Lewis Capaldi has shared his diagnosis of Tourette's syndrome (TS) with fans, with the Scots musician opening up about his treatment.
Tourette's involves involuntary sounds and movements called tics. The 25-year-old singer shared on Instagram that he was relieved to find out he had the condition after initially fearing he had a degenerative disease.
Lewis said he'd shared his diagnosis so people didn't think he had been "taking cocaine or something" and described a Tourette's tic fans have picked up on.
The 25-year-old singer-songwriter said: "I do this shoulder twitch quite a lot. You see it underneath TikToks and stuff, people like, 'why's he twitching?'
"Curiosity is fine, I get it, but some people are like, 'he's definitely taken cocaine'. Do you think, before I play to 20,000 people as an anxious person, I'm going to take a big line of cocaine? Never going to happen."
The Scots singer said he's still finding out more about the condition, adding: "It's a new thing. I haven't really learnt much about it. I'm learning."
What is Tourette's?
The main symptom of Tourette's syndrome are tics. The involuntary sounds and movements usually appear during childhood at the age of six on average or between the ages of two and 14.
People with Tourette's have a combination of physical and vocal tics. The CDC says swearing is the most common misbelief about Tourette's. Although it's often seen in films and TV, it only affects one in 10 people with the syndrome.
Conditions associated with TS are Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and anxiety.
According to the NHS, 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
Can tics be controlled?
Tics are best compared to blinking, says Tourettes Action, as many people can suppress their tics for a short time. Like blinking, the urge eventually becomes too strong to control.
The charity writes: "It can take a great measure of concentration – especially to begin with – to resist the urge to tic, but with practice a certain level of control can be applied. Some people will be able to suppress their tics more easily than others."
Tics fluctuate by severity and frequency and can be influenced by stress, excitement and relaxation.
In the Instagram video, Lewis talked about his shoulder tic and treatment. He said: "I got Botox in my shoulder to stop it moving - it works for a bit but it gets worse. The worst thing is when I'm excited, I get it. When I'm stressed, I get it. When I'm happy, I get it.
"Some days it's more painful than others, sometimes it's quite uncomfortable but it's not that big a deal. It looks a lot worse than it looks. I guess that's it."
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