Transcript: TikTok Tic

0:00 0:47 but for mom melissa witnessing

it's not only strange it's very [Music] the
worrying 0:51 1:46
0:03 in 2020 right in the most difficult profound change in her happy
the isolation and anxiety we 0:54 bubbly
endured months of covert the 14 year old 1:48
0:05 began daughter has been heartbreaking
because of covid is having a 0:56 1:51
lasting to experience extreme ticks hi this
0:07 how are 1:52
and unwanted effect on an 0:59 bright spunky you know
increasing you 1:55
0:09 1:00 fiercely independent young girl
number of teenage girls do you have an appointment 1:58
0:11 today just trapped within her own head
it appears to have given them a 1:03 within
kind of i'll get you to come over this way 2:00
0:13 for her own body it's really hard to
Tourette’s syndrome they're 1:05 watch
ticking me involuntary movements and 2:02
0:15 noises that her
uncontrollably 1:07 2:04
0:16 would soon hijack her every you were anticipating that one i
doctors don't understand why but waking was
there's 1:09 2:06
0:19 moment you saw it coming
no doubt it's a very real mental 1:11 2:09
health it was yeah what made you want to do
0:22 1:13 that to
condition offensive 2:10
0:23 1:14 mum just then
and even more bizarrely it seems verbal words and gestures 2:13
popular 1:18 her stupid voice okay no
0:25 [Music] 2:16
ticktok videos are playing a role in 1:21 you don't mean that though do
0:27 and it just got more and more you
it 1:24 2:19
0:27 explosive [Music]
for the young girls who are 1:25 2:26
suffering and all the time it was like from diagnosed with both Tourette’s
0:29 the and a
there's no filter 1:27 2:28
0:30 moment she got out of bed you functional neurological disorder
which is a way of warning you the knew when 2:30
0:32 1:29 Metallica sometimes has no
language in this story is at times she was awake because the whole control over
0:34 house 2:33
offensive 1:30 what she does and says
0:36 was 2:36
[Music] 1:31 so how do your ticks come out is it
0:38 loud from the moment she got up 2:39
it hasn't been easy to be a 1:33 yelling is it hitting is it kicking how
teenager to the moment she finally had her 2:41
0:40 her do your ticks come out
these past couple of years 1:36 2:43
0:43 tics calmed down oh yelling screaming kicking hitting
but for Metallica Torzillo life has 1:39 2:46
been there are good days and bad ones pinching biting spitting
0:46 1:44 2:49
especially hard you name it
2:51 3:46 a mysterious explosion of severe
yep be a recipe for chaos 5:00
2:52 3:54 physical and vocal tics affecting
has it been a tough past couple of god damn it mainly
years 3:55 5:03
2:53 is it hard to sometimes tell teenage girls
for you 3:57 5:04
2:54 when Metallica is being herself or incredibly in some cases
a little bit when appearing
2:56 4:00 5:07
yes the ticks have sort of taken over overnight completely out of
2:56 4:02 nowhere
i would say yes what's been tough sometimes it's really hard 5:10
2:59 4:05 and sharing remarkable
lockdowns and not seeing my there's similarities that
friends as 4:07 5:12
3:02 i missed that what was that have confounded the medical
much 4:08 world
3:03 [Laughter] 5:18
do you feel trapped by your ticks 4:13 [Music]
3:08 obviously it was funny 5:20
not really just a bit held back 4:14 how do you feel when you look
3:11 and she said there's a massive back at
well [ __ ] in 5:22
3:12 4:16 some of the videos that captured
time to die it was in the midst of front of them you
the 4:20 5:24
3:15 sorry during the height of your ticking
stresses of lockdown that 4:22 5:28
Metallica's you talk about the microphone it it feels really strange looking
3:17 right back
seventeen-year-old sister Charlie 4:26 5:30
also um forgot where we were now at it because um
3:20 well this is 5:32
developed her own less severe 4:29 i was so different like oh gosh i
tics do the thing i mean it's is it quite can't
3:23 4:31 5:35
you set each other off when unpredictable living with someone believe that that was me my gosh
you're like 5:41
3:24 4:32 it's remarkable just how far
together does it get wet Metallica it's very unpredictable Michaela
3:26 and 5:43
if it's bad for her it's likely to set 4:34 Colby has come
3:28 some things come so left of field 5:45
me off okay and i'm gonna most and these days the bright and cheerful
of the 4:37 16
3:31 you can't help but laugh 5:48
time 4:41 year old is pretty much tick-free
3:32 but um 5:51
i'll walk away 4:42 but two years ago she was in the
3:34 at least we had some fun 5:53
so it's like not gonna set me off moments in constant unrelenting grip of
and 4:44 extreme
3:37 there 5:56
then make it worse for her and 4:48 tick attacks
what sets Metallica is at the extreme end of 5:58
3:39 a pissed
