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.
When an Unexplained Gait Became Conversion Disorder: A Huntington’s Disease Case
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A 65-year-old woman with an abnormal gait, cognitive decline and psychiatric symptoms was diagnosed with conversion disorder after inconclusive neurological investigations. Years later, genetic testing confirmed Huntington’s disease—raising a difficult question: what positive evidence had established conversion disorder in the first place?
When FND Overshadowed an Axonal Neuropathy: A Case of AMSAN
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A 22-year-old woman entered rehabilitation with FND as her primary diagnosis while an underlying acute motor and sensory axonal neuropathy (AMSAN) remained unrecognised. EMG and nerve conduction studies later demonstrated extensive axonal damage, leading to IVIG treatment and improved rehabilitation progress. The authors explicitly describe the case as diagnostic overshadowing.
When Suppressible Movements Were Called Functional: A Genetic PKD Case
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A 14-year-old boy was diagnosed with a functional movement disorder after presenting with suppressible involuntary movements and psychiatric comorbidity. Further investigation identified monogenic paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia (PKD), while the authors noted that specific positive features supporting the original functional diagnosis had been absent.
FND, Then Genetic Dystonia: A Pediatric DYT-TOR1A Case
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A pediatric patient diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder was later found to have DYT-TOR1A dystonia and responded well to deep brain stimulation. The authors retained FND as a coexisting diagnosis, raising an important question: once a genetic disorder capable of producing the movements was identified, what evidence determined which symptoms remained functional?
When Stress-Sensitive Stiffness Was Diagnosed as Conversion Disorder
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A 52-year-old woman developed progressive leg stiffness, spasms and severe gait impairment that worsened with stress and fatigue. After multiple evaluations, she was diagnosed with conversion disorder. A year later, markedly elevated anti-GAD antibodies and characteristic EMG abnormalities supported stiff-person syndrome, with significant improvement following IVIG.
When Conversion Disorder Was Actually a Rare Prion Disease
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A woman with tremor, speech problems and slowed movements was diagnosed with conversion disorder after early neurological investigations were unrevealing. As her condition progressively deteriorated, genetic testing ultimately confirmed Gerstmann–Sträussler–Scheinker disease caused by a rare PRNP mutation.
Janet Dafoe on FND: "Where the Sun Don’t Shine"
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ME/CFS advocate and psychologist Janet Dafoe has criticised psychosomatic explanations of poorly understood illness for years. In 2026, that criticism turned directly to FND, raising questions about diagnostic certainty, ME/CFS, Long COVID and what happens when uncertainty becomes a diagnosis.
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?
