How will my doctor know if I have Tourettes Syndrome?
Your doctor makes the diagnosis based on whether you have had multiple motor tics and at least one phonic tic that began before you were 18 years old, and whether these tics lasted (on and off) for longer than one year. The presence of premonitory urge, partial voluntary control, variability over time and a family history of tic disorder increases the probability that you have Tourette’s syndrome. There are no laboratory tests or brain imaging methods that can confirm the diagnosis of Tourette’s syndrome.
