'TOURETTE'S MAKES ME PUNCH MYSELF UNTIL I BRUISE'

STUDENT Megan Hastings sometimes punches herself so hard it hurts and leaves bruises.

- ABBIE WIGHTWICK Education editor

The 20 year-old, from Cowbridge, cannot help the actions and is only free of unwanted tics when she sings.

As a student at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD), Megan finds respite in music after years of living with an undiagnosed condition she had never heard of.

When Megan first began experiencing tics, including unwanted movements, aged nine, she was told it was "anxiety."

By the age of 16 the tics had escalated but she didn’t know what they were or why she got them.

Medics told her "it’s your period" or that she was “overthinking” and “anxious”.

These unhelpful explanations made her feel even worse.

Around the same time the Covid pandemic hit, schools shut, and Megan was locked down at home with her family.

When she began swearing without meaning or wanting to, she was as upset as her parents.

Finally, she was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, also known as Tourette's.

It was a condition she had never heard of, let alone the misconception that it’s all about swearing.

“I had movement tics which were put down as anxiety or autism when I was younger but then I started to have them quite a bit more when I was 16 or 17,” Megan said.

“The tics were small movements of my neck and hands, like fidgeting, but I could not control it. If I was out I tried my best to suppress them.

“I did not really think about it until Covid hit and because I was at home a lot I got more tics but didn’t know why. I was swearing sometimes without meaning to and the tics got worse.

“By the time I was 16 the tics had got worse. Perhaps because of stress at school.

“I started punching myself when I was 16 and was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome when I was 17.

“It was difficult because I had never heard of Tourette's so I searched it on Google. I knew nothing.