Why am I so wordy? (does Bob have Tourettes?)

[MicroBob]

All my life I have been EXTREMELY talkative/wordy.
Most on 2+2 know that this trend has continued into my online-posting life.


Why do I never shut-up? Why am I so wordy?

I'm 34 y.o. now and it seems pretty immature to always be yapping on and on and on, blah blah blah.
This is especially exaggerated when i've had caffeine.


Background -
18 y.o. - Voted most talkative in my H.S. class. An accomplishment that I took with great embarassment.
Getting in trouble for talking too much with friends...and also debating various ideas within the class.

23 yo - On a road-trip with friends: Wasn't aware (as usual) that I was talking so much.
Girl turns around and says, "Geez...I bet you couldn't go 5 damn minutes without speaking."
Naturally I shut-up for the next hour..but her point was made and it wasn't the first time someone had confronted me.


Career - Prior to poker I was a radio-sportscaster for minor-league and college sports.
I would frequently work without a broadcast partner.
Talking and talking all on my own through an entire 6-hour long Florida State League double-header was never much of a problem for me.


Current - I never shut up on 2+2 as you all probably know.


Recently - I had a very dramatic situation regarding my love-life.
While most would not be inclined to share such a situation with a bunch of internet-posters (and may even shut themselves out to their friends about it too) my inclination was to write a freaking novel about it in OOT.

I got some good (and some not so good) advice over there....
but much of the therapeutic value was just unloading all my thoughts in some incredibly long and rambling posts.
And I mean REALLY REALLY long.


Ideas -
Did my mommy not pay enough attention to me?
I distinctly remember times when she was blowing me off or not listening.
But this is more likely a situation of her just not being able to CONSTANTLY pay attention to the non-stop ramblings of her chatter-mouth 5 year-old kid.


Tourettes Syndrome??
I'm not kidding. Have never looked it up on the internet and perhaps I should. But I believe I may have a low-grade variety of tourettes that has gone undiagnosed.


I have many facial-type ticks. Lots of eye-blinking and nose-twitches, etc. Not everyone notices but I also think they aren't as severe as before.
I used to have one twitch for 6 months and then it would change and go somewhere else.
A kind of nose-twitch I had through the spring/summer when I was 18 had everyone joking that i looked like a damn bunny-rabbit.


There HAVE been times when I've been driving alone or at the grocery-store or something where I actually will mutter/blurt something like, "f'ck them all" or "i hate them" or "die" or something and I'll have no idea where it came from.

not very often...but it happens.
In my 20's I might have this happen 3-4x a week. Occasionally more than once in a single day.
Now I think it's proably just one blurt every 2-4 weeks or so.

It's not very loud...and usually when I'm not with anyone else.
So thankfully I've never been walking down the sidewalk and just randomly shouted "Douche-Bag!!!" at someone (unless I'm walking past Phil Hellmuth of course).


a professional marriage-counselor that my ex-wife and I saw speculated that i might have Osberger's syndrome which I really didn't get around to studying either.
I think Bobby Fischer is believed to have it among others.
It's kinda/sorta related to autism I believe.


I don't know how 'normal' tourettes works but I guess their filter to not blurt out the things they do is just somehow messed up.

Well...perhaps my filter to just shut the hell up is somehow similarly broken.

[mackthefork]

[ QUOTE ]
a professional marriage-counselor that my ex-wife and I saw speculated that i might have Osberger's syndrome which I really didn't get around to studying either.


[/ QUOTE ]

Hi Bob

Maybe you mean Asbergers?, I have a friend with this who is constantly offending people, he is very good with cars, I mean totally taking them apart, no manuals, he would know more about a car he's never seen before in half a day, than probably even the guys who make them. He also makes good furniture. I doubt he would be capable of holding down a steady relationship though, his ability to feel empathy is zero, so I doubt you have that.

Maybe it's tourettes then, do you ever do chicken impressions? /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Regards Mack

[MicroBob]

Yes. I guess it's asberger's.

The empathy bit is interesting.
I guess that is similar to the more emotionless autism thing.
But the marriage-counselor likely wouldn't have suggested that i might have it if it definitely meant having no empathy.

She was probably basing it on my math prodigy-ness as a 4-year-old.
I'm not so hot at math now...but I could multiply at a very young age. Obsessed with numbers. On a family trip when I was 7 I spent hours and hours in the car
counting to a million (it took a few days). My parents were going out of their minds.

Also was playing chess when I was 5 (I'm not a great player though).
Taught myself to play piano.