you off do you think Metallica 4:51 6:00
3:42 global mental health crisis that stop making out with my dog
everything emerged 6:03
3:44 4:53 Michaela’s ticks appeared
which means life at home can during the pandemic suddenly and
sometimes 4:57 6:05
without warning 6:59 she was doing handstands and
6:09 situation yeah rolling
much to the shock of mum nicole 7:01 8:01
and the michaela was rushed to hospital around on the ground and you
6:11 where know the
rest of her family i was serving up 7:04 8:03
6:13 doctors were baffled school would ring and going oh we
dinner i wasn't in the room but i 7:07 got a
heard it would emerge she was suffering 8:04
6:16 from a tick this week which is doing the
some weird 7:09 splits
6:17 new kind of tick disorder that 8:07
bang noise kind of would just kicking things and
6:19 7:12 8:09
something's going on a bit of a yell soon be seen more and more throwing things everywhere and a
so 7:17 few
6:22 i'd never heard of this ever before 8:11
i went in there and she's laying on um holes in the walls
the 7:20 8:13
6:23 and everyone that i'd seen and yeah
floor and i thought she was having spoken to 8:14
a 7:23 yeah i tried to
6:25 was 8:16
massive anxiety attack next 7:24 bite my finger off at one point as
minute the in shock like doctors and like at well
6:27 the 8:19
arm flies or the leg starts to do 7:27 so it's quite distressing for
6:29 hospital it was just everyone
something and she's like i didn't 7:28 8:20
mean this unknown thing that was around me at that point in time as
6:31 happening well
to do that so it was very scary 7:30 8:23
yeah it and they were all kind of scared and i was constantly on edge
6:33 which 8:25
was 7:31 but yeah just lots of really
6:34 made me like a bit scared as well dramatic
it was horrible how 8:27
6:36 7:34 physical things
mexican long did it last it didn't stop no it 8:31
6:37 7:37 michaela as it turned out was far
this home video captures that first just kept going yeah it just got from
6:40 worse 8:34
terrifying evening 7:41 alone
6:41 for nine gruelling months 8:34
as mickey and her family struggled michaela was [Music]
to 7:43 8:36
6:44 trapped by her own as medical experts struggled to
comprehend the involuntary uncontrollable explain
movements 7:46 8:38
6:46 impulses a mysterious explosion of identical
that had started to take over her 7:49 8:40
body an extraordinary array of ticks cases worldwide
6:48 that 8:42
it was kind of like i'd kind of lost 7:51 certainly the first couple of
6:51 could reveal themselves in the patients i
that sense of like control most 8:45
6:53 7:53 thought oh
and surprising of ways 8:46
6:54 7:55 what is this but then when you
like just in that kind of moment i mean she wasn't just verbally saw a
and it ticking 8:48
6:56 7:58 couple more patients
was just a really strange 8:50
and i started speaking to a few 9:43 turned up some surprising
people usually tourette's syndrome answers is
8:51 comes on 10:41
around the world who were also 9:45 social media behind an epidemic
seeing gradually at an early age affecting of
8:53 four 10:44
something similar 9:48 teenage ticks i think it lit the flame
8:54 times as many boys as girls 10:47
then the penny dropped and we 9:51 perhaps
thought oh but these new patients with 10:49
8:56 sudden onset why do i need to do it just declare
we're seeing something different 9:54 the
8:58 ticks were teenagers and 10:51
so there was suddenly a wave of predominantly thing at the bottom
teenage 9:57 10:56
9:00 girls by a factor of twenty to one he's like oh my god give it back
girls developing ticks out of some before
nowhere 10:00 10:58
9:04 of the texts were similar she breaks it
absolutely it was 10:02 11:02
9:06 but some of them were definitely put myself in the eye all right
all over the world you know all of 10:03 11:05
the different um such as i can't do that
9:08 10:06 11:06
continents were seeing something quite violent movements of i don't i don't know what dance to
similar 10:08 do
9:11 um the arms sometimes hitting 11:09
professor Russell Dale is a themselves Nicole Lynn is a typical fun-loving
paediatric 10:10 11:11
9:14 in the chest 15-year-old from Hertfordshire
neurologist at Westmead 10:12 England
children's um and also the vocalizations so 11:16
9:16 the it was in march 2020 just days
hospital 10:14 before
9:17 repetitive noises were different 11:18
an expert in the workings of the rather her 13th birthday that her tics
young 10:17 suddenly
9:19 than just simple noises there were 11:22
brain he's been diagnosing much appeared
children with 10:19 11:23
9:21 more complicated words and she just couldn't stop herself it
Tourette’s for the past 23 years phrases was
9:24 10:22 11:25
