Not knowing really stinks!

It's hard to know what behaviors are related to Monster Man's Tourrette Syndrome and what behaviors he can control. We try not to use his TS as an excuse for everything, but there are times that we don't know if it's to blame or not. Like volume control, for example. This morning, Monster Man's voice keeps getting progressively louder as he speaks, and it's really starting to annoy my husband. One minute, Monster Man is practically whispering, and then a few minutes later it sounds like he is almost yelling. He says he can't control it, that's he's not meaning to be loud, but we can't really be sure since he's using the "I can't help it" excuse a lot lately.

Monster Man can't seem to control the impulse to ask questions, either. We'll be watching a movie and a sudden question comes out about the character or the plot, and he just blurts it before he has time to even think about it. We're wondering if this is what is happening at school, too, since he gets notes home from time to time about needing to control his talking.

I have a lot of questions I would really like to talk to a doctor about, but we're unable to take Monster Man for treatment related to TS due to his current insurance. Hopefully we'll all have better insurance soon so that we can get him the therapy, etc that he needs and so that we can get answers to questions like impulsive talking, volume control, and what may be things he is using TS as an excuse for.

Can he control it or not?

Sometimes knowing that Monster Man has Tourette Syndrome makes it hard for me to know if certain behaviors are something that he can control or if they are tics. For about a month now, every time Monster Man gets excited while playing a video game or watching a movie, he'll yell "woo-ooo" (like woohoo, without the h). It's always the same noise, always the same tone, and it's always when he is excited. At first, we were telling him to quiet down since he often did this with someone sitting next to him, and it is loud enough that it hurts our ears when we are in close proximity to him. In fact, it seems loud just being in the same room with him when he does this. Now we think it might be one of his many tics, though. It doesn't seem like he can control it, and now he's even starting to get a little upset when he does it himself.

The worst thing about this particular (possible) tic is that it bothers him more than the others. Yes, it does bother us at times, but it really seems to aggravate him even more. He is starting to realize that he can't always control his own body, and it upsets him to feel so helpless. It's going to take a lot of time and work to help him learn how to control this tic and the others he is already experiencing. Hopefully we will soon be able to get him the help he needs to learn how to take back some control of his body.