State Rep. Tricia Byrnes Is Looking for the Filmmaker Who’ll Investigate FND
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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: From an FND Diagnosis to Maddie’s Law
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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.
FND Diagnosis Followed by Myasthenia Gravis and Respiratory Failure
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A Reddit user questioned their FND diagnosis while being investigated for myasthenia gravis. Weeks later, they reported respiratory failure requiring intubation, an MG diagnosis and treatment with IVIG and plasma exchange. A later FND specialist assessment reportedly found no FND symptoms.
When “Functional” Signs Mislead: GSS Misdiagnosed as Conversion Disorder
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A man whose variable, distractible and inconsistent neurological findings contributed to a diagnosis of conversion disorder continued to deteriorate for years. After his death, neuropathology and genetic testing confirmed Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome, showing how genuine clinical observations can support the wrong diagnostic interpretation.
The FND Dualism Debate May Be Starting With the Wrong Question
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A debate over whether FND is best understood through psychiatric, neurological or integrated explanations may be skipping a more fundamental question: what evidence establishes FND as a single underlying disorder rather than a recurring clinical phenotype?
A Case of Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Presenting as Conversion Disorder
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A 64-year-old woman was diagnosed with a functional neurological movement disorder after clinicians observed distractibility, variability and entrainment. Within weeks, worsening symptoms and newly abnormal EEG and MRI findings reopened the investigation, and a brain biopsy confirmed sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
FND Diagnosis Revised to Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP)
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A published case report documents a patient initially diagnosed with FND whose progressive neurological deterioration led to further investigation and an eventual diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).
A Case Report of Headache and Weakness Diagnosed as Functional Neurological Disorder
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A 26-year-old postpartum woman presenting with headache and neurological symptoms was discharged with anxiety and possible conversion disorder. She returned the following morning unable to walk. MRI revealed a thalamic infarction caused by cerebral venous thrombosis. The case also raises a broader question: if later disease does not necessarily invalidate an FND diagnosis, how is FND misdiagnosis actually identified and counted?
Misdiagnosed With FND: From Inpatient Rehabilitation to Neurosarcoidosis
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A Reddit user documented severe neurological symptoms, an FND diagnosis and inpatient rehabilitation before further investigation reportedly revealed neurosarcoidosis. The patient later said their neurosurgeon found that the original hospital MRI already contained findings relevant to the eventual diagnosis.
Diagnosed With FND After Three Weeks: 200 Seizures Later, Doctors Found Severe Hypoglycaemia
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Diagnosed with FND after three weeks, an Australian teenager endured around 200 seizures before severe hypoglycaemia linked to a gastrointestinal motility disorder was identified.
FND Diagnosis Followed by Multiple System Atrophy
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A Reddit user describes rapidly progressive neurological and autonomic symptoms that were diagnosed as FND despite their concerns that something else was wrong. Six months after publicly questioning the diagnosis and specifically raising MSA as a possibility, they updated their story to report that further investigation had resulted in a diagnosis of multiple system atrophy (MSA), by which point they were completely bedridden.
FND Diagnosis Followed by ALS and Metastatic Cancer
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A Reddit user documents a two-year journey in which progressive neurological symptoms were attributed to FND before they later reported receiving an ALS diagnosis, followed by the discovery of metastatic bladder cancer.