I have some weird chess/math/music thing going on in my brain which I think are some of the classic departments for autism (???).

Hence, the counselor's Ausberger's diagnosis I suppose.

Also believe that left-handedness might have something to do with it.

all my knowledge about autism is from movies like Rain Man and that film with Bruce Willis and the autistic kid who figured out the government puzzles.


No chicken impressions.
Sorry. (not sure I'm getting this joke...what am I missing??)


Couple other things -
Sometimes my 'ticks' would be in the form of a kind of a 'snort' or 'sniff'. My mom has these sniffs.
Doctors thought it was just allergies.
People today might think I'm a cocaine addict.

Mom also tells me that her dad and grandmother had some twitches or ticks in there.


My Dad and sister were talking before my first live poker tournament (the party poker cruise last March) and were concerned with whether I would give my hand away via my ticks.
It's not internet-poker afterall so they thought I might get clobbered.
Then they decided that I have SO many ticks that I would probably confuse the hell out of anyone who was trying to "read" me.
(I finished in the money btw).


My sister evidently has some blinking too although I have never noticed.
Friend of mine recognized seeing my sister in her brief 10-second appearance on the Today show and knew it wasn't just someone who LOOKED like my sister because of the way she was blinking at the interviewer.

[thrillhouse7]

Counted to one million. Nice work!

[MicroBob]

Yes. I was indeed a weird kid.

Additionally...I was an incredibly small kid with a REALLY low voice (remember...I eventually worked in radio).

On the growth-chart things at the doctor's I would be in the zero percentile.
As a 9-year-old you would have sworn I looked like I was 6.

doctors seriously projected that I would probably be 4'8" or so as an adult. (I'm 5'6").


And I had this REALLY low voice for my natural speaking (kind of like the old Frosted Mini-wheats commercials where they dub the adult voice when the kid is speaking).
It was too the point that my parents asked doctors about it because it was so freakishly low.


I don't know if any of this has anything to do with the tourette's bit or counting to a million or whatever....but it all combines to be kind of funny imo.


This super-small, low-voiced, twitchy/blinky, always talking kid who's counting to a million.

Right about now I feel like calling my parents to thank them for not killing me.

[steamboatin]

[ QUOTE ]
23 yo - On a road-trip with friends: Wasn't aware (as usual) that I was talking so much.
Girl turns around and says, "Geez...I bet you couldn't go 5 damn minutes without speaking."


[/ QUOTE ]

You probably weren't talking about HER! Obviously, SHE is the center of the universe and you were off center.

Don't ever shorten your posts!

Yes, your posts are wordy but they are well written informative and interesting.

[billyjex]

hey bob,

shut up.



i keed, i keed.

[PokerProdigy]

Wow man, you have almost 10,000 posts in like a year and a half. Keep up the good work /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Seriously though, you should go check out a copy of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (aka the DSM). Read some of the symtoms/characteristics of Aspergerger and tourettes and see if these sound like your characteristics.

[poker-penguin]

Shut up you twitchy little ****er

Kidding. I figured you wouldn't mind, if you did I apologise. Besides, I can probably beat you in a fight anyway. :P I'm not accepting any headsup challenges from you though - well, not for more than $10.

Anyway...

Bob, it does sound like you might have something wrong with you. It might well be Tourette's or Asberger's or someone else's syndrome or a combination (who knows, it might fall into a gap and you can be the first Microbob syndrome sufferer).

But it sounds like you are a functioning member of society. I'm not going to argue that being a functioning member of 2+2 is an indicator of normality - but your posts are almost always worth the (much longer than average) time it takes to read them so don't worry on that count.

If I were you, I'd consult a professional. Most likely they'll say "well, there's not much point doing anything, keep on being a functioning, if a little twitchy and wordy, member of society" only more tactfully. But they might have some advice that helps you feel like you're fitting in better (I read an undertone into your post that you sometimes feel a little weird - I could be wrong) or helps you minimise the effects. At worst, you'll be reassured you aren't going to suddenly go all Bobby Fischer.

Oh, and get a blog. I'm semi serious, it provides a place to ramble without worrying about annoying 2+2 with long posts (but again, if you can keep quality above average, post away - my mouse has a scroll wheel anyway). on two plus two

[sleight]

I highly doubt that you have Asperger's syndrome, most of your descriptions of yourself point more towards a low level tourettes-like syndrome. There are a lot of personality traits that people can display, yet if they don't interfere with your life you can't really chalk it up to full-blown anything.