it was early in 2020 when this new which were quite bizarre and i just bizarre and
wave hadn't 11:26
9:27 10:24 yeah it was just it was really scary
of patients began really heard as
9:29 10:25 11:29
and the first patient you saw was ticks like that before so you had to what was actually happening
9:31 quite 11:31
Michaela two years ago that's 10:27 Nicole what was going through
where this the confounding medical mystery your mind
9:33 on your 11:32
all started yeah she was the first 10:29 when you started ticking
9:34 hands 11:34
patient i i saw at the time i 10:31 um i was really confused
9:38 it's very unusual and that's why it 11:38
didn't know is this was um i got a bit
9:39 10:33 11:40
this turret and it became clear no so noticeable i keep stuttering because it keeps
it 10:36 11:41
9:41 as you'll see it's a mystery that's making me stop um sorry that i
wasn't 10:38 think i
11:45 that tick's never gone even now probably four or five times now
was two and um
11:46 12:44 13:41
kind of confused about the whole a half years later randomly she'll because of the tick attacks so after
thing come now
11:48 12:46 13:44
do you worry when it's happening out with i've been kidnapped i'm more than two years
11:50 12:48 13:46
um i think i more panic about how Madeline McCann like we could with these ticks have you been
long be sat at able to
11:53 12:50 13:48
it's gonna last traffic lights and i can scream and sort of manage them
11:55 12:52 13:50
um because sometimes it lasts for she'll be smashing on the window um
a few next to 13:52
11:58 12:53 kind of i think i know my limit i
minutes sometimes it lasts for somebody who's parked next to think
12:00 us at a 13:56
hours on end 12:55 i know when i'm getting too much
12:03 traffic light going help my mum and i
what began as a series of neck i've 13:57
and 12:57 kind of need to walk out and kind
12:06 been pig kidnapped and i'm like of
facial twitches soon escalated to big man 13:59
an 12:59 sort my like myself up by my like
12:08 i'm like oh my god if she hasn't alone
extraordinary array of physical 13:02 14:02
and oh [ __ ] [ __ ] and mother i'm still trying to figure out what
12:11 13:06 14:04
vocal tics for all of the jaw-dropping and works and what doesn't so we're
12:14 funny still
and plenty of colorful language 13:09 14:06
12:19 moments nicole's ticks can bring figuring it out i think
meaning mum jody had to 13:12 14:09
develop the sometimes they can be utterly part of the sharp spike in ticks
12:21 13:14 seen in
thickest of skins debilitating 14:12
12:23 13:15 teenage girls around the world it's
certainly again i will chop your severe tic attacks that can last for no
12:25 13:18 14:14
products off hours on end and those tick coincidence that Nicole’s
12:26 attacks Tourette’s
brilliant 13:22 14:16
12:28 are horrific they're really bad she's also began during the anxiety of
so they're the ones that are going 13:24 covert
to like clawing her eyes out or 14:19
12:29 smashing i was very lonely i think everyone
cause you trouble when you're 13:26 was i
out and herself in the face or smashing her 14:22
12:30 head think
about oh yeah of course one of 13:28 14:23
the worst on the wall or the floor and i'm it was
12:33 13:30 14:24
ticks that she picked up physically having to restrain my a period of time that like
12:35 child 14:26
it was probably about three weeks 13:33 i kind of didn't know what to do
in and from injuring herself which she with
12:37 can't 14:28
she kept ticking to me in a vocal 13:35 myself like there was nothing to
tic help i mean nicole's been do
12:40 hospitalized 14:31
i'm madeline mccann 13:38 you can't see your friends you
12:41 can't see
14:32 15:32 in speaking with your peers
your family obviously it wasn't a their spare time as influencers globally
very 15:34 16:29
14:34 spreading awareness and having what were the kinds of behaviours
nice period to be in plenty of that
14:38 15:36 16:31
the severe stress of social fun along the way you were seeing that were quite
isolation is 15:38 similar
14:41 between them they've amassed 16:33
what paediatric neurologist more than between all your patients
professor 15:40 16:35
14:43 three million followers on their yeah the it was the vocal tics the
Russell Dale and his colleagues 15:42 16:37
have tick-tock channels noises
14:45 15:44 16:38
identified as the key factor driving does making videos for tick-tock that were so noticeable and
14:48 help 16:40
this new wave of ticks 15:46 characteristic and i say it so often i
14:51 you Nicole does it help at all with 16:42
often the young people had a your don't realize i'm doing it anymore
14:53 15:48 beans
history of some problems such as condition 16:47
anxiety 15:50 beef
14:55 no 16:50
depression but then the stress of 15:51 [Music]
