What is FND? 

The following information was drawn from the work of Professor Jon Stone and his world leading website.

We compliment this with information drawn from our own group research. 


Common and problematic disorder

FND (Functional Neurological Disorder) is a common neurological disorder which involves a variety neurological symptoms such as limb weakness, non-epileptic seizure, myoclonus, dystonia, tremor, numbness, ticks or blackouts. While there are lots of different symptoms, people with FND have similarities that group them together. Doctors that have knowledge of FND can tell the difference between this and other conditions fairly readily.

FND symptoms relate to the movement and sensation parts of the nervous system. It is caused by a problem with way that the nervous system functions/works. The physical parts of the body are not changed. It's the way that the body works that changes. 

Doctors often use the metaphor of the computer to explain FND. We are used to the understanding that a computer has two main systems:

FND is likened to a software problem. We cant find a problem in the physical stuff the nervous system is made of. It is a problem with information moving within the system. 

FND can cause great difficulties for patients and for their whanau. This condition is commonly misunderstood. Symptoms are involuntary. 

Have a look at these short videos. 

Triggering events 

The onset of FND is often triggered by an event. This is not always the case however. Often this event is an accident, stressful situation, virus or a change in medication. Sometimes the onset of FND is sudden and violent, sometimes it is more gradual. We asked our group what had triggered their illness. Their answers are shown in the following infographic. The bigger the word, the more common the response. 



Multiple symptoms 

FND can have a wide variety of symptoms. Symptoms vary between people and over time for individual patients. When we asked our support group about their symptoms and then put the information into a word cloud generator. We got the following infographic. The bigger the words, the more often the symptom was reported. Most people listed many symptoms. 


Sudden severe onset? 

If you have had a sudden and violent onset of FND such as severe seizures or repetitive myoclonus particularly after medication changes, we think it's likely you will recover significantly over time. We think anecdotally that with this type of 'reaction' FND does tend to settle. It might take a while though sorry. This is a really common thing to happen. If you are like the rest of us you will weather the violent storm and your symptoms will gradually fade and settle into some form you will be able to live with. You will be be glad you came through, glad to still be alive, and you MAY still fully recover.


Telling it straight

We discussed this as a group and decided to tell you about recovery rates because we ourselves would have liked to have know this at the start. Many of us were told that we could/would recover, and when we did not recover it increased our distress. This is especially so when you are trying hard to get well, people are relying on you, you have been told that you can recover - but you don't. The dismay and guilt can compound your problems. If you are informed about FND recovery rates, when symptoms strike/return, it may feel like less of a personal failure. 

You may well be one of the 20% who recovers fully. We hope that you are. We hope that the approach proposed by this website will lead to more rapid recovery among our people, and greater numbers experiencing full remission. Much of the rest of this website is devoted to increasing your chances of remission through acceptance, treatment, recovery tools and management. 


Yes - we can get better

The reason that the doctors tell us that we can get better is that there is no damage to the physical parts of our nervous systems. Doctors use the word can because - yes, it is possible. In other neurological disorders systems and pathways become permanently broken. They cannot be fixed and they don't heal. That's where we have the advantage. It is possible for us to get better. We can improve our chances of getting there by using our recovery tools.