I think the thing will be really telling is how these urges/ticks/exclamations come about. People that have full-on tourrette's describe their outbursts as a feeling building inside them that they can no longer stifle. Once this becomes too much to bear the outburst comes. These outbursts come in many forms, such as: small tics of the face and body, vocal outbursts (coprolalia (profane outbursts) is actually not that common), to full on multi-step movement sequences (kind of like dancing without the context). No matter what these impulses must be fulfilled for the person to feel ok; the more they are ignored the more the urge builds.

I echo the thought of other posters that you talk to a professional, but really if it isn't hurting you in any way it's usually not considered a problem (you're only crazy if you can't contribute to the economy). However, knowing more about yourself certainly can't hurt. Those of us from the Ignorant Diagnostic Internet Operation Team (I.D.I.O.T) wish you well, we tried.

[Exsubmariner]

Honestly,
I think that 9652 posts since 9/19/03 is a little excessive. I think it is an attention/confidence issue. I am not going to be a smart ass and say some balls and puberty would solve the issue, but I'm tempted. In the line of constructive advice, I would say you need to find something else to do with your day other than watch TV, play poker, post on 2+2 and spend time with the girl. I would suggest something like taking walks in the park, exercise, I personally keep a number of pets and garden, or dare I say (dare dare) get a part time job. I have a full time job and all those things keep me more than busy, happy and balanced.
You will not last at anything without breathers for good mental health. This I know.
X

[Aytumious]

[ QUOTE ]
Honestly,
I think that 9652 posts since 9/19/03 is a little excessive. I think it is an attention/confidence issue. I am not going to be a smart ass and say some balls and puberty would solve the issue, but I'm tempted. In the line of constructive advice, I would say you need to find something else to do with your day other than watch TV, play poker, post on 2+2 and spend time with the girl. I would suggest something like taking walks in the park, exercise, I personally keep a number of pets and garden, or dare I say (dare dare) get a part time job. I have a full time job and all those things keep me more than busy, happy and balanced.
You will not last at anything without breathers for good mental health. This I know.
X

[/ QUOTE ]

It doesn't sound like you even read Bob's post since you didn't answer his question, make a number of unwarranted assumptions about how he spends his time, and you also insult his manliness. Basically, you come off as an ass.

[Exsubmariner]

I am an ass, and I'm happy that shows through. I did read his post. I still say it is a confidence/attention (need for acceptance) issue. This is in spite of all the words. There is a proverb that comes to mind, I'm not sure where from, but it is of eastern origin, I think. It goes something like "He who knows speaks not, he who speaks knows not." I don't believe shouting obscenities while driving is a sign of any syndrome. I know I shout obscenities all the time while driving. Sometimes at other drivers, sometimes just to blow off frustration when I have a subconscious anger of some kind. Welcome to be being human. No one is perfect, but some are comfortable with themselves and I think that is at the root of what Bob's issue is.
edit: Thanks for the opportunity to clear up what I meant.
Sincerely an ass,
X
P.S. If Bob wants to make the case that he doesn't spend the majority of his time watching tv, playing poker online, posting on 2+2, with girlfriend time interspersed I will admit I was making unwarrented assumptions.

[Burno]

I really, really doubt you have asperger's syndrome. I work with kids with asperger's. They cannot interact socially with others. This doesn't appear to be the case with you. I've read thousands of your posts, and while often long-winded, I enjoy your perspective on poker, as well as your hit or miss humor.

I think more information on your childhood and type of upbringing you had would be extremely beneficial in helping discover the root of your issue.

But since you asked, I'd say you exhibit a great many symptoms of dependent personality disorder.

[lacky]

funny you should suggest the blog

http://bobspokerblog.blogspot.com/

[MicroBob]

I think the confidence/security thing may be a factor and I think the assumptions are mostly accurate.
I'm not insulted believe it or not.

I feel like a generally confident person. But I went through really tough streaks when I was younger of utter insecurity. In college I was about as insecure as they came (one girl called me the most insecure person she knew) and I decided that this was just stupid and I just decided to take steps to believe in myself.

I think the talking thing COULD be related to that somehow.

But there is definitely some immaturity going on in my life.
I don't have much of a social-life around Memphis to be honest...although me and the GF normally have a pretty good time.

But I do live kind of a slacker and less-responsible existence of playing poker and watching TV. kind of immature for 34 y/o imo. My apartment is a freaking mess too.
There is some social aspect to my life but not as much as there probably should be.


