I have Tourette syndrome. The kind where my head jerks sideways. Where my throat makes sounds I cannot control. Where I feel this building pressure ??this electric itch ??until I let the tic out.
The doctor gave me antipsychotics. They stopped the tics. They also stopped me.
I could not hold a thought. Writing code ??my job, my passion ??became impossible. Conversations felt like moving through syrup. My girlfriend said I seemed hollow. I quit the pills. The tics came back. But at least I could think again.
I started reading. Neuroscience papers. EEG processing. Transcranial stimulation. I learned that my brain already knows how to stop a tic ??there is a circuit in the front of the brain that says "not now." It is not broken. It just needs a tiny boost at exactly the right moment.
The idea was simple. Do not flood the brain with drugs. Do not stimulate 24/7. Just listen for the urge signal, give the "stop" circuit a split-second nudge, then get out of the way.
I built the first version on my laptop. Synthetic brainwaves. A Python simulation. It worked. The logic held. So I kept building.
InhibiTic is not a pharmaceutical company. It is one person with Tourette syndrome who refused to accept that treatment means losing yourself. I am building this for me. And for everyone who has been told the only option is to trade their mind for calm.
Yu-Chi Chen — Founder