Rachael’s Story | FND Awareness Day UK 2026

I first experienced FND symptoms in 2020 when I was 13 year old, and was officially diagnosed about 3 years later by a neurologist.

My symptoms started off as ‘fainting’ episodes but slowly developed into convulsive seizures, weakness in my legs, and more recently ticks (to name a few symptoms…). They can vary in severity greatly from multiple seizures every day in a week, to 4 months of no seizures! But even when my seizures are somewhat ‘stable’, I still experience other symptoms like chronic pain in my legs, fatigue, and dizziness.

There really is no end to how FND can affect you! Anyone of any age can be impacted and symptoms vary greatly from person to person and even change over time.

What really helped me to improve my symptoms was having an appointment with an FND specialist in London. She only offered one appointment per patient but explained the condition really well! and now, knowing what is happening when I am unwell, is really helpful as I can avoid certain triggers and change certain lifestyle habits to help me.

~ By Rachael, Age 19