Die folgenden Patienten haben ihre eigenen Geschichten für diese Homepage aufgeschrieben und die Veröffentlichung erlaubt in der Hoffnung damit beitragen zu können, dass andere ihre eigenen Symptome verstehen. Persönliche Daten wurde anonymisiert.

1 - Ian – Headaches, Dizziness and Sensory Symptoms

Ian’s two letters speak for themselves. Click on the buttons below to read them

He wrote the first at a time when he was becoming really desperate because of escalating neurological symptoms.

He had seen two neurologists, had frequent consultations with his GP as well as visits to accident and emergency and his symptoms were getting worse. He felt too unwell to work for many months

He wrote the second letter after receiving a different explanation for his symptoms which helped him to understand them.

He is now back at work and largely symptom free

2- Anna - Tremor, Jerks and Difficulty Walking

Anna woke up one morning with a tremor (shake) of her head. She became unsteady on her feet and developed problems walking.

Fortunately, she was able to find a way to regain control of her symptoms relatively quickly

3 - Mary - Blackouts / Dissociative Attacks

Mary suffered from blackouts for many years before finally learning some techniques to get control of them. Like many patients with dissociative attacks, Mary's blackouts were initially wrongly diagnosed as something else, in her case, they were put down to faints.

4 - Helen - Blackouts / Dissociative Attacks

Helen suffered from attacks for two years before things started to improve for her.

5 - Debbie- Arm Weakness and Pain

Debbie describes recurrent episodes of functional arm weakness and pain as well as the difficulty she has had in having her symptoms taken seriously.

6 - Ken - Weakness and Dissociative Seizures

Ken has had problems with functional weakness superimposed on a childhood neurological problem. He has also had chronic fatigue syndrome and dissociative seizures

7 - Marie - Weakness and Memory Problems

Marie has had recurrent episodes of weakness along with memory symptoms for many years. She describes thet frustration of multiple neurological referrals in her story. she subsequently wrote in on the feedback page (19th Dec 2010) with a follow up post.

8 - Annette - Dissociative Seizures

Annette describes having dissociative seizures for many years. Her attacks are still ongoing.

9 - William - Arm pain (complex regional pain)

William was troubled by persistent arm pain. With a diagnosis and the correct painkillers, he was able to successfully carry out the physiotherapy that helped him to improve

10. Sarah - Functional Weakness and pain and other medical problems

Sarah describes quite a common story. She had a medical problem, in this case with her kidneys, which triggered functional symptoms including left sided weakness and pain. She is still struggling with her symptoms some years later

11. Irene - Functional Movement Disorder (Fixed Dystonia) , Weakness, Pain and Fatigue

Irene describes severely disabling functional neurological symptoms, so severe that she is bedbound. Whilst many functional symptoms are challenging to improve from, and fixed dystonia particularly so, please bear in mind that it is extremely unusual for functional symptoms to be this severe.

Irene describes a common experience of feeling disbelieved by doctors and how, at least knowing what is wrong with her has been of some benefit even though her symptoms have not improved.

11. Philip - Functional Weakness leading to hospitalisation

Philip had experienced some other medical problems including cancer and was in hospital because he was so disabled by functional weakness.

His wife describes through a series of emails finding out and coming to terms with the diagnosis. She describes improvement over time.

12. Gayle  - Functional movement disorder / weakness

Gayle describes going from being a healthy active person to devloping functional movement disorder (fixed dystonia) with considerable disability and episodic weakness associated with dissociation. She describes going through the process of being 'in the dark' about what was wrong and now learning to work round her problems (to some extent) now that she has a better understanding of her symptoms

13. Claire's story - Dissociative (non-epileptic) attacks

Claire sent her story for the feedback page. She describes overcoming frequent attacks with the help of her family and a psychiatrist. She is now free of the attacks

13. Vic's story - Pain followed by limb weakness and other symptoms

Vic describes how she developed pain and then progressive weakness combined with multiple symptoms. She describes how she has been gradually improving with the help of physiotherapy since receiving the correct diagnosis.

14. Stuart's story - Functional tremor and leg weakness with improvement following diagnosis

Stuart describes progressive problems with functional tremor which eventually improved following a greater understanding of the nature of the diagnosis combined with communication between his neurologist and employer.

15. Cherry's story - functional weakness and sensory symptoms, cognitive symptoms, speech, double vision

Cherry describes longstanding symptoms with associated disability. She describes some renewed optimisim now she feels she has a better undertstanding of the problem along with access to physical rehabilitation

16. Hazel's Story - Complex regional pain syndrome for 7 years with complete recovery

Hazel's story shows that it is possible to recover from complex regional pain syndrome. Hazel describes how understanding that the problem was coming from her brain and nervous system, rather than damage to her hand, along with the right physiotherapy and lots of determination were the key ingredients to her recovery

17. Loretta's Story - Functional Limb weakness and then multiple symptoms including pain, depression and bladder symptoms

Loretta describes worsening symptoms of leg weakness and numbness over an 18 month period. She describes difficulty finding health professionals who could offer understanding or hope. More recently she has developed bladder symptoms