Pioneering Treatment for Tourette’s Syndrome

A 55-year old woman who was suffering from severe Tourette's symptoms was able to find some relief after undergoing a pioneering treatment in England.

Jayne Bargent struggled to overcome the severity of her symptoms and often suffered from violent head jerks and was left gasping for breath. Mrs Bargent revealed that her condition had become so bad that she even thought about assisted suicide in Switzerland.

Tourette Syndrome
Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neurological disorder wherein the affected person makes repetitive and stereotyped involuntary movements, or noises, called ‘tics’.

However a 40 minute treatment at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, where she was fitted with electrodes and electric current was then switched on, proved to be the difference.

Mrs Bargent said that the brain stimulation therapy has turned her life around and added that though she continues to experience jerks, they are not violent as before. Mrs Bargent is one of the 12 patients who has undergone the experimental treatment at the hospital with consultant neurologist Dr Tom Foltynie stating that the patients will be observed for the next six months.

“We generally see effects over days rather than minutes. There are changes that occur in the brain in response to continous delivery of stimulation that get better day by day, week by week”, he said.

Conference on developing new treatments for Tourette Syndrome
Several prominent scientists from Yale and other institutes will meet to discover new ways to treat Tourette Syndrome (TS)

Source-Medindia

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