Anyway - the general point that I'm almost at 10k posts in such a short time....AND that many of those posts have been freaking novels...is not lost on me at all.
It's something that has occured to me on several occasions and i am similarly embarassed about that just as I was to be voted most-talkative in HS or when the girl challenged me to somehow not talk for 5 minutes or any other similar incident for that matter.


Talk talk talk.
The confidecne/security thing may have something to do with it too....but I also think it could actually be related to the twitching-tourettes partly as well.

---------------------

The little blurts while driving are not made at other drivers...they are just little mutterings...sometimes when I'm the only one on the road.

Just driving and day-dreaming and suddenly I say something like "i hate them all" pretty much under my breath and then I kind of look at myself and wonder "where the hell did THAT come from?"

-------------------------

To the other poster who suggested I get a blog.
Got one (listed in my profile).
It's bobspokerblog.blogspot.com

It is INSANELY long.

My very first post there (Jan 14 I believe) I basically explain that I feel REALLY freaking bad about how much I tend to dominate some of the discussions at 2+2. Even some discussions where I am freely admitting I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.
So I wanted to get out of everyone else's way a little bit so that THEY could discuss things. and I thought a blog would be the way to go.


Well....it hasn't exactly "cured" me of my wordyness over here obviously. But the blog has received a number of compliments.


I have received many nice compliments along the lines of what steamboatin had to say. But I have had enough comments "geez...I just can't make it through all that. your posts are REALLY freaking long Bob" and I know that several others feel that way without directly confronting me about it.
-------------------------------

to the poster who suggested we might have discovered MicroBob syndrome.
I think it would be kind of cool to have a disease/condition/whatever named after me!!

[lacky]

hey bob,

I am generally of the opinion if it ain't broke leave it alone. You make a honest living (well, somewhat honest anyway), you have a girlfreind, you are on speaking terms with your family, etc. The only reason I would recommend seeing someone and finding out what it may be is on the off chance that it is something that will get progressively worse with old age. I'm the kind of person that would want to know and plan accordingly. If your not, then don't worry about it.

It's funny, I've been around about as long as you and have bout 450 posts. I guess I'm antisocial /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Steve

[MicroBob]

I guy I worked with when I dealt BJ told me has tourettes...but it's just in the form of little facial-ticks and a little weird noise he would make (kind of a grunt) out of the side of his mouth.

he said it used to much worse in him...but he has studied it some (since he had it diagnosed properly) and it supposedly declines with old age.
He's probably about 55 or so and I had never noticed anything about him...but he came up to me in the break-room (we were already kind of friends) and asked about my twitches/blinking/tourettes.
He's the first person to really come to that determination on his own and he thinks I most certainly have it to some degree. Especially so when I told him about the little blurts, etc.

The fact that my twitches have also declined into my 30's seems to support his theory that I really do have it.


Maybe it will come back later in fuller force. Don't know.
My great-grandmother ended up with Parkinson's and for some reason I see that as a possibility with me.
although I don't know if they are related in the least...she used to have ticks and it eventually grew into something different later on perhaps.
Hell, I don't know.

But yes, that's the reasoning why I have considered actually getting it officially diagnosed. Through my entire child-hood everyone just thought I had allergies (which I do) but if I have something I would like to know about it for sure and find out more about it.
I've been thinking that off and on for awhile though and haven't exactly gotten off my duff to do anything about it.

[Exsubmariner]

OK Bob,
I think we're onto something here. The comment about the apartment might be an indication that there is a self respect issue, too. I know at the low points of my self esteem, my living arrangements have tended to be piggied up. I can only speak to my own experience though, it could be nothing in your case but the fact you mentioned it points to it being a source of anxiety(?) for you.
You need to break your routine. Find something you are interested in and join a club (not poker). You could get a part time job, as I suggested earlier. You could go to school. If you like to write, which apparently you do, try writing for magazines or the local newspaper or selling pieces on poker to some internet sites or cardplayer...Most importantly, just do something.
You're first order of business should be to get out of the rut. Self discovery can and will come later. Push your bounds one inch at a time. The alternative is to stay where you are and endure whatever it is about it that makes it unhappy for you.
X
P.S. There is a lot more I would like to answer about your post but time is short now. I hope this discussion can continue.

[poker-penguin]

Hehe, obviously Bob likes my suggestion.

EDIT - added you to my blogroll

[SomethingClever]

[ QUOTE ]
There HAVE been times when I've been driving alone or at the grocery-store or something where I actually will mutter/blurt something like, "f'ck them all" or "i hate them" or "die" or something and I'll have no idea where it came from.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
So thankfully I've never been walking down the sidewalk and just randomly shouted "Douche-Bag!!!" at someone (unless I'm walking past Phil Hellmuth of course).

