This afternoon I met up with some friends of Keir’s – Ash and his girlfriend Becca. Ash has Tourettes and before today he’d not met anyone else with the condition.

We had a great afternoon hanging out on the South Bank, talking about loads of things, including Tourettes. For both of us our tics had got worse as we got older.

When Ash was diagnosed with Tourettes, the doctors used a blood test to check for a link with streptococcal bacteria, which cause sore throats. Some doctors believe that this type of infection can trigger Tourettes. Ash had been offered experimental and invasive treatments that involve blood transfusions, but like me when I was offered deep brain stimulation, he felt the risks were too high.

Ash ticced about another infection quite a lot too: “AIDS”. And I started ticcing it too.