Patient experiences and clinical cases relating to Functional Neurological Disorder.
Personal experiences of living with an FND diagnosis.
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.
A Reddit user describes recurrent episodes of one-sided paralysis that were diagnosed as FND. She says she raised hemiplegic migraine herself but it was rejected. Three years later, a headache specialist diagnosed chronic hemiplegic migraine, and she reports substantial improvement with migraine treatment.
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.
I was diagnosed with FND 2 years ago, with symptoms first appearing 3-4 years ago. I am a female in my 20s. Here are a few things I wish I knew when I first got diagnosed (these are all just my opinions based on my experience, they are not facts)clinician
A reader shared this account from a woman misdiagnosed with FND who later learned she had mixed connective tissue disease (now lupus), small fiber neuropathy, and dysautonomia. She writes about autoimmune effects on the nervous system, getting a second opinion, and finding doctors who listen.
A young woman with lupus and Sjögren’s was diagnosed with FND without an EEG, spinal tap, or extensive laboratory testing. Further investigation at another hospital revealed a previous stroke and autoimmune abnormalities, leading to a diagnosis of CNS lupus.
A 38-year-old patient diagnosed with FND after limited testing was later found to have three treatable heart conditions that explained their symptoms, including extreme daily heart-rate fluctuations previously dismissed as anxiety.
An ENT doctor suggested I had Menieres (an illness that attacks the balance nerve and the ear) in 2023. He wasn't sure as he said the disease is rare and my hearing loss was in the wrong frequency. He said there is no cure and I would have to wait for bur
I was diagnosed with FND. Saw a neurologist and he said you must stop taking Keppra as it causes depression and anxiety and start on an alternative anti-seizure drug. I left with a step down plan and guess what, the depression and anxiety has gone.
After years of severe disability and an FND diagnosis, Sam’s family discovered a large, hidden abscess beneath a previously treated root-canal tooth. Within weeks of its removal and treatment, he began to regain his vision, mobility, clarity and independence. This is their story and a reminder that unexplained symptoms still deserve thorough investigation.
One day out of the blue I felt incredibly anxious and depressed. I can identify the time of day this happened. I couldn’t sleep but got sleeping tablets from my GP. The feelings continued for a few days but then I had a series of vacant seizures.
Personal account of complex neurological and systemic symptoms following a tick bite, with a clinical diagnosis of FND made after extensive negative or inconclusive investigations. The author proposes an infectious origin involving Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections and reports improvement following targeted antibiotic treatment.
An 18-year-old developed severe neurological symptoms after a concussion, was diagnosed with FND after inconclusive testing, and later found to have tethered cord syndrome requiring surgery.
Real clinical cases documented in published medical case reports.
A 2024 case report describes a 42-year-old woman diagnosed and treated for FND despite persistent facial, oral and cervical movements. After treatment failed, neurology diagnosed Meige syndrome. The authors explicitly describe the original FND diagnosis as a misdiagnosis.
A 2025 case report describes a 17-year-old with type 1 diabetes whose abnormal behaviour and movements were initially attributed to conversion disorder. Glucose readings of 36 and 24 mg/dL during attacks revealed severe hypoglycaemia, and the conversion diagnosis was withdrawn.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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?