Seventeen years after professional baseball player Jim Eisenreich first developed symptoms of Tourette syndrome (TS), the correct diagnosis was finally made.At age 6, his rapid eye blinking led to a diagnosis of hyperactivity. “I was told I would grow out of it,” says the 39-year-old Eisenreich, who may have played his last game as a Los Angeles Dodger. “I knew I was different even then.”In the early 1980s, Eisenreich's condition first became public. Since then, his achievements as a professional athlete have made him a role model for other TS patients.Sports were always a haven for him as he grew up. “I found peace, comfort, and security in sports. Whatever the season, I played the sport—football, baseball, hockey,” says Eisenreich. “Socially, I didn't go to the movies or go out much with girls.”After 2 years in the minor leagues, he was called up by the Minnesota Twins in 1982 as an outfielder. During the season, a TS specialist recognized his grunting and sniffling as signs of the disease. “I had no idea what the specialist was talking about, and the Twins doctors dismissed it because I didn't have copralalia,” he says. The Twins team physician (an internist) prescribed a sedative. Then Eisenreich tried Inderal, which caused hyperventilation, and Catapres, which caused depression.
Immunizations in Athletes
