Melanie Sykes has opened out about her Tourette’s disease diagnosis and how it has affected her life.
The TV and radio presenter, 52, revealed her diagnosis of the nervous system condition during a chat with her close friend Alan Carr on his Life’s A Beach podcast.
According to the NHS, Tourette’s syndrome is a disorder that causes a person to create uncontrollable noises and movements known as tics.
During the interview, she described her relationship with Alan, 47, saying: ‘It’s been over a decade, for f*** sake! Can you swear on this?’
Melanie revealed her Tourette’s diagnosis after assuring her that it was appropriate to curse on the television.
‘Oh good, but I’ll try not to, because I’ve just discovered I have Tourette’s.’
‘I describe in the book how I laugh at really inappropriate things. I am wired a completely different way and I’m only just understanding it.
‘Where I used to think “What’s wrong with me?” Now I know it’s everything that’s right with me.’
The announcement comes after the mother-of-two made public her autism diagnosis, which she characterised as “life-changing.”
Melanie spoke on the programme to promote her new book, Illuminated: Autism and all the Things I’ve Left Unsaid, which she told The Mirror will chronicle her “big breakdown” after being diagnosed with autism.
What is Tourette’s syndrome and what are the symptoms?
The NHS says Tourette’s syndrome is a condition that causes a person to make involuntary sounds and movements called tics.
Tics and other symptoms usually begin during childhood, but usually improve after several years and sometimes go away completely.
Tics are the main symptom of Tourette’s syndrome. They usually appear in childhood between the ages of two and 14.
Many associate Tourette’s syndrome with swearing, though this vocal tic only appears in one in 10 people.
There is currently no cure for Tourette’s syndrome, but treatment can help manage symptoms.
People with Tourette’s syndrome usually have a combination of physical and vocal tics.
Examples of physical tics include:
- Blinking
- Eye rolling
- Grimacing
- Shoulder shrugging
- Jerking of the head or limbs
- Jumping
- Twirling
- Touching objects and other people
Examples of vocal tics include:
- Grunting
- Throat clearing
- Whistling
- Coughing
- Tongue clicking
- Animal sounds
- Saying random words and phrases
- Repeating a sound, word, or phrase
- Swearing
Her Tourette’s diagnosis comes on the heels of Scottish musician Lewis Capaldi talking up about his experience with the illness.
The Lost On You singer, 26, revealed to fans six months after his March diagnosis that he has the ailment, admitting that the desire to come up was triggered after he began ‘twitching a tiny bit on stage’ in August.
‘I was like, “Yeah, I’ve got Tourette’s. Don’t worry about it”,’ he said. ‘And then it became this thing. If something’s going on with me, I’ll share it with the room. (It) makes me feel better to share,’ he said on his Instagram account.
He continued: ‘The movements are more exaggerated now. So, I do my neck cracks a lot; I, kind of, lift my left shoulder up, my face moves a bit and I do these deep breaths.
‘I can see… micro versions of them in interviews that I’ve done in the past. I think I’ve always done this stuff.’ He added that his diagnosis ‘was a shock but it was also like, “Oh, that explains so much of my life.”’