Add your voice to calls for better care and answers.
A formal submission responding to a Scottish Parliament petition on FND awareness and training. It raises concerns that adverse effects and withdrawal from prescribed drugs can be misdiagnosed as FND, and warns that increased FND diagnosis without adequate recognition of these conditions could contribute to further misdiagnosis.
Visit petition: PE2165 evidence challenging expansion of FND diagnosis (opens in a new tab)Calls for safeguards against diagnostic overshadowing after the petitioner says an FND and fibromyalgia diagnosis delayed her eventual periodic paralysis diagnosis for 6.5 years. Proposes mandatory rule-out protocols, comprehensive differentials and review of functional diagnoses.
Visit petition: Propose the Florida Diagnostic Fairness Act (opens in a new tab)The petition calls on UK ME/CFS charities to provide direct advocacy, medical and legal support for people with Very Severe ME, particularly when psychosomatic or FND diagnoses may lead to inappropriate care, deterioration or preventable harm.
Visit petition: Very Severe ME/CFS : FOR UK ME Charities to Provide Individual Advocacy and Legal Support (opens in a new tab)Help community campaigns raise funds for care, support and research.
Jonathan, 31, collapsed in 2022 and has spent four years dependent on his parents for daily care. After years of being diagnosed with FND, a leading specialist now questions that diagnosis. Despite recent physical progress, he is raising $50,000 for caregiver relief, comprehensive testing, and rehabilitation.
View campaign: Help Jonathan Walk Alongside You Again (opens in a new tab)
Missouri State Rep. Tricia Byrnes is seeking a filmmaker to investigate Functional Neurological Disorder. She says hundreds of families report children were labeled with FND before doctors fully checked seizures and loss of mobility, and that second opinions were blocked.
Maddie Aumann was diagnosed with FND before genetic testing identified a rare SCN9A disorder. Her mother, Christine Aumann, describes how the FND label continued to affect Maddie’s care even after that discovery, ultimately helping inspire Maddie’s Law.
Jonathan Andrews spent years unable to walk, struggling to access rehabilitation, and questioning his FND diagnosis. After a two-and-a-half-hour assessment at Toronto Rehab, specialists reportedly told him they didn't believe he had FND. His story raises serious questions about diagnostic accountability, rehabilitation access, and the damage caused when clinical uncertainty is treated as certainty.
An update on my wife’s worsening gastrointestinal problems, the objectively demonstrated delayed intestinal transit, what has been excluded, what still needs investigation, and why it feels wrong that we are being left to work out the next steps ourselves.
An 11-year-old developed recurrent episodes of collapse, prolonged unresponsiveness, abnormal movements and post-event neurological symptoms, often after exercise or heat. Multiple EEGs failed to capture a typical episode, while two showed epileptiform abnormalities. Her episodes were eventually labelled FND/PNES. Her family is looking for others whose children followed a similar path.
A hand-picked selection of articles to explore first.
An international study involving 1,853 patients and 400 clinicians reveals profound disagreements over FND diagnoses in autoimmune disease, reports of diagnostic overshadowing, and clinical reasoning that raises important questions about whether neurological symptoms attributed to FND may have different underlying causes.
I am angry that uncertainty became certainty, that softened language obscures what is actually being claimed, that scepticism is treated as hostility, and that while we argue about FND, my wife keeps getting sicker.
Why FND Nope shares patient stories, diagnostic reversals and clinical cases: not to win an argument, but to preserve uncertainty, uncover possible clues and keep doors open when people are still sick.
How do we know when a medical diagnosis has actually been demonstrated rather than simply defined? This post examines FND through ontology, epistemology and axiology, asking what positive signs really establish, where classification ends and explanation begins, and whether the confidence placed in the diagnosis matches the strength of the evidence behind it.
An exploration of FND, positive rule-in signs, comorbidity, predictive processing, diagnostic closure, and whether functional symptoms may reflect common phenotypes arising from multiple underlying conditions.
What advice would I give to anyone newly diagnosed with this disorder? Advice that I wish I had received back then?
Exploring the effects of psychiatric medications on the brain and nervous system, including adverse reactions, dependence, withdrawal syndromes, and long-term consequences. This collection examines the scientific evidence, patient experiences, and diagnostic failures that occur when medication-related symptoms are overlooked, dismissed, or misattributed to psychiatric or functional disorders.
