Functional Neurological Disorder: How to manage your symptoms
Date issued: May 2021
Review date: May 2023
Ref: D-350/CH/Learning Disability Team/Functional Neurological Disorder
Functional Neurological Disorder how to manage your symptoms final May 2021.pdf [pdf] 1MB
Functional Neurological Disorder (FND):
Functional Neurological Disorder sounds very complicated and is hard to say. For the rest of this booklet we are going to shorten it to FND.
Let’s break down these words:
Function = is our how body normally works; how it functions day to day
Neurological = is anything to do with our nerves and the messages they send to our brains
Disorder= is when something doesn't work as well as it should
So put altogether FND is a condition that affects your brain and causes your body not to function as it should.
FND is not a disease or a condition that will kill you.
FND can feel quite scary. You may have been having lots of different symptoms and couldn't understand what had caused these.
You may have:
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Stopped being able to move parts of your body as normal
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Had problems talking
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Noticed a difference in how you touch, see or smell things
Your brain receives millions of messages from the nerves around your body every single day.
Sometimes our brains can’t cope as well with all of these messages and we start to feel unwell.
This is what FND is. How we feel can also affect the symptoms we have. This booklet has been written to help you manage your symptoms.
Making small changes:
Making small changes to what you do on a daily basis can help with your FND symptoms and mood.
Try doing something that speeds up your heart beat once a day. You can do this by:
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Taking the stairs rather than using a lift
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Walking, jogging or doing an exercise DVD
Being active helps with:
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Sleeping well
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Being a healthy weight
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Reducing anxiety or depression
Think about what you do each day. Are there any times or things that cause you stress?
5 things:
When stressed people have lots of thoughts racing around their head which can feel too much to cope with.
It can help to ground yourself; concentrate on how this moment now feels. A simple way of doing this is the ‘5 things’ technique.
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Name 5 things you can see right now
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Name 4 things you can feel right now
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Name 3 things you can hear right now
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Name 2 things you can smell right now
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Name 1 thing you can taste right now
Simple goals:
Set yourself small goals each day.
Write a simple to-do list and order tasks by how important they are.
What can you do to complete your goals? Are there any goals that may trigger your stress? Can someone else do these tasks for you?
Try changing jobs to be done during the day. Do something physical for example: hoover or make your bed and then do something that makes you think—for
example: complete a puzzle or a crossword.
This will break up your day and give your body and brain the chance to rest between tasks.
One thing to enjoy each day:
If you feel stressed or overwhelmed it is important to pace yourself. Ensure your goals are realistic and take steps so you can complete them.
It is important to make time for things that boost your mood and bring you joy.
Try to fit at least one thing that you enjoy doing into every day.
This can be the same thing or something completely different each day. For example:
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Baking
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Painting
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Listening to music