[/ QUOTE ]

AWESOME!

Bob, you are a funny guy. I hope you win the WSOP.

Edited to note that you shouldn't feel bad about your long posts; they tend to be very informative.

[jkkkk]

[ QUOTE ]
There HAVE been times when I've been driving alone or at the grocery-store or something where I actually will mutter/blurt something like, "f'ck them all" or "i hate them" or "die" or something and I'll have no idea where it came from.

[/ QUOTE ]

superb /images/graemlins/smile.gif

i think this all the time when i'm having a hangover or am suffering from sleep deprivation, but thats just natural.

from skimming over the posts it seems like (and i hate to say it) you're one of those people that crave attention, i just really hope your not of the sycophant type.

try thinking about the idea of introspection more...

also become aware of what you are doing and what image you are conveying socially, whether it be in a group, one to one, or from a by standers pov.

[Happy Hour]

Does this bother you? So you talk a lot. Some people don't talk much at all. If everyone was "normal", everyone would be boring. If it bothers other people, tell them to go be friends with a non-talker.

I am your opposite. I don't talk very much at all. When in a group of people who don't know me, they think I am snubbing them because I am not talking to them. I have learned to accept it instead of trying to be who I'm not.

I don't know much about Touretts. But I think everyone has in some degree at least one of these brain disorders, so I think everyone is crazy or being crazy is normal.

I wouldn't worry about it. Be glad of who you are.

[dan123]

i once went 6 weeks without talking

[RYL]

[ QUOTE ]
Does this bother you? So you talk a lot. Some people don't talk much at all. If everyone was "normal", everyone would be boring. If it bothers other people, tell them to go be friends with a non-talker.

I am your opposite. I don't talk very much at all. When in a group of people who don't know me, they think I am snubbing them because I am not talking to them. I have learned to accept it instead of trying to be who I'm not.

I don't know much about Touretts. But I think everyone has in some degree at least one of these brain disorders, so I think everyone is crazy or being crazy is normal.

I wouldn't worry about it. Be glad of who you are.

[/ QUOTE ]

I concur.

[Stuey]

I like you Bob. Lots of other people seem to like you also. You say a few people don't like one thing about you. You talk too much. It could be worse.

Do you like yourself? Or does talking so much bother you also? Don't try to change unless this is causing you discomfort.

If I had only one personality trait that was bothersome to others I would be very happy. No one is perfect and no one should try to be.

Sorry for the bad advice in OOT. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif
See I have a tendency to overreact.
But like I said no one is perfect. /images/graemlins/shocked.gif

[HesseJam]

Bob, what is your regular diet? For instance, there are tons of kids out there who are diagnosed with ADS and who could be cured with just a diet change instead of taking pills.

[mackthefork]

[ QUOTE ]
No chicken impressions.
Sorry. (not sure I'm getting this joke...what am I missing??)


[/ QUOTE ]

Yes theres a chap in his thirties who lives near me, he has tourrets(sp?) he does a chicken thing with the arms and swears like a trooper, it amuses me how i become offended by him, even though he doesn't mean it.

[ QUOTE ]
Yes. I guess it's asberger's.

The empathy bit is interesting.
I guess that is similar to the more emotionless autism thing.
But the marriage-counselor likely wouldn't have suggested that i might have it if it definitely meant having no empathy.


[/ QUOTE ]

Asbergers sufferers can also be obsessed with detail and peoples reasons for actions and thoughts, I've often carried on an hour long conversations about an off-the-cuff comment that you would struggle to talk about for 30 seconds with an everyday person. So yes talking a lot is a sign of possible Asbergers but in no way confirmation.

Mack

[krimson]

[ QUOTE ]
23 yo - On a road-trip with friends: Wasn't aware (as usual) that I was talking so much.
Girl turns around and says, "Geez...I bet you couldn't go 5 damn minutes without speaking."
Naturally I shut-up for the next hour..but her point was made and it wasn't the first time someone had confronted me.


[/ QUOTE ]

My GF talks constantly and I said this to her once... She literally went about 3 mins and some seconds without talking and then said "Has 5 minutes past yet?".

She even talks in her sleep.

[steaknshake925]

how the hell did you count to a million?? did you verbally count each number out loud?? so like at 778933 you actually said seven hundred seventy-eight thousand nine hundred thirty three, and so on? assuming each number took a half-second to count, it shouldve taken you about 140 hours!

