Cheltenham teen part of TikTok series to highlight Tourette's

A Tourette's charity has launched a social media campaign to increase awareness of the condition and remind people they are "not alone".

Seren Jaye, 19, from Cheltenham, experiences physical and vocal tics.

Tourette's Action invited Ms Jaye to create a TikTok series to show what life is like with the condition.

Ms Jaye said: "Most people think Tourette's is just swearing, but people don't realise the condition can go unnoticed for years."

Although she was not diagnosed until the age of 17, Ms Jaye said her tics first manifested in early childhood when she began curling her toes at the age of five.

When she was eight, she developed an "abnormal" habit of tensing all the muscles in her right leg, which prompted her family to seek medical advice.

Her most common physical tics involve scrunching up her nose and moving her neck, but she said she has a tic in "every muscle group you can think of".

She also experiences vocal tics as well as coprolalia, which causes involuntary outbursts.

To mark Tourette's Awareness Month, Tourette's Action has started a campaign on its TikTok page to raise awareness of the condition.

The "It's What Makes Me Tic" campaign, which runs until 2 July, features short videos from five people living with Tourette's.

Ms Jaye, who is currently a student, experiences physical and vocal tics and said the series is designed to "get rid of some misconceptions and help people like myself to know that they're not alone".

Tourette's syndrome is a condition that causes a person to make involuntary sounds and movements called tics.

It usually starts during childhood, but the tics and other symptoms usually improve after several years and sometimes go away completely.

There is no cure but treatment can help manage symptoms.

Source: NHS

Ms Jaye added: "I was misdiagnosed with motor tic disorder and doctors told me I'd grow out of it, but my tics became a lot more vocal towards the end of secondary school and were really noticeable.

"The diagnosis process was absolutely awful."

She said her tics become more severe when she feels "big emotions" and her condition has had a big impact on her social life.

"You have to have the right group of supportive friends if you have Tourette's - it's the worst feeling when I can tell someone is embarrassed to be around me out in public.

"People often don't understand I don't mean any of my vocal tics - I'm not revealing any secret thoughts, it's just brain signals misfiring."

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