FNDConnect

Sharing news & views of the #FND community. Carer for FND, (Fibro, CP, POTS, CRPS) sufferer, wanting to help share info & experience. Non medical professional.

[FNDConnect @ConnectFnd]

For those of you who don’t know me, I am a mum of a young lady who has lived with #FND for at least 20 years, possibly all 32 yrs of her life.
She has multiple comorbidities which makes treatment nigh on impossible. Let me tell you why I take the trolls to task on here: 🧵1/14

[FNDConnect @ConnectFnd]

Research opportunity for the School of Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast.

[FNDConnect @ConnectFnd]

Woolston care home resident raises awareness of little understood condition https://t.co/IOLF7G7mRk
#FNDaware

[FNDConnect @ConnectFnd]

Postcode lottery for neuropsychological services must end to tackle FND, says BPS

https://t.co/bvndwsbJ5i

[FNDConnect @ConnectFnd]

Contestant in ‘The Hunt’ is taken to hospital after 17 #functional seizures & #paralysis https://t.co/jSdHTsvZCr #FNDaware

[FNDConnect @ConnectFnd]

https://t.co/G4i0Wfu8Mw

[sikandar adwani @SikandarAdwani]

FUNCTIONAL NEUROLOGICAL DISORDER

One of the most important diagnoses in neurology…
is often missed because clinicians are looking too hard at the MRI
and not hard enough at the EXAMINATION.
A patient says:
I cannot move my leg.
But then:
• Hoover sign appears
• gait changes with distraction
• tremor entrains
• strength returns during automatic movement

That is not nothing.
That is a POSITIVE neurological pattern.

Modern FND is no longer:
“Diagnosis of exclusion.”
It is a diagnosis of:
✅ inconsistency
✅ incongruence
✅ preserved automatic circuitry
✅ positive bedside signs
The nervous system pathway exists.
The brain is failing to ACCESS it normally.
That single shift changes how you examine the patient.

Hoover sign stops becoming a trick.
It becomes a window into motor control.

The patient CAN generate movement.
But voluntary access becomes disrupted.

And this is exactly why:
• distraction may improve weakness
• backward walking may normalize gait
• tremor changes rhythm
• functional seizures fluctuate dramatically
FND sits at the intersection of:
movement
attention
prediction
emotion
agency
and motor control.

The dangerous part?
Patients are often harmed from BOTH sides.
⚠️ One clinician dismisses:
Everything is psychological.
⚠️ Another escalates:
benzodiazepines
antiepileptics
ICU admissions
intubation
Especially in functional seizures.

Real expertise is knowing:
when to stop escalating,
without losing diagnostic vigilance.

The best FND clinicians do 3 things well:

1️⃣ Rule out dangerous neurological disease carefully.

2️⃣ Rule IN FND positively.
3️⃣ Explain the diagnosis respectfully.

Because the explanation itself becomes treatment.
One sentence changes the entire consultation:

🧠
“Your nervous system pathways are still present.
The problem is in how the brain is accessing control of them.”
Not:
“Nothing is wrong.”
Modern FND management is not:
“Reassure and discharge.”
It is:
• targeted physiotherapy
• movement retraining
• speech/swallow rehabilitation
• psychiatric comorbidity management
• nervous-system retraining
FND is not anti-neurology.

It IS neurology.
And perhaps one of the purest examinations of how the brain converts intention into movement.

#neurotwitter #Medtwitter #FND #Functionaldisorders

[Journals of The American Psychiatric Association @APAPubJournals]

The functional neurological disorder (FND) Special Interest Group of @anpadirect has compiled the 10 most influential works on FND published in #JNCN https://t.co/ELwwJdkZ64

[Neurochecklists @neurochecklists]

We have just updated our functional sensory disorders checklist with this paper https://t.co/qSSMENSyQZ

[Jon Stone @jonstoneneuro]

Just over 4 weeks left until the @FNDSociety 2026 Baltimore meeting! https://t.co/neoXLF1BIT

If your budget can stretch, PLEASE consider booking the conference hotel.
https://t.co/ooAiLKKjit

Doing so will help make the meeting a financial success. Thank you!