[MicroBob]

i was probably going faster that a half-second. it was mostly in my head...or kind of muttering...but also partly out loud.

As I said....my parents were losing their freaking minds because it was on a family drive to Wisconsin to visit all my relatives.

Anyway, I would go something like "47-thousand, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10....etc" and eventually "47-thousand-one-hundred, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6" etc.


Couple of punch-lines:
I counted out loud when i was getting to, "99,999....1-million!!!"
and then my Dad who was already going insane made the mistake of reminding me that 100,000 comes after 99,999....not 1-million. So I said, "Oh...Okay!!" "100,000, 100-thousand-and-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9..." blah blah blah.

He really wasn't thinking at that moment.

Through the whole vacation various relatives of mine were pretty interested in this weird 7-old nephew/cousin/whatever who just sat there through the whole week counting to a million.

--------------------

Fast-forward to March, 2004 - I go back to Wisconsin after my grandfather passed-away. This also tended to be something of a family reunion of course. I ran into a couple of relatives who had not seen me since that family vacation and that was all they could talk about.

None were surprised that I was doing so well in poker (and was ready to quit my job). They figure I'm mathematically inclined enough to succeed at it.

At the time I did it (and other such numbers-obsessed activities) many relatives and teachers assumed that i was going to go to MIT and be some kind of math genius.
That really didn't pan-out. I could barely get past college calculus.

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]
I've often carried on an hour long conversations about an off-the-cuff comment that you would struggle to talk about for 30 seconds with an everyday person.

[/ QUOTE ]


This is EXACTLY me.
The littlest thing pops into my head in mid-conversation and I kind of blurt out that new idea and then make about 5 observations about it....and then one of those observations reminds me of something else and I go on another completely unrelated tangent.

It happens with people talking to me as well....they will say something and in mid-sentence something will trigger an idea in me that I might blurt-out because I might be so excited about that idea.


Sometimes I can be pretty funny.
But other times it is obviously just plain rude to interrupt people in this manner and go into completely different topics.

[MicroBob]

Actually...I like me a lot.


but talking so much bothers me also.
I generally am fine fitting-in for the most part. It's not that.
But it is an excessive trait of mine.


It's one thing to be really passionate about so many ideas like I am.

But I do think it can be trying to be with me....particularly for ex-wife, GF's who REALLY try and are just patient waiting for me to slow-down and take a breath.
Well, sometimes that just doesn't happen.

So now I tell my GF that it's okay to tell me when I'm talking too much. Because I do need to be put in my place sometimes and i really do want to slow down....so now I'm asking her for her assitance.

the poor girl needs a freaking break now and then and it's just not fair to her.


It's not the worst thing in the world, i know...but I want to work on it simply because I am striving to be a better person.


Combining my chattyness with other people as well as my obsessive posting frequency and I think it's obvious this is something in my life i could improve upon in some ways.

Although I still expect that I'll always be talkative.


I could list right-away 3 more ideas that just occred to me related to this....but I'm going to take a step right now and not go off on more tangents.

[MicroBob]

Wanted to mention my latest 'episode'.


Sitting at the window in Quizno's an hour or so ago.

Specifically was just watching traffic and enjoying my chicken-corn chowder and was thinking at that moment about the 2+2 fantasy-baseball league on yahoo.
I signed-up for it and paid $30 and drafted a team and haven't bothered doing ANYTHING with it (haven't even checked on it) and was thinking it was kind of silly to pay money for it if I wasn't really going to play.


Then I blurted under my breath, "I hate them all! I hate them all!"

Then I kind of laughed and thought, "well...I guess I'll share this with anyone following the Bob-tourettes thread."


BTW - as far as I know....I do NOT hate everyone in the 2+2 fantasy-baseball league.

[budman]

It is very common for those who do have tourette's sydrome to have the symptoms/ tics be at their worst during puberty. We are told that they will gradually ease after puberty.

Some of your symptoms do sound like tics. There is a continuum of severity and the treatment given depends on it. If the tics are debilitating then there are medicines that can help. But they all have side effects that can be worse than the tics.

It is very rare among tourette's sufferers to have verbalized tics. You might just be an angry person. I don't know if tourette's makes a person talkative, but sometimes my son runs on and on.

Also, people with tourette's generally have other problems as well. It is very common to have OCD and ADD. This complicates the treatment of tourette's as the medicine that makes one problem better usually makes at least one of the others worse. At our medicine check-ups, we decide what is the biggest problem for my son and we treat that.

