Diagnosed With FND After Three Weeks: 200 Seizures Later, Doctors Found Severe Hypoglycaemia
FND Nope
Moderator
In March 2025, ABC News reported the story of Australian teenager Mikayla Perks, whose seizures were diagnosed as Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) just three weeks after they began.
According to her mother, Karen Perks, what followed was an 18-month struggle to persuade doctors to reconsider that diagnosis.
By the time another explanation was identified, Mikayla had reportedly experienced around 200 seizures, attended emergency departments 21 times and been seen by approximately 30 doctors.
The FND diagnosis
Mikayla's first seizure occurred in June 2023 while she was working at a restaurant in Lake Macquarie, Australia.
Her seizures subsequently became more severe. Within three months, her mother reported that Mikayla was experiencing clusters of as many as 15 seizures at a time, with some lasting more than 15 minutes.
Three weeks after the first event, Mikayla was diagnosed with FND.
Epilepsy had reportedly been excluded, but Karen remained concerned that physiological explanations for the seizures had not been adequately investigated.
"They had not considered any physical causes."
Mikayla began seeing a psychologist to treat FND under the guidance of a neurologist. The seizures continued.
"She's already diagnosed"
Perhaps the most troubling part of the story is what reportedly happened when the family tried to get the diagnosis reconsidered.
"They were adamant and refused to waver from the FND diagnosis."
According to Karen, even seeing different doctors did not necessarily reopen the question.
"Even speaking with different doctors they'd say 'she's already diagnosed'."
She also told ABC:
"They gaslit us. There was a continual disregard for our increasing concerns."
Karen began documenting the circumstances surrounding Mikayla's seizures and noticed that they frequently occurred when Mikayla was physically active.
Yet the existing FND diagnosis reportedly continued to dominate how her symptoms were interpreted.
21 emergency visits, 30 doctors and 200 seizures
The breakthrough reportedly came in late 2024.
After approximately 21 emergency department visits, encounters with 30 doctors and around 200 seizures, a hospital physician suggested examining Mikayla's blood glucose around the time of an event.
"They found her blood glucose was dropping to one."
According to ABC, further investigation linked Mikayla's seizures to severe hypoglycaemia.
Further testing identified a gastrointestinal motility disorder involving pelvic floor dysfunction. The resulting gastrointestinal problems made eating increasingly difficult.
Her mother said Mikayla had not been eating adequately for approximately 18 months.
"She didn't eat properly for 18 months and that caused what's called long-term starvation [which] was causing the hypoglycaemic seizures."
What happened when the explanation changed?
ABC reported substantial improvement after the underlying problems were recognised and Mikayla's treatment changed.
She began seeing a dietitian, underwent physiotherapy and received a continuous glucose monitor so falling glucose levels could be identified and treated.
"She sees a dietitian, she's doing physio, she's running which was unimaginable 12 months ago."
A gastroenterologist's perspective
ABC also interviewed Sydney gastroenterologist Dr Vincent Ho, who discussed the difficulty of diagnosing gastrointestinal motility disorders and the problems that can arise when medicine becomes divided into individual specialties.
"One of the challenges in modern medicine is that we're all very single organ focused."
That observation is particularly relevant to this case. Mikayla presented with seizures, yet the chain of events ultimately reported by ABC involved gastrointestinal dysfunction, inadequate nutrition, severe hypoglycaemia and neurological events.
When a diagnosis becomes a stopping point
The central issue in this story is not simply that another explanation was eventually found. It is that, according to the family's account, the existing FND diagnosis repeatedly stood in the way of reconsidering what was happening.
The phrase "she's already diagnosed" captures the problem remarkably well.
A diagnosis is supposed to explain the evidence. It should not become a reason to stop looking at new evidence.
Yet Mikayla reportedly returned to emergency departments again and again while experiencing continuing seizures. Her family continued asking questions. Her mother documented patterns surrounding the episodes. Still, the FND diagnosis remained.
Eventually, a measurable physiological abnormality was identified: her blood glucose was reportedly falling to profoundly low levels.
That raises an uncomfortable question.
If severe hypoglycaemia could ultimately be demonstrated, why did it take approximately 18 months, 21 emergency department visits, around 30 doctors and 200 seizures before the existing explanation was seriously reconsidered?
The danger of diagnostic closure
This case illustrates why diagnostic closure matters.
Once a diagnosis becomes accepted as the explanation, subsequent symptoms can be interpreted through that diagnosis rather than being allowed to challenge it.
The result can become circular: the patient has FND, therefore subsequent symptoms are interpreted as FND, and those symptoms then reinforce confidence that the patient has FND.
Meanwhile, evidence pointing elsewhere risks being treated as secondary, irrelevant or unnecessary to investigate.
In Mikayla's case, according to ABC's reporting, the cost of that closure was not theoretical. It was measured in months, emergency visits and seizures before severe hypoglycaemia was identified.
The most important lesson from this story may therefore be contained in three words:
"She's already diagnosed."
Those words should never end an investigation when the evidence is telling clinicians that something still does not add up.
Sources
Primary source: Keely Johnson, ABC News, "Repeatedly misdiagnosed teen lucky to find true cause with help from persistent mum", 30 March 2025.
Read the original ABC News report
The ABC report is the source for the chronology, quotations from Karen Perks, the reported FND diagnosis, emergency department visits, number of doctors and seizures, blood glucose findings, gastrointestinal motility disorder, subsequent treatment and comments from gastroenterologist Dr Vincent Ho.
This article summarises the case as reported by ABC News. Statements concerning the family's interactions with clinicians are attributed to Karen Perks and ABC's reporting.
