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.
My journey with FND began in 2016 when I was 13 years old. My physical and cognitive abilities were rapidly deteriorating. I had to leave school as it was no longer safe for me because of my sudden deterioration. I then lost the ability to walk and talk.
Daniele Gray lost the ability to walk at 13 and was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder. Eight years later, an MRI revealed a 20 mm Chiari I malformation and a spinal cord syrinx requiring surgery. Was the underlying neurological condition missed?
Maja Bagdziun shares her story with LDUK, after being given “a confusing FND label” because she tested negative for Lyme infection.
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.
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.
Elly Littlejohn was diagnosed with FND after losing her daughter to a drunk driver, despite abnormal MRI findings. Years of worsening symptoms, additional brain lesions and abnormal spinal fluid results eventually led to an MS diagnosis. Her story raises serious questions about diagnostic anchoring, trauma-based assumptions and delayed treatment.
Emma Tinkler already had multiple sclerosis when worsening neurological symptoms were labelled FND. After two years of deteriorating mobility, a second neurologist diagnosed Parkinson’s disease. Six weeks after starting medication, she was walking normally again.
A musician developed changing accents after reported seizures, a head injury and cardiac arrest. Doctors diagnosed FND. But what neurological explanations were investigated, and what evidence supports the diagnosis?
A Reddit user reports spending four years diagnosed with FND before receiving a Parkinson's disease diagnosis following a DaTscan. They say appropriate medication improved their condition, raising questions about the original diagnosis and the consequences of delayed investigation.
Violinist Amy Wang-Hiller describes how suspected FND, a PNES diagnosis and repeated psychological attribution allegedly delayed recognition of tethered spinal cord, cervical instability and progressive paralysis.
A Reddit user reports spending two years diagnosed with FND and anxiety before investigations reportedly identified autoimmune and genetic neurological conditions. Their experience raises questions about overlapping symptoms, diagnostic closure, and why complex presentations may be interpreted as functional.
A patient diagnosed with FND reports that a second opinion revealed autoimmune basal ganglia encephalitis. Their account raises questions about incomplete investigations, overlooked neurological findings and whether an unexplained illness was prematurely labelled functional.
Real clinical cases documented in published medical case reports.
A 54-year-old woman spent more than 18 months experiencing progressive neurological symptoms before doctors identified late Lyme neuroborreliosis and spinal cord inflammation. Her symptoms had been attributed to psychosomatic causes, despite worsening mobility, bladder and bowel dysfunction, and significant weight loss. A 2025 case report documents the diagnostic delay, the evidence that overturned the earlier assumption, and the lasting disability after treatment.
A 30-year-old man with severe headaches, dizziness, exhaustion and dramatic weight loss was discharged with psychosomatic complaints after routine investigations found little wrong. Two weeks later, further testing revealed acute Lyme neuroborreliosis, a serious neurological infection that responded rapidly to antibiotics.
A 2019 case report documents a woman whose weakness, anxiety and reported positive Hoover's sign raised suspicions of conversion disorder. Further investigations uncovered objective neurological abnormalities and evidence supporting possible Lyme neuroborreliosis.
A reader highlights how children and adults with periodic paralysis, a recognised neuromuscular channelopathy, can be labelled with FND or anxiety instead. Medical literature confirms the diagnostic risk, including cases where appropriate testing identified a treatable disorder.
A 2025 case series documents two young women whose involuntary movements were attributed to functional neurological disorder before testing confirmed POTS. One was later diagnosed with FND again after developing paralysis, only for further investigation to reveal hypokalemic periodic paralysis.
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.
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.
A woman in her 40s was treated for functional neurological disorder and psychogenic non-epileptic seizures after a family bereavement. Her worsening symptoms were eventually traced to anti-LGI1 autoimmune encephalitis, a treatable neurological disease confirmed through MRI and antibody testing.
A September 2026 study examined 17 patients diagnosed with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. All had abnormal orthostatic findings, and 10 of 14 patients receiving medication improved after treatment for autonomic dysfunction. Some had visited emergency departments up to seven times before further neurological assessment. The findings raise serious questions about premature PNES diagnoses and missed physiological causes of seizure-like movements.
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.
A 47-year-old woman’s progressive neurological deterioration was attributed to conversion disorder after her son’s suicide. Despite abnormal findings and failed psychiatric treatments, the diagnosis persisted. Genetic testing eventually confirmed frontotemporal dementia. Her doctors later acknowledged the cognitive biases behind their diagnostic failure.
A woman with progressive neurological symptoms and documented FLVCR1 variants repeatedly had her symptoms considered functional. A 2026 case report exposes a failure to connect neurological findings with an existing genetic disorder.