Also, if you did have these problems growing up and had to deal with them without the benefit of medicine or counselling, then you certainly might have missed out on a lot of social cues and might be a little immature.

If you do have tourette's, it sounds like a very mild case. Consider yourself lucky. It is nothing to be ashamed of.

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, if you did have these problems growing up and had to deal with them without the benefit of medicine or counselling, then you certainly might have missed out on a lot of social cues and might be a little immature.

[/ QUOTE ]


Doctors thought I had allergies.
I think your evaluation is VERY likely correct.

Some of the observations made in this thread are frightingly accurate.
Particularly the one about always going off on conversational tangents. That is a REAL problem with me to the extent that I know of no one who does it with greater frequency.
As well this particular comment evaluating why I'm fairly immature in many ways being possibly due to lack of proper evaluation earlier in life was something that hadn't really occured to me but is almost certainly correct.


The observations that are not correct imo include:

- not liking myself. I actually like myself a lot.

- being an angry person and thus having the blurts. I don't think this is correct either as they don't come at times when I'm angry really.

- insecurty. this is only partly correct as it USED to be a problem but I don't believe it is anymore. But it is possible that the insecurity that helped feed into my chattyness just created a talking pattern that has continued.


I neglected to mention a certain obsession with repetition also which is very related to autism obviously.
It relates to my counting to a million bit when I was 7 as well as my career as a baseball broadcaster. For the most part you're just saying the same thing over and over again during a baseball broadcast while just trying to mix things up for variety-sake.
But there are only so many ways you can say, "He swings...and here's a fly-ball to right-field."


So the repetition thing should be considered somehow as well.
Additionally, when I am going on and on about something I also have a tendency to say the same thing in about 5 or 10 different ways pretty much.



Anyway, thanks for the observations. This has become more than just a post where I say, "Gee! look how weird I am!"
It has really been an eye-opener about certain dominating aspects of myself.

[HRFats]

Bob - I am a 37yo male with tourette's syndrome. I was diagnosed when I was 14 and it was a relief. I have a mild case - facial tics such as blinking, vocalizations such as sniffling and clearing my throat, etc. These wax and wane for no apparant reason. The tics were worse when I was a teen. The symptoms you mentioned - at least most of them - point to TS. Only 10% of people with TS have the uncontrolled vocalizations but they are usually in public with others around. The outbursts in the car are almost certainly related to TS. People with TS tend to suppress tics (as best they can) during the day at work or school or even around family. Alone in the car and often times at home in the evening our tics will increase as a release from the suppression that occurred in the day. I LOVE to yell in the car for no reason.

Bob, the diagnoses is KEY. What a huge relief I felt when I was diagnosed at 14. I showed signs of TS beginning at 6 yrs old. It was painful to deal with some unknown problem until I was 14. Go see a nuerologist and get a diagnosis. Knowing what you have helps you understand why you do what you do.

And I am a very well adjusted person with a full time job, wife and three kids. My TS is a part of me and I wouldn't change that...

PM me if you want more info and/or links on TS...

[MicroBob]

cool. thanks for your ideas and support.


[ QUOTE ]
such as sniffling and clearing my throat,

[/ QUOTE ]


yes!!!
i believe i mentioned earlier that this was something I do.

my mom sniffs some i have recently noticed also.

my sniffs and snorts would change each 6 mths or so. one was a REALLY bad snort type thing when i was just sitting there supposedly trying to breathe normally.
it felt like i 'needed' to do it...kind of like i wasn't getting enough oxygen even though i really was and i had this urge to snort.

i was travelling with hockey teams as their broadcaster at the time and wasn't aware i was doing it and they would turn around and say 'dude...are you sick or something? you sound horrible." i called it 'allergies'.


similar when i played a live-satellite at the WPO in Tunica. didn't even realize that i kept clearing my throat. guy next to me said, 'is your throat dry? do you need a drink?'

again...when i was a kid it was all diagnosed as allergies.


i had never heard of tourettes sufferers having breathing and sniffing things as part of their condition but, again, i have never studied it and have been basically undiagnosed all this time (although pretty much came to the conclusion when I was 26 or 27 or so with the assistance of my ex-wife).


if you want to send me links/articles feel free to post them here or PM me.

thanks for your observations.

[disjunction]

Having read this whole thread I agree with this guy the most.

