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Moro reflex in Tourette's???

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    Moro reflex in Tourette's???

    Reposting a thread I started in the Tourette Syndrome section. Sorry if it looks a bit weird. I just copied and pasted it. Reply to the original post included:


    Moro reflex in Tourette's???
    This might seem like a weird question but do people with Tourette's retain their Moro Reflex after 6 months of age???

    The Moro Reflex is the startle reflex in babies and it usually disappears after 6 months but some people with certain conditions retain this reflex into adulthood. My friends who have CP and I all have our Moro Reflex.
    My friend was doing some research on the Moro Reflex and Cerebral Palsy recently and I became fascinated with it. Since there are some similarities between what my friend has been studying and Tourette's Syndrome I thought I would ask.

    #2
    04-08-2011, 10:40 AM
    Naominjw
    Distinguished Community Member

    Join Date: May 2008
    Location: U.S.A.
    Posts: 971

    !!!! The Moro (Startle) reflex??? My child did have this and even as an adult it is not "abnormal", but more than average, I would say. In grade school/high school, it used to be chalked up to anxiety (but she did not have an anxiety disorder) or depression (she had this when she was not depressed). However, I have heard this called in more pathological terms having lack of Prepulse inhibition (PPI) or lack of filtering of external stimuli. The excess startle response is seen in schizophrenia. I never heard of it possibly being a "normal" part of Tourette's.

    I am intrigued.

    #3
    04-08-2011, 06:45 PM
    funnylegs4
    Distinguished Community Member

    Join Date: Jan 2009
    Posts: 178

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Naominjw
    !!!! The Moro (Startle) reflex??? My child did have this and even as an adult it is not "abnormal", but more than average, I would say. In grade school/high school, it used to be chalked up to anxiety (but she did not have an anxiety disorder) or depression (she had this when she was not depressed). However, I have heard this called in more pathological terms having lack of Prepulse inhibition (PPI) or lack of filtering of external stimuli. The excess startle response is seen in schizophrenia. I never heard of it possibly being a "normal" part of Tourette's.

    I am intrigued.

    Interesting. Funny you would say that thing about anxiety. My friend and I are finding that bodies effected with CP are always afraid, afraid of falling and always think we are in danger even when we are not. Perhaps your child has a "Tourette's version" of this.
    Mild Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy and bad proprioception.
    My website for my original short films! http://cripvideoproductions.com/astrokeofendurance.php

    #2
    hey everyone !

    i was reading this and it was very interesting.

    i have ts, but i don't know if anything is wrong with my moro reflex. i'll ask my family doctor about it next time i see him.

    there are chemiclas in the brain called "neurotransmitters". i'm sure you've heard of serotonin, dopamine, gaba, norepinephrine, acetylcholine etc. the brain also has millions of neurons with a synapse at each end and a "cleft" from one synapse to another. many neurological problems are caused by the synapse not picking up certain neurotransmitters and carrying their message from one synapse over the cleft to another synapse and it's attached neuron. in ts, there are neurotransmitters that start a movement and stop a movement. think that you are thirsty and want a glass of water that is in front of you. you reach for the water, whcih one chemical tells your neurons to do and once you grasp the glass, the neuron is told to stop reaching.

    in tourette syndrome, those neurotransmitters are told to start a movement, but something misfires and they cannot stop the movement. and to top it off, it might not even be a movement that they wanted to do, like reach for a glass! the brain is telling them, "jerk your neck" or "touch the wall with your third finger". in fact, the brain probably gets the signals right more often when you are doing something that requires a thought on your part, such as reaching for a glass of water. i have never reached for a glass of water and kept the movement going delibrately until i knocked over the glass and then ended the movement. my brain seems to recognize that i want to start and stop this movement.

    this is a b"tch, isn't it?

    now, i have suffered from post traumatic stress disorder from an incident that happened to me about 38 years ago. my fear of the incident is over, i don't relive it. but, let me go downstairs and be sorting laundry and get into a brain-zone where i do not hear stimuli and if my son or someone comes downstairs and i don't hear them, it startles me and i scream. just one scream, but it's because i didn't hear them coming down the stairs cause i was deep in thought and when i saw them walk in, my brain wasn't prepared for them, so i got startled. a high-startle reflex is one of the remnants of ptsd. so reading what naomi said above, about her child having a lack of prepulse inhibition (ppi) which inhibits filtering external stimuli, i can filter out external stimuli to the point of being startled when the stimuli occurs. but then, i also have times when my brain is in sensory overload, like if too many things are going on at once and i get irrtated and start feeling edgy.

    there is another component of ts that some people get, i have that also (how fortunate!), that is called obsessive/compulsive disorder. this is related to tourette syndrome in that once you get a thought in your brain, like "i have to tap my foot on the floor 50 times", you will tap your foot on the floor 50 times. there is also a part of ts and tics, where you have to get the tic "right" or get the "right feeling" from doing a tic before you are able to stop doing it. this is also part of ocd.

    it doesn't seem far-fetched to me that if you have a disorder like cp, that you can also have other disorders of the brain. perhaps the fear of falling or being in danger is kind of like a panic disorder, which i also have, but is controlled my meds i take. it seems my panic disorder started when the ptsd incident happened, also. since some kind of injury happened to your brain to cause you to develop cp, maybe the brain is neurologically reliving that and giving you symptoms of ptsd?

    well, it was a thought process that brought me to that and i like to sit and think logically about stuff like this. it's so interesting how we all have the same cells in our bodies and the same brain chemicals, yet one problem here will cause ts, one there will cause cp, perhaps another one over there will cause ms.

    i really think the brain is the last great frontier. once we learn how to manipulate brain chemicals and how our particular brain physiology reacts to them, we will be on the way to eradicating neurological problems altogether!

    wouldn't that be a wonderful miracle?

    thank you for a thought provoking post:),
    jeannie
    WE ARE BT!
    "The world is a better place when you're barefoot." Mark
    "Don't go there unless you know the way back." TC
    "...there will be an answer. Let it be." Paul McCartney

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      #3
      Originally posted by tic chick View Post
      it doesn't seem far-fetched to me that if you have a disorder like cp, that you can also have other disorders of the brain. perhaps the fear of falling or being in danger is kind of like a panic disorder, which i also have, but is controlled my meds i take. it seems my panic disorder started when the ptsd incident happened, also. since some kind of injury happened to your brain to cause you to develop cp, maybe the brain is neurologically reliving that and giving you symptoms of ptsd?
      I found out something very interesting a few days ago. Someone said the CP part of our brain thinks the brain injury that made us disabled is actually still happening to us. It's stuck in the moment of time when we were injured and does not realize we survived it. Like time froze or something. That's why we still have baby reflexes like the Moro Reflex. I did not think Cerebral Palsy was like that but when you think about it, it makes perfect sense.
      Last edited by funnylegs4; 05-09-2012, 06:19 PM.
      Mild Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy and bad proprioception.
      My website for my original short films! http://cripvideoproductions.com/astrokeofendurance.php

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