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.
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.
Miranda’s health collapsed almost overnight, progressing from difficulty walking to seizures, psychosis, and rapid neurological decline. Despite abnormal findings and worsening symptoms, she was quickly labelled with Functional Neurological Disorder, and further testing was repeatedly refused. Her story raises serious concerns about missed conditions like Autoimmune encephalitis and the risks of diagnostic overshadowing blocking proper care.
Email from a 21-year-old medical student in Kazakhstan sharing their detailed experience with neurological symptoms diagnosed as FND, highlighting objective signs of an organic lesion, diagnostic history, and concerns about misdiagnosis.
For the past seven years, my wife’s health has steadily declined, which forced me into research mode - diving deep into various medical fields through countless hours of studying medical journals, textbooks, clinical resources, and literature, as we were passed from specialist to specialist.
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.