[Jon Stone @jonstoneneuro]

A really impressive collection of neuroimaging and neurophysiological research in FND. Congratulations to the editors and all authors.

[Functional Neurological Disorder Society @FNDSociety]

📅FNDS is pleased to highlight the Placebo, Hypnosis, and Functional Disorders Conference 2026 (Nancy, France, Oct 14-16).
FNDS members are invited to participate and submit their work open until May 31.
For more information visit the conference website: https://t.co/88bPzvcs4W

[Functional Neurological Disorder Society @FNDSociety]

📅 Just under two months from the 2026 FND Society Conference in Baltimore June 13th-16th

- Click the link below to see all the conference highlights and get registered
- In-person, virtual, and on-demand

https://t.co/RuJaBLrP9X

[Abhijit Das @Brain_Tinkerer]

📢📢 New Research Alert 📢📢

Delighted to share that our abstract, “Distinct Emotional Profiles in Functional Seizures versus Functional Movement Disorder: Evidence from Digital Phenotyping,” has been selected for an oral presentation at the FNDS Baltimore conference, as part of "Research Highlights: Best of FND 2026 Posters."

This work is the result of a valuable collaboration with Steven Painter at Neurolog (https://t.co/pdhXmEWiCS)

#Emotions may offer a powerful doorway into understanding Functional Neurological Disorder — not as a simple “cause,” but as part of the brain-body processes through which symptoms are generated, maintained, and experienced. The emerging science of emotion invites us to think beyond older mind-body divisions and towards concepts such as interoception, predictive processing, allostasis, and emotional granularity (https://t.co/yBhEzoOzrF). These frameworks may help us better understand the lived experience and biological complexity of #FND. Interestingly, it aligns closely with principles of #Hypnosis.

Through #DigitalPhenotyping, we examine whether functional seizures and functional movement disorder have distinct emotional profiles, with the aim of deepening mechanistic understanding and supporting more personalised care.

Grateful to the wider FND community for helping bring this work together.

#FND #Neurology #Hypnosis #NHS #MindBodyMedicine #DigitalHealth #DigitalPhenotyping

@FNDHope @FNDAction @FndIreland @ConnectFnd @DavidLewisPerez @jungjoha @popkirov @jonstoneneuro @AlanCarson15 @LFeldmanBarrett @BSCAH1 @RoySocMed @WilliamMcGeown @EdinPublishing @LSCICB @LancashireRKE @BBCLancashire @leponline @lancstelegraph
@Uni_Lancashire @LancsHospitals @GrahamLiver
@FNDSociety @NIRSlearn @KH118118 @SelmaAybek
@TomPlender @fndfriends @FNDDimensions @FndRecovery

[Physio Meets Science @PhysioMeScience]

Just published in “Clinical Journal of Pain”

𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗻

https://t.co/Cn8DqFe05j

[Chris Gaskell @chrisgaskell92]

A great opportunity for people with FND/carers to shape research and patient care!

Questionnaires matter for identifying need and treatment impact. Please consider taking part or sharing.

Time paid in Amazon vouchers.

@ConnectFnd @FNDHopeUK @FNDDimensions
@FNDandMe1978

[FNDConnect @ConnectFnd]

Bolton father who became paralysed 'almost overnight' to help others - https://t.co/RQYW0qD0Sk #FNDaware

[FNDConnect @ConnectFnd]

A lucky escape!

#functionalstroke
#FNDaware https://t.co/UuJwKFGBDt

[FNDConnect @ConnectFnd]

Good girl, Annie! 🐾

A golden guardian | News, Sports, Jobs - The Mining Journal - https://t.co/tw1tGEz4qV

[Abhijit Das @Brain_Tinkerer]

A much needed write up.

[FNDConnect @ConnectFnd]

Functional/dissociative seizures: Progress not perfection - Valente - Wiley Online Library - https://t.co/hihqjn4dEp #GoogleAlerts