'How Tourettes has changed my life' - social media star from Wearside explains all in new book to 'raise awareness'

Evie Field has 13 million Tik Tok followers and 567,000 fans on YouTube who follow her story which she shares under the name This Trippy Hippie.

The 20-year-old shares her experiences of a daily struggle with tics and seizures on social media but now she is reaching out to a new audience.

Her book called My Nonidentical Twin is available for pre-order before its release in October.

Evie said: “Writing a book has been incredible and has really allowed me to reach a wider audience, meaning more people who will be aware of Tourette’s syndrome and the difficulties those with TS face.

"I am so grateful for this opportunity and I really hope people are moved and inspired after reading my book.”

My Nonidentical Twin is a reference to “my TS being a whole other cheeky character which is so unlike me,” said Evie.

“It's the full story of how I came to be diagnosed and how having Tourette's has changed my life.

“I talk about the many other illnesses I've been through and the dreams that it has affected - about my school days, relationships and my very lowest points but I also talk about what I've managed to achieve in spite of all the obstacles.”

In her 20 years, she has been paralysed for 6 weeks and then confined to a wheelchair after her seizures became severe. But she has also seen her story attract massive online following with one video going viral when she involuntarily hit herself with a rolling pin.

The book, which will be released on October 28, is £14.99 for the hard back and available to pre-order now on Amazon, the Waterstones website, bookshop.org, Booktopia and Barns and Noble.

Evie has amassed 400 million likes with her Tik Tok posts but she isn’t in it for the celebrity status. Her mission is to ‘destroy the stigma’ which surrounds the syndrome.

Her tics and seizures leave her dizzy, sweating and often bruised. Fans have seen her repeatedly punch herself. She sometimes swears, or makes sounds she can't control.

Evie previously told the Echo that tics and seizures are debilitating and often dangerous. It's a far different reality from the one that some people think.

"One person who followed me on social media said they wished they had tics because it looked like fun. It is not," she said.

She wears padded gloves to lessen the impact when she hits herself. She has a crash helmet for the same reason.

One attack felt as if lightning was coursing through her body, she said.

But now she hopes her new book will explain more and added: “ Writing it has given me an opportunity to talk about things I haven't felt ready to share before - for some reason it's easier to put down private things in written words than in a video.

“I hope it will make you laugh and make you think, and empower you to realise that no matter what you're facing in life, there are always ways to deal with the challenges.”

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