A woman was diagnosed with an incurable condition after "scrunching" her face at a teacher.
Emily Bridges, from Skelmersdale, was 18 when she felt an "overwhelming lack of control" as her head "suddenly started jolting to the side" on the bus to college. Her face was later "uncontrollably grimacing", with her eyes, nose and mouth "scrunching repeatedly" while talking to a teacher. She wondered what was wrong with her and tried to ignore the problem.
But what she first dismissed as a "nervous tick" became undeniable when she started making "a hiccup-like sound" followed by involuntary shouting, word and swearing tics in the following months. Feeling "shame and frustration", Emily said: "You'd think that if you suddenly started making noises and movements totally out of your control, you'd immediately believe there was something medically wrong. But I couldn't fathom that I could have a neurological problem. My mind wouldn't let me accept that possibility."
