A DAD has told how he was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome after being bitten by a mosquito while on holiday in Thailand.
Ross Constable, 48, got the seemingly harmless bite on a 10-day family getaway to Phuket.
But, after arriving back home to Timperley, Greater Manchester, the secondary school art teacher began to fear something was more seriously awry.
He started to feel severely unwell, with extreme fatigue, body aches and a high fever.
The panicked dad-of-one decided to phone 111, and was advised to speak to a doctor, who told him he may have contracted a bug on his flight back from Thailand.
It wasn’t until weeks later that Ross was diagnosed with the potentially fatal dengue fever, a disease spread by mosquitoes.
Recalling the events, which took place before Christmas in 2019, Ross described skin shedding from his whole body after his return to the UK.
Speaking to Manchester Evening News, he added: “I was bedbound for two weeks … I was really thirsty, sleeping a lot and in and out of consciousness.”
Ross’s body felt like a “liquid jelly mass”, while he also suffered bleeding gums, painful joints and excruciating pain behind his eyes.
During one dizzy spell, he was even unable to recognise his own partner.
He said: “I struggled to go back to work. I felt like I was losing my mind a bit, why do I feel like this, why am I not getting better?”
The 48-year-old was also starting to experience Alice in Wonderland syndrome – a neurological disorder which distorts the perceived size and shapes of objects.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Dengue Fever: What You Need to Know” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6354862808112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]“I felt like I could feel knees to feet, I was taller than buildings around me and arms would stretch across the car park,” he added.
Despite his diagnosis, doctors remained perplexed by Ross’s mysterious new symptoms – which also included muscle spasms and difficulty speaking.
He would later find out that he had developed Tourette’s syndrome in addition to dengue fever.
The tics soon became so extreme that they were triggered even by the slightest sounds and movements.
While dengue fever does not itself cause Tourette’s syndrome directly, it can in rare cases trigger neurological complications such as inflammation of the brain.
And some evidence suggests a link between inflammation triggered by the body’s immune response and tic disorders.
Around this time, Ross’s deteriorating health also led to mental health issues, including anxiety and depression – made worse by medication prescribed for his Tourette’s.
Since the traumatic events of 2019, Ross’ s dengue fever and potential Japanese encephalitis have subsided, but he is still learning to live with his Tourette’s – which will likely be a life-long condition.
However, he said he had found comfort in his art – with an upcoming show at Hepplestone Art Gallery in Wilmslow on May 8 – as well as in the support of family and friends.
It comes after fellow holiday-maker Serenity Tanner also contracted dengue fever, attributing her symptoms to a simple case of heat stroke.
The 20-year-old started to feel unwell after a day of surfing in the Philippines – before experiencing hallucinations.
She was then rushed to a local medical centre by a neighbour, where she was diagnosed with the rare viral infection.