Latest activity 01 Nov 2026
The Common Phenotypes Hypothesis proposes that Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) may confuse common neurological presentations with a distinct disorder. Much like “dropsy” once described swelling caused by various underlying diseases, symptoms such as weakness, tremors, seizures and sensory disturbances may arise from different biological processes rather than a single disorder. The hypothesis questions whether the clinical signs used to diagnose FND identify a distinct condition or merely recognise symptom patterns shared across multiple diseases, potentially obscuring their underlying causes.
Latest activity 28 Oct 2026
A lovingly curated archive of angry emails, social media meltdowns, heated exchanges, unsolicited professional wisdom, personal attacks, and spectacular disagreements. Not all correspondence is hateful, but some is too entertaining not to preserve. Your outrage has been received and filed accordingly.
Latest activity 27 Oct 2026
A personal account of my wife's ongoing medical journey through unexplained neurological symptoms, autonomic dysfunction, digestive problems and years of unanswered questions. From specialist consultations and inconclusive tests to investigating rare diseases and genetic testing, this epic documents our search for answers, the obstacles we've encountered and the consequences of living without a clear diagnosis. It's not just about finding out what's wrong. It's about what happens when medicine doesn't have an answer.
Latest activity 07 Oct 2026
Recent posts from people sharing how FND has affected them.
My journey with FND began in 2016 when I was 13 years old. My physical and cognitive abilities were rapidly deteriorating. I had to leave school as it was no longer safe for me because of my sudden deterioration. I then lost the ability to walk and talk.
Daniele Gray lost the ability to walk at 13 and was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder. Eight years later, an MRI revealed a 20 mm Chiari I malformation and a spinal cord syrinx requiring surgery. Was the underlying neurological condition missed?
Maja Bagdziun shares her story with LDUK, after being given “a confusing FND label” because she tested negative for Lyme infection.
Allison Lawlor lived with severe neurological symptoms, received an FND diagnosis and later died from a pulmonary embolism. Her story raises important questions about diagnostic uncertainty, thromboembolic risk and why patients owe no loyalty to a diagnosis.
Danielle Thomas reported numbness, worsening walking difficulties and legs that felt like they were dying. Doctors diagnosed FND. Months later, vascular investigations revealed blocked arteries, gangrene and Buerger's disease. She eventually underwent a below-knee amputation.
Elly Littlejohn was diagnosed with FND after losing her daughter to a drunk driver, despite abnormal MRI findings. Years of worsening symptoms, additional brain lesions and abnormal spinal fluid results eventually led to an MS diagnosis. Her story raises serious questions about diagnostic anchoring, trauma-based assumptions and delayed treatment.
Posts with the highest number of comments.
Examines Hoover's sign in a patient with true fatigable weakness. Highlights how objective isokinetic testing better captures performance deficits than traditional clinical signs, preventing misinterpretation as functional weakness.
Barely a week after launching this website and I already received my first calls to take it down.
A patient diagnosed with FND recovered completely after surgical repair of a CSF leak. Why did the diagnosis remain? This article explores what the case reveals about comorbidity, diagnostic reasoning, and the falsification problem in FND.
One of the most common analogies that you would come across within FND literature is the software/hardware analogy.
One of the most striking things you notice when you first start reading the literature on FND is how crucial it is considered for patients to accept and believe in the diagnosis. Without that belief, treatment is often regarded as futile. They simply will not get better.
The biggest misconception out there is that someone can’t have a functional disorder if they also have an organic medical disease, disorder, or condition. The reality, of course, is that very, very rarely do functional disorders develop without an underly
The latest neuroscience research and discoveries.
The FDA has cleared PrecivityAD2, a blood test that identifies biomarkers associated with Alzheimer's disease in adults aged 40 and older with cognitive symptoms. The decision marks another step towards less invasive, biologically informed neurological diagnosis, although the test cannot independently establish an Alzheimer's diagnosis.
Five years after an experimental injectable treatment helped severely injured mice regain the ability to walk, Northwestern University researchers have demonstrated nerve regrowth and reduced scarring in injured human spinal cord tissue. The findings bring a potential treatment for spinal cord injuries another step closer to clinical testing, although recovery from paralysis in humans remains unproven.
The latest things happening across FND Nope.
