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 58-year-old woman with progressive swallowing and speech problems was diagnosed with functional movement disorder. Eleven months after onset, repeat imaging found advanced squamous-cell carcinoma. The authors say diagnostic bias from the FMD diagnosis even caused abnormal swallowing findings to be misinterpreted.
An FND case report found objective POTS after years of orthostatic symptoms were attributed to FND, anxiety and deconditioning. The authors call it comorbidity. But the case leaves a more important question unanswered: are the “functional signs” really evidence of a second disorder?
A 2020 clinical case reports positive Hoover's and hip abductor signs in a woman diagnosed with corticobasal syndrome. The authors identify apraxia as an alternative explanation, exposing an important limitation in the diagnostic interpretation of signs associated with functional neurological disorder.
A 29-year-old woman with progressive paralysis and severe urinary retention was discharged with suspected conversion disorder. Further investigation revealed vitamin B12 deficiency causing spinal cord damage. The case raises questions about diagnostic anchoring, negative imaging and premature closure.
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.