Diagnostic Dogma
A tag exploring how medical diagnoses can become entrenched frameworks, sometimes treated as settled conclusions rather than continually testable hypotheses. Posts examine the role of clinical authority, diagnostic criteria, evidentiary standards, and alt
19-Year-Old Diagnosed With Conversion Disorder Actually Had Rare Autoimmune Encephalitis
FND Nope
Moderator
A 19-year-old woman with anxiety, trembling legs and balance problems was diagnosed with conversion disorder. Further testing revealed rare autoimmune encephalitis. Following immunotherapy, she recovered completely. Her case raises serious questions about premature psychiatric diagnoses and overlooked neurological disease.
Diagnosed With FND After Negative Genetic Tests. The Patient Actually Had Spinocerebellar Ataxia.
FND Nope
Moderator
A patient spent years with neurological symptoms, repeated falls and fractures while doctors attributed his condition to FND and other functional diagnoses. New genetic testing eventually identified SCA27B. A published three-patient case series exposes the dangers of negative investigations, diagnostic confirmation bias and assuming neurological presentations must fit existing expectations.
Diagnosed With FND, Her Tilt-Table Test Was Cancelled. Doctors Later Discovered Severe Autonomic Dysfunction
FND Nope
Moderator
A 43-year-old woman became unable to stand during a COVID-19 infection. Doctors diagnosed FND and cancelled her scheduled tilt-table test. Twelve days later, testing revealed her blood pressure collapsing to 66/52 mmHg. Further investigations identified evidence of immune-mediated autonomic dysfunction, and she eventually recovered following treatment.
Christina Applegate's MS Diagnosis Was Wrong. Five Years Later, She Still Has No Answers
Quackademic
Christina Applegate reveals that doctors have withdrawn her multiple sclerosis diagnosis after five years of debilitating symptoms. Her disability remains, her condition has reportedly worsened, and the search for an explanation starts again. The case raises questions about neurological misdiagnosis and the danger of replacing one incorrect diagnosis with another.
FND Treatment Trials Failed Their Primary Outcomes. Researchers Shifted the Goalposts.
FND Nope
Moderator
The CODES and Physio4FMD trials failed to demonstrate significant benefits on their primary outcomes. David Tuller exposes how FND researchers subsequently promoted secondary findings, questioned their original measures and misrepresented consensus recommendations.
Suicidality in FND: Are Researchers Overlooking the Obvious?
FND Nope
Moderator
When people live with disabling symptoms, chronic pain and uncertain futures, suicidal thoughts are hardly inexplicable. So why does FND research place such emphasis on psychiatric comorbidities? A closer look at the research agenda and the common-sense questions it raises.
The Emotional Processing Theory of FND: Eight Years Later, Where Is the Proof?
FND Nope
Moderator
A 2019 review proposed that abnormal emotional processing could generate functional neurological symptoms. Nearly eight years later, its central causal mechanism remains unvalidated. We examine the original research, its acknowledged weaknesses, and what subsequent studies have actually established.
FND, Compensation and the Convenient Theory That Financial Support Keeps People Disabled
FND Nope
Moderator
A 2026 Frontiers in Neurology review explores whether compensation, litigation and financial support can reinforce FND disability. But where is the evidence that paying injured people keeps them sick, and what happens when speculative theories influence legal liability?
Diagnosed With FND, Died From a Pulmonary Embolism: The Questions Allison Lawlor's Story Raises
FND Nope
Moderator
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.
Diagnosed With FND. It Was Buerger's Disease. She Lost Her Leg
FND Nope
Moderator
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.