To me it sounds like med-student syndrome, tendency to think you have every disease that you read about /images/graemlins/smile.gif

One can argue that mental illnesses are not things that you have or don't have, but rather a graded continuum. You seem to be waaaay in the "normal" range. I blurt out stuff a lot more than you and I've never seriously worried about it. As for Asperger's (i.e., autism light or "Rain Man" light), my personal conjecture is that it's the result of having two copies of a "smart gene" which gives you the ability to concentrate, but in Asperger's and autism it goes too far. The relatives of people with Asperger's, though, would be really smart under this conjecture.

I only have a bachelor's in psychology, and that was cognitive psych (not abnormal psych), so take this for what it's worth.

I have more to add but I wouldn't want to talk too much /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[MicroBob]

Hi again all -

I posted much of this thread over on my blog and my Mom read it and had some further ideas as well. She's also feeling pretty guilty for not getting me diagnosed earlier...but my ticks weren't THAT bad...it just looked like I was blinking a lot most of the time and several doctors said it was allergies.

Anyway - here is some further background on little old me, some of these things I didn't even know about (like not following where she was pointing) until now:


we just didn't know -- and we loved you so -- and, yes, sometimes you did drive me a little crazy -- but if we had only known to insist that you be tested for various tics, we could have relieved us all. the thing was that you were so smart at such a young age.


bob, there just aren't that many children at age 2 1/2 that have begun reading and then are reading long letters from their teachers at 4. your montessori school teacher said she had been teaching for 20 years and had never had a child who was so mathmatically capable. your were squaring and cubing on your little math-mat when you were 4 or 5 - before you started kindergarten.

you also knew how to skip count all the numbers - like 6 - 12 - 18 - 24, etc


but there were other things that you were very late in doing - like you had no idea how to blow your nose - very very hard for you to learn how to tie your shoes or button your shirt, or ride a bike. you never wanted to engage in imaginative play - your friend kristen helped you do that a bit - but you would get bored when other kids (in springdale) wanted to play w/ trucks - you would come inside so you could get back to your calculator (favorite toy) and number games and you were fascinated w/ numbers from l8 months. i dared not take you by anything that had numbers (like toys or anything) becuase you might have a tantrum if you didn't get it.

also, i remember when you were a small child and i would point to something and you wouldn't follow my finger - you would just continue to look at me - i have read that this is something that ausbergers and autism children do -- so maybe you have some version of several things, including allergies and add.

i remember joking once about things that you didn't automatically know how to do - that if bob wasn't brilliant, i would think he was somewhat retarded. but that was my ignorance -

i am glad you are interested in this now and would love it if you would see some specialists just to know

this would just be so informative for you and give you some peace knowing.
and i really like all the feedback you got on this from your blogger buddies. by the way, i think i read that bill gates has some level of ausperger's. i odn't think it is completely true that a/s people can not form relationships - maybe some can't - but others can - there is such a large spectrum on the line for autism, auspergers's, etc.

i think our minds/brains are fascinating.

[Sifmole]

It absolutely stunned me to see this response posted here!

How exactly do you know about diets and Autism? I know because I am the father of a 5 year Autistic boy; but why do you?

Cured by diet is a bit hyperbole, but with diet and supplementation the whole outlook and life can change for an Autistic. There are some who say "no" but come to my house and spend a week with my son -- then give him a bowl of cereal ( milk and gluten ) and spend the next 2 days with him. The difference is black and white -- they will want to tear their hair out after the cereal.

I won't comment much on whether I think Microbob has Aspberger's, but I will say that the guy who said something to the effect of "medical student syndrome" is probably right.

[Derek in NYC]

Perhaps you should become a writer. However, study Hemingway's prose before you embark on this path. I hope this helps.

[MicroBob]

Regardless of the out-bursts, blurts, etc that are fairly minor:

The only reason I mentioned Ausberger's is because a professional had mentioned it to me. She thought it was more accurate then the times my wife joked 'Autism boy' to me (she wasn't the first).

I didn't really know anything about Ausberger's....but a professional thought it was a very real possibility. Since I had never heard of it I didn't know what to think. But she had the idea...it's not something I put on myself.


Regarding tourettes - I have had others give me the nick-name 'Blinky' before and am constantly asked if I am being irritated by my contacts or something (I don't wear them), why are you twitching your nose so much, can you breathe because you sure are snorting out-loud a lot, do you need a cough-drop, etc etc.


I also had a guy who had tourettes talk to me about it and he was very surprised that I didn't even know if I had it because it looked very obvious to him.

Ausberger's or some sort of low-degree autism or whatever I really have no idea. I admit that on either of these it could be a bit of a stretch.


But tourette's seems like a no-brainer in my case without needing to do any exaggeration to come to that conclusion.