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 Daily Mail article about Jo Puckett's experience with FND raises questions about diagnostic certainty, psychological distress, medical dismissal and the difference between wanting answers and wanting to remain ill.
I would like to share my daughter’s story and what Functional Neurological Disorder has done to her life over the past three years.Before FND, my daughter was a creative, talented teenager who loved music, performing, makeup and hair. She had dreams for
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.
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.