A WOMAN has believed that she suffers with a rare condition that’s so bad, cruel trolls have told her she needs to call an “exorcist.”
Rachel, 20, revealed that her condition is so bad, she barely leaves the house and struggles to even order food at a restaurant.
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The content creator suffers with Tourette’s, a neurological disorder that causes involuntary sounds or movements, known as tics.
Her body often twitches in an uncontrollable manner, and she makes lots of “random” noises such as whistling.
However, the worst part about Rachel’s condition is that she has something called coprolalia, which is a form of Tourette’s that causes sufferers to shout obscene and inappropriate phrases.
Only between 10 and 30% of Tourettes sufferers have coprolalia and it can cause those who have it to become extremely embarrassed and stressed.
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“It does become frustrating that I can’t stop my tics or control them”, she told Love Don’t Judge.
Rachel had minor tics throughout her childhood, but they were so small that they were hardly noticeable.
However, when she was 15 her condition suddenly worsened very rapidly.
“It was very scary”, Rachel’s dad said.
“The person we knew was literally gone.”
After receiving an official diagnosis from her doctor, Rachel said the whole world crashed around her.
“I absolutely refused to go anywhere”, she said.
She stopped attending school so had to be homeschooled and hardly ever met up with friends.
“It was incredibly isolating for a very long time”, she said.
“I remember feeling like my entire life was over.”
The reality of living with Tourette’s syndrome
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 often improve after several years, and sometimes go away completely.
There’s no cure for Tourette’s, but treatment can help manage symptoms.
The most common physical tics include:
- Blinking
- Eye rolling
- Grimacing
- Shoulder shrugging
- Jerking of the head or limbs
- Jumping
- Twirling
- Touching objects and other people
Examples of vocal tics include:
- Grunting
- Throat clearing
- Whistling
- Coughing
- Tongue clicking
- Animal sounds
- Saying random words and phrases
- Repeating a sound, word or phrase
- Swearing
Swearing is rare and only affects about 1 in 10 people with Tourette’s.
Some people can control their tics for a short time in certain social situations, like in a classroom.
But this can be tiring, and someone may have a sudden release of tics when they return home.
Aidy Smith, who was diagnosed with Tourette’s aged nine, said these are the most common misconceptions about the condition:
- It is a ‘swearing disease’ characterised by repeated bad language
- People with Tourette’s can’t succeed in the workplace
- It’s impossible to control your tics
- ‘Tourette’s’ is a ‘dirty’ word
- It’s OK to make jokes about the condition because it isn’t serious
Source: NHS and Aidy Smith
Thankfully, Rachel’s saviour came when she posted a video to TikTok, showing her ticking, and it quickly blew up.
The post was flooded with people asking comments about her condition, or revealing that they experienced the same thing.
“They were happy to see it in the media”, she said.
“I thought, oh my gosh, I can do something positive.”
Rachel is now a content creator, and makes videos to raise awareness about Tourette’s.
However, she receives a lot of hate comments, from people who don’t believe it’s real.
“When people say I’m faking my Tourette’s Syndrome, I feel invalidated”, she said.
“It’s a core part of who I am.”
Rachel added that she has also had trolls claiming she needs “an exorcist”, and has been “taken over by a parasite.”
Despite finding these comments hurtful, Rachel sees them as all the more reason to raise awareness about her condition.
She said: “All I have to say to those who have judged me because of my condition is I hope that they learn to not judge others so quickly when they see something or someone that they don’t quite understand.
“I believe that we should all embrace our differences. And I think that we should all be committed to being so beautifully and uniquely and truly ourselves.”