You haven’t lost yourself.
FND didn’t take you out of the story.
It changed the angle you’re seeing it from.
Different perspective. Different pace.
Still you. Still here.
That counts.
#FND #FNDaware
FND, explained simply:
Your brain sends signals like
“move,” “speak,” “stand.”
With FND, the signal gets scrambled
on the way.
The body isn’t broken.
The message just doesn’t land.
It’s not imagined.
It’s neurological.
#FND #FNDaware
Living with FND means doing things
most people do without thinking.
Moving. Speaking. Standing.
All are deliberate acts
costing energy and requiring focus.
So if you made it through today,
that counts.
Even if no one else saw the effort.
In the East: “Visceral Agitation,” “Rebellion Counterflow,” “Insanity.”
Seen as Qi or Vata imbalance.
Diagnosing #FND has long been forcing a square peg into a round hole.
The name changed.
The bias didn’t, especially gender bias.
tinyurl.com/2t8mtm2c, tinyurl.com/y56wbcp6
#FNDaware
Before #FND,
it was called Conversion Disorder, “Hysteria,”
even “Demonic Possession” in the West.
Over 3,000 years ago, early diagnoses were recorded, mainly in women.
For centuries Western medicine stayed focused there.
The condition didn’t change.
The labels did.
tinyurl.com/3te95ed6
#FNDaware
FND makes people uncomfortable
because it doesn’t behave the way they expect.
Not “visible enough” to feel physical
Not “psychological enough” to feel mental
So people default to doubt.
The condition isn’t confusing.
Our expectations of illness are.
#FND #FNDaware
Small tricks that can help during a flare-up of symptoms:
Distract → Remember, this too shall pass.
Shift your breathing rhythm, take deep long breathe.
You’re grounding your brain, remember the flare-up is now but not forever.
If you're lucky, the flare-up stops.
#FND #FNDaware
Demonstration of the Hoover's Test. Stone, J., & Sharpe, M. (2001). Hoover’s sign. Practical Neurology, 1(1), 50–53.
For example, Hoover's Test (seen below) is one of the tests to get to a diagnosis. (Stone, J., & Sharpe, M. (2001). Hoover’s sign. Practical Neurology, 1(1), 50–53. litfl.com/wp-content/u...)
I am, #FNDaware ,Functional Neurological Disorder, Are you?
Myth: “FND is a diagnosis of exclusion.”
Fact: There are tests to positively diagnose #FND.
Think:
• software issue
• not hardware issue
Medicine is still catching up to that idea.
April is FND Awareness Month
#FNDaware
Joints locking, limbs trembling, body tics. One at a time or all at once.
And lastly cognitive effects, short term memory, difficulty speaking, and my eyes become painful. That's the thing all my symptoms are predominantly on my right side.
I'm always in pain. #FunctionalNeurologicalDisorder
Now imagine explaining to someone that trying harder just makes things worse. You don't push through.
Then there are the involuntary body movements.
Imagine your body becomes out of sync…
but everything looks normal on the blood test and imagery.
You try to walk with a limp some days much worse.
"Remember, there is nothing physically wrong with your leg." That's a very cold comfort
That’s my daily reality with #FND.
If you’ve never heard of FND before, you’re not alone.
It’s more common than people realize and widely misunderstood.
I’ll be breaking it down here over time.
#FunctionalNeurologicalDisorder
FND isn’t rare.
It’s just rarely recognized.
It affects how the brain sends signals to the body's movement, speech, even consciousness regions.
The wiring is there.
The signals just don’t land correctly.
That’s not imaginary.
That’s neurological.
#FND
I emailed my reps. They are the ones with power now. If they fail us, then it's up to us.
actionnetwork.org/letters/emai...
We can multitask:
-ICE, CBP
-Minneapolis and elsewhere
-Tactics not changed
-Trade Wars and potentially hot wars
-Economy tanking because of tariffs (which we pay)
-the East Wing is rubble
-I know there are more
And why does Trump keep appearing as a suspect in the Epstein Files!
Don't let up!
"I'm coming to Boston and I'm bringing hell with me."
--Homan in February
"Do I expect violence to escalate? Absolutely."
-- Tom Homan in March
"I actually thought about getting up and throwing that man a beating right there in the middle of the room"
-- Homan in July, referring to a D congressman
The Federal government is led by living embodiments, caricatures of Toxic Masculinity.
Maryland's attorney general has cleared cops of wrongdoing in 95% of police-involved death cases his office is responsible for investigating
Protestors turn from Pratt Street and block traffic on Calvert Street.
How Baltimore organizers are preparing to fight back against ICE baltimorebeat.com/how-baltimor...
At first, I thought the agents were using a urinal. That would've been more appropriate.
Video of the inside of this detention center have come out showing inhumane conditions.
I just wrote a @theactionnetwork.bsky.social letter: Tell Your Public Officials: Shut Down ICE Detention at 31 Hopkins Plaza and ABOLISH ICE. Write one here: actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...
"But the truth is that book banners are cowards... Of change. Social progress. Losing their unearned privilege and power. They cling to control by restricting our access to information: accurate historical accounts, diverse storytelling, critical awareness."
www.thebanner.com/opinion/colu...
Reclaiming FND for Rehabilitation Medicine – new open access editorial
Neurorehab colleague Phil Milburn-McNulty and I set out why Rehab Medicine is so well-suited to treating FND, why they historically haven’t and what can be done to change things.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
The recording of my talk "How to be a Video Game Archaeologist," presented at ITU Copenhagen, is now online! It's the most comprehensive overview of my PhD research I've given
New @aanmember.bsky.social guidelines for the management of functional seizures led by Ben Tolchin. A landmark for people with FND worldwide.
✅Rigorous evidence-based process
✅Consensus practical recommendations
✅Endorsed by @fndsociety.bsky.social
www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/...
The real reason for the season. #solidarity #crushice
👍🏽⚡
Sociolinguist Shelley Dawson has an insightful chapter in this new book called "Long Covid vs. Functional Neurological Disorder: Punching Down"
It details the dismissal, rhetorical tricks, and stigma that a handful of Long Covid researchers use to invalidate FND
www.routledge.com/Clashing-Vul...
