercise their leg.”
“Now research is being done on a new treatment: “repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation” (RTMS). Patients get a coil in the skull and an electrical impulse is generated, which suppresses the tremors through the cerebral cortex. There is no obvious mechanism, because you can’t continuously shock patients, and The question is how long the effect will last.”
“Another technique is “deep brain stimulation”: electrodes in the brain receive electric shocks from a pacemaker placed on the abdominal wall. A system that costs about 20,000 euros, works for 15 years and is not reimbursed. Harder than wearing. A special watch.”
