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<\/p>\nEd Palmer, 34, from Birmingham was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome at the age of 14<\/p>\n
Ed Palmer, 34, from south Birmingham who was diagnosed with Tourette’s when he was 14 years old(Image: Ed Palmer)<\/p>\n
A Birmingham man has opened up over his ‘painful’ symptoms of Tourette’s – detailing the lengths he sometimes has to go to ‘restrict his movements.’<\/p>\n
Ed Palmer, 34, from south Birmingham<\/a>, was formally diagnosed with Tourette’s when he was 14 years old, but first started experiencing signs of the condition at the age of four.<\/p>\n Tourette’s syndrome is a condition which can cause you to make sudden, repetitive sounds of movements. There is currently no cure, but treatment can help to manage the tics, according to the NHS<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ed, who is a trainee academic psychiatrist, experiences involuntary movements “almost constantly” throughout the day – explaining how some of his most common tics involve neck movement or “face grimacing.”<\/p>\n READ MORE: Prince William issues touching message at launch of ‘amazing’ charity in Birmingham<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n He told BirminghamLive: “At my baseline level, I think I’m probably moving hundreds of times a day, but I don’t really notice it because I’ve got used to it.<\/p>\n “I’ve learnt to live alongside it.”<\/p>\n Ed described how ‘for the most part’ he is able to live a “full life” alongside his tics – but shared how he often experiences “a lot of pain.”<\/p>\n He shared there times where his Tourette’s syndrome becomes worse, which can be due to instances such as having a ‘stressful time in work’ or if “there is something that’s going on in life in general.”<\/p>\n “The main fallout for my tics if they get worse or increase is that I get a lot of pain attached to it. I move my neck [and] shoulders in an unusual way, like I said probably hundreds of times a day,” he said.<\/p>\n “That, unsurprisingly, causes muscular problems, skeletal problems, so I do get a lot of pain.”<\/p>\n He added: “If you’re doing moments in an abnormal way [and] they’re not part of your normal movement routine repeatedly, then you can get quite severe pain.<\/p>\n “That can be a real problem for people.”<\/p>\n Ed described a distressing moment as a teenager where his Tourette’s became so severe his tics caused the skin between his fingers to rip.<\/p>\n He said: “There were times when I was younger, particularly associated with periods of stress and exam times where they did get a lot worse.<\/p>\n “My GCSEs were probably one of my first, big stressors as a teenager. I remember ticking my fingers so much that I had kind of ripped the skin in between my fingers.<\/p>\n “I was ticking my eyes so much that I was getting really dreadful headaches.”<\/p>\n He went on to say he sometimes even attempts to ‘restrict his movements’ if his tics are giving him pain.<\/p>\n “With my fingertips, for example, if they’re really bad and it’s hurting, then I’ll sometimes try and restrict my movement a bit so that might be taping my fingers together so that I physically can’t move them.<\/p>\n “If I’ve got a lot of muscle pain, then I’ll go to an osteopath and have that treated. Hot baths and things like that to kind of relax the muscles are really helpful.”<\/p>\n