MISS COURAGE

    SELF-ASSURED and approachable, marketing manager Charlotte Goh eased confidently into the
    armchair at the Fullerton Hotel. But, minutes on, the 30-year-old suddenly yelled: "Er! Oo! Oo!
    Oo!"

    She raised her right hand at right angles to her arm, and jerked it repeatedly into the air. Her
    eyelids fluttered. Then she was "normal" againOthers in the hotel looked up in bewilderment.
    But Miss Goh, utterly poised, resumed the conversation.
    This mini epileptic fit can happen eight to 10 times an hour - whether she is walking, talking or
    sleeping.

    Miss Goh - who works in a media company - suffers from a rare neurological condition, called
    Tourette Syndrome, which has plagued her for the last 24 years.

    SHE deserves a badge for courage in managing a successful career alongside a condition that
    has plagued her for so long.

    Miss Charlotte Goh said: "I used to apologise because I felt bad about myself for having this
    dreaded syndrome. I used to feel so diseased. pologising was my way of covering up, because I
    was ashamed."

    The disorder causes repeated, involuntary body tics (involuntary body movements) and
    uncontrollable sounds.

    Symptoms are unique to the individual, but in Miss Goh's case, her "Er! Oo! Oo! Oo!" gets
    progressively louder when the tics start. Her hands can jerk so forcefully that she once
    whacked a total stranger in the face.

    More than once, the noises have driven her boyfriends away. But she no longer feels ashamed
    or inferior.
    When she apologises, it's to help other people overcome the shock.

    "My skin has become thicker over the years. I explain that I have a nerve condition, apologise,
    and then move on."

    But strange looks and awkward silences used to cause crippling self-doubt.
    There is no cure for Tourette Syndrome, nor any foolproof way to stop the tics.

    Miss Goh said: "Imagine shaking a can of cola. The pressure that builds up inside me before the
    tics come is exactly like that. I have to release it or it's very uncomfortable."

    In enclosed areas like lifts, she may try her best to control it or disguise it as a series of
    coughs.

    At home, though, she releases the tics without restraint, sometimes shouting at the top of her
    voice repeatedly for about 15 seconds a few times a day.

    When she first moved into her new Housing Board flat, she went right up to her neighbours
    and warned them that she had this nerve condition, and told them that they would sometimes
    hear shouting coming from her flat.

    "And I told them not to be alarmed," she said.

    Miss Goh started displaying symptoms of Tourette Syndrome when she was six, but it was
    diagnosed as such only two years later.

    She had been involuntarily hitting herself just below her stomach, and her parents were
    worried.
    Miss Goh said: "They didn't know what to do. They were sad for a while, but they accepted it
    and made special efforts to be there for me." – From The New Paper, Singapore.
Tourette Syndrome Awareness
Malaysia
Living With TS