Book Group

I have a very nice group of friends who I mostly met at the gym. We decided to start a book group. Yesterday was our first book group meeting in awhile. The book for this month was "Against Medical Advice" by James Cameron. I'd heard about this book on the Tourette Syndrome Association facebook page. Many of the people there warned that this was not a book that parents of newly diagnosed kids with TS should read, as it would be terrifying. I do have to admit that there were some sweaty palmed moments. The funny part of this is that I don't think the sweaty palm moments were probably the parts that my friends thought were terrifying. Most of the scary parts for my friends were what was going on with the drugs surrounding TS. Sadly, many people still do not understand that TS is not just a "tic disorder". Anyone diagnosed with TS is also diagnosed with a whole slew of other disorders. And as children grow, the associated disorders change. What needs to be treated the most changes as well. Our own struggle with the drug decision has been to medicate or not to medicate. For many it's how much medication and what combination. There's discussions of which disorder is causing most of the problems, and if we treat for the OCD, the anxiety is going to worsen so we have to treat for that as well.

For me  relating the book to our own family,  considering a family history of alcoholism on both sides, one of the most terrifying parts was the thought of Liam ever feeling the need and desire to self medicate with alcohol and drugs. We're working really hard with his therapist to come up with a plan for how to deal with his feelings and anxiety.
One of the other scariest parts for me, which I thankfully have not seen in Liam, is the self destructive compulsions. I watch friends of mine struggle with this and worry about them. In the booksome of the compulsions include: pulling the steering wheel of the car or climbing up a tree to the highest point possible even after falling through the branches. While I don't see this in Liam, I have friends who are going through these types of things and it scares me so much for them.

I'm thankful that my friends were so excited to read this book and gain a better understanding of TS.

I'm thankful that my friends were