Functional movement disorder - I GOT BETTER

I started to write my story in summary but my word count was somewhat high to say the least. It is impossible to summarise this disorder, how it started, how it affected you and how you largely recovered from it. I may still post it (after some editing).

Anyway, hi! I found this group over a year ago during one of my endless searches to learn all that I could about this bizarre disorder I'd been diagnosed with.

A lot of the posts mention stress. I'd like to say that we can logically try to justify a stress response from one thing and dismiss another as being uncalled for. This is our downfall. Emotions are not always logical. They are not always rational. We don't beat ourselves up about dreams we have had because our reactions in them were not 'right' or our feelings were misplaced.

We should embrace our feelings, reflect on them, learn from them, move forward from/with them.

We should be selfish at times, put our own needs before other people's, not worry about how other people might react in certain situations.

And if they do, if all our worries came to light then what? What's the worst that could happen really?

A lot of people have mentioned their happy childhoods and previously happy lives therefore don't understand why this has happened to them.

My first point is that it doesn't always matter what happened, it's when it happened. By when I am referring to the various developmental stages we go through as neurologically and emotionally advanced mammals. Take the author of Peter Pan (I forget his name - apologies) who developed stress induced dwarfism after his brother died and his mother effectively neglected him. Had this happened in adulthood, he would likely have grown 'full size', for want of a better term, and been able to deal with the stresses as an emotionally mature adult.

I understand this is an extreme case but I believe something, now as an adult deemed irrelevant, could have contributed to having FND.

That is not to say that I believe childhood stress is the only cause. Or that there even is a singular cause.

I don't know how significant it was to my recovery, but I started to take fluoxetine, an antidepressant, as I heard it can help with FND. I'd like to note I did not consider myself to be depressed.

It took me years to recover from my movement disorder and tremor but I did it.

I believe there is hope for all of us, whether it's a full recovery or simply ways to ease our symptoms.

It's a long and bumpy road, you take 1 step forward and 20 steps back.

My heart goes out to everyone affected by this disorder, in whatever form.

Thanks for reading,

V xx

[englishmumof2]

I started on fluoxetine march 28th a pill every other day... it's taken away most of my body jolts... no bad side effects! I was very surprised ! Again I don't have depression but I think maybe as these drugs change the flow of chemicals in the brain it helps some how 🙃😌🤗

[nurmihusa in reply to englishmumof2]

My theory...based on my own navel gazing and backed up with research...is that The Problem with Us is we have a much greater difficulty than most in dealing with stressors. In some instances that pops up as simple anxiety, in others as depression, in still others panic attacks and in the special few, FND. Anything that helps us calm down our response to stressors will make a difference in our symptoms.

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V

I enjoyed reading your post. Thank you.

So nice to hear a story of recovery. I also appreciate you expressions of compassion for others.

I listen to many in our community talk about the effects of stress. The timing and duration of periods of stress during life and how that affects us in the long run is less clear to me as a correlation to disease progression.

Meaning, I went from bad to worse to sustained to now irreversible disability over a 24 year period of symptomatic occurrence. All the while, I was offloading stress in my life and physiologic function.

I am not sure how stress became the headline theme of FND for all. I would classify it's role in my case as being minor.

After years of technical reading, I have found how critical it is to not ignore the diseases of which movement disorders are a part. It is impossible to be tested for each of those conditions.

I have discovered from this wonderful community that the ebb and flow of conversation about stress is always tied to the use of the word "functional."

I have a neurologic disease. I only have FND because that was the only label I could be given until they figure out what this disease is in pathological terms.

Still, I continue to listen.

I am no more and no less susceptible to stress than the man in the moon. But that is just me. Everyone else may be different.

Happy life to you V. Enjoy every day.

Dan / Seattle