Turner's syndrome is the name given to the suite of symptoms present when a
child is born with only one sex chromosome. "Normal" humans have 46
chromosomes, of which 44 are matched pairs of "autosomes" and 2 are sex
chromosomes. Sex chromosomes come in X and Y forms. If you have two X
chromosomes, you are a normal female. If you have an X and a Y, you are a
normal male. If you have an X and nothing else, you are a female, by
default (no Y = female), but you only have one X instead of two, and you are
said to have "Turner's Syndrome." Fetuses with a Y and nothing else don't
survive to be born, so there is no male equivalent of Turner's syndrome, and
you can't have Turner's syndrome if you are a male.
Tourette's Syndrome is the name given to a variety of symptoms such as eye
or facial tics, involuntary head or shoulder movements, uncontrollable weird
noises, including the shouting out of obscentities in inappropriate
places/times. Tourette's can range from mild to severe, and the level of
symptoms can come and go. I've never heard of tongue-touching or failure to
swallow saliva as part of Tourette's, but in many ways these types of
actions are in the same general category as Tourette's.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is the name given to behaviors that a person
does repeatedly and seemingly without being able to control them. Again,
these can include actions and sounds/noises. Like Tourette's, the range of
symptoms can be from mild and sporadic to severe and all-encompassing.
My child with Down Syndrome has some behaviors similar to Tourette's (weird
sounds, flapping a stick all the time in his hands), and some which are
clearly obsessive-compulsive (doors MUST be closed a certain way, certain
things must be done in a certain order every time). They tend to come and
go. My sister is obsessive-compulsive about the towels in her linen closet
and the cups and mugs in the kitchen cupboards, but nothing else.
Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition
Texas A&M University
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