When Katie was just a child, her tics were so relentless they left her bedridden with a sore throat for two weeks.
The now 15-year-old says living with Tourette's, external affected her ability to sleep, eat, and caused her to miss school.
But a wrist device developed by researchers in Nottingham helped her calm down in an "instant".
Katie recalled trying it on for the first time, and said: "It was absolutely life-changing. It was like the best day of my life."
Tourette's syndrome is a neurodevelopmental condition with symptoms usually starting in childhood.
Katie, from Hertfordshire, said she first started to experience symptoms aged seven.
She said: "It was constantly moving, constantly making sounds and then I was kind of getting looked at like, 'why are you doing that?'
"I used to make snorting sounds, but it was constant all the time, so I'd give myself a really bad sore throat and then be in bed for two weeks.
"I think I became quite sad a lot of the time."
Katie's mum Julia said it was "heartbreaking" to see her daughter struggling.
"You feel helpless. You feel you don't know where to turn really," she said.
It was not until she read about a wrist device - developed by the University of Nottingham - that Julia felt hopeful for…
