About six months ago I wrote about the return of a biting tic that I’ve had on and off since I was a kid. It didn’t stay for long last time, but it’s re-emerged in the last week or two and I’m biting my hand and arm frequently. This is obviously painful for me but it’s also distressing for other people.

I discussed it at my Habit Reversal Therapy (HRT) appointment this afternoon. The aim of HRT is to help turn tics with a very negative impact into less damaging ones. So far, we haven’t managed much straightforward habit reversal because my tics are so frequent. But the therapist thought this new biting tic was a perfect place to start because while it doesn’t happen all the time it does have a serious impact.

Now each time I bite myself I have to make myself do the opposite movement with both my hand and my mouth. So I have to put my hand behind my back and do a gentle kiss with my lips. After only a few hours of doing this, I’ve become much more aware of the tic and I’ve even managed to catch it sometimes before I’ve sunk my teeth in.

Hopefully this will work and stop the biting, which isn’t limited just to biting myself. Leftwing Idiot’s phone isn’t working properly today. It’s quite possible this is linked to the close encounter it had with my teeth yesterday.