the that was a tech 16:54
14:57 15:56 one unusual phrase is sometimes
pandemic plus other stress factors or was that the truth quite
in 15:58 16:55
15:00 you never know long sentences
life accumulated 16:01 16:57
15:01 i think i just like bean bean sprout a bean sprout e
and if you're chronically stressed 16:03 17:01
15:04 i think beans
the body starts to to fail and 16:04 17:09
struggles yes it makes me feel more secure and these same sentences and
15:07 that phrases you
to cope and that's what we think 16:06 17:11
is like people are gonna learn about were seeing repeated
15:08 it 17:12
going on 16:08 by girls across the world across
15:10 in the past few years turret and the
so is this then a lifelong impact of ticking 17:14
of 16:11 world both in Australia and in
15:12 videos have gained a massive America
covert of the pandemic following 17:16
15:14 16:13 using similar phrases and it was
i really hope not online that
15:16 16:14 17:19
but i suppose we don't know yet i on tiktok alone they account for made us think that social media
think more was a
15:18 16:17 17:21
we're still in than 6 billion views link
15:20 16:19 17:22
the after effects of the pandemic incredibly researchers now in in what was going on and i think
things believe they it
15:22 16:22 17:24
are still not normal too might be playing a role in the became almost like
15:24 16:24 17:26
ciao migos explosion of ticks seen around the a contagion or they started
15:30 world 17:28
nicole and her mum now spend 16:27 to
much of 17:29
mimic or or do these techs but 18:22 19:25
you can't it triggered me about her in the future so this is a
17:33 18:25 19:27
catch Tourette’s off tick tock can in this bizarre epidemic sparked condition that can be overcome
you by the 19:30
17:35 18:28 definitely you know i would say at
no no pandemic there is some hope oh the
17:36 you can't 19:32
but there is something called 18:32 moment only about 20 of the
17:37 do that patients
suggestibility 18:34 19:35
17:39 through intensive therapy and the i've seen are fully recovered which
so suggestibility is if you see 18:36 19:37
17:41 support of her family gradually isn't great
something you're more likely to Mikayla 19:39
do it 18:39 um
17:45 learned to control her ticks 19:40
for Michaela Colby tick-tock 18:42 so that means 80 are continuing
videos it's incredible to think how far to have
17:48 you've 19:42
weren't a factor in her ticks 18:43 these ticks some of them quite
17:50 come now i mean you've made so severely
but she knows from experience much 19:45
the kind 18:45 and how many patients are we
17:52 progress talking
of impact they can have 18:46 19:46
17:54 amazing i think i i here
and did you watch any of these 18:49 19:47
sort of found like a new appreciation for tens of thousands globally maybe
17:57 myself more
Tourette’s videos online yeah i did 18:51 19:50
um i a little bit more maybe hundreds of thousands
18:00 18:52 and you
got them sent to me a lot from which is really cool yeah i'm just 19:52
other 18:55 still don't think you have a full
18:02 very proud of her that she was so grasp
people i didn't have tick tock at strong 19:53
that 18:57 of just how widespread it is not
18:04 to get through this not yet
point in time what would 18:59 19:56
watching other anyway so it was in a sense almost this
18:06 19:01 perfect
people tick do to you it would kind no it's heavy it is 19:58
of 19:04 storm we had a pandemic we had
18:08 yeah then it was so hard you an
like i'd catch on with what they know 20:00
were 19:07 increase in social media we had an
18:10 anyway 20:01
saying just the mimicking and 19:13 increase in isolation stress
everything the wonderful thing about 20:03
18:13 Michaela is suddenly a wave of teenage girls i
um because like i did mimic 19:15 think
people in she's done 20:06
18:15 19:17 that summarizes it very well it is a
general like if they said something incredibly well she's fully 20:08
18:16 recovered perfect storm
funny i'd kind of repeat it and it 19:19 20:10
would and she's clearly a very resilient [Music]
18:18 19:22 20:13
kind of stick there was something young person and so i feel it might be a lifetime before we
about extremely have a
18:20 19:24 20:15
it that just optimistic handle on the true impact of the
20:17
pandemic on our kids but for the
20:20
teenagers living with ticks it's a
case
20:23
of taking each unpredictable day
at a
20:26
time
20:27
sorry that we've uh triggered your
tics
20:29
perhaps more than you would
have liked
20:30
but it's okay thank you for being
so
20:32
patient with us i hate her
20:37
i was waiting for it
20:41
i'm so sorry
20:44
[ __ ]
20:45
i'm so sorry
20:49
hello i'm sarah arvo thanks for
watching
20:51
60 minutes Australia