I’ve had a difficult time today. I’ve had a series of extreme, explosive, ticcing episodes which have meant my body has been completely overtaken by continuous motor tics. Typically they’ve lasted about half an hour and they’ve left me totally exhausted.

I’ve had episodes like this before every now and again, but never as many times in one day. They started out of the blue this morning, with no obvious triggers. I’m very lucky that Leftwing Idiot has been with me all day and has kept me safe.

A new element is that I’m also finding it hard to speak. This has happened on other occasions recently, and not just during these very extreme ticcing periods. I know exactly what I want to say but it feels like my tics block the words from forming and all that comes out is a strange pterodactyl-like screech or jumble of noises.

Understandably I’m finding all this all quite alarming but I also know that I’m well supported and that I’ve coped before with frightening shifts in my tics. I’m hoping this was a one-off or very untypical occurrence, but if not I know that together with my friends and family we’ll find a way of managing it.