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The Power of Hope in a Hopeless World

Early on in the diagnosis process of Conversion Disorder/Functional Neurologic Disorder, I realized that I knew more about my disorder than the doctors, therapists, and psychiatrists helping me. This became painfully obvious when I heard one doctor exclaim, “There is no cure for this.” Really?? That’s what you tell someone scared out of their wits, falling all over themselves and generally feeling like they’re on death’s door?

His translation of my disorder really came down to, “There’s no hope for you! So go be a good little girl, enjoy your non-seizures and pay the lady at the desk when you walk out.”

Okay, I might harboring a little ill will, but, really, who with CD/FND…

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Featured

 When symptoms don’t fit: a case series of conversion disorder in the pediatric otolaryngology practice

Conversion disorder refers to functional bodily impairments that can be precipitated by high stress situations including trauma and surgery. Symptoms of conversion disorder may mimic or complicate otolaryngology diseases in the pediatric population.

Articles of Interest

Conversion Disorder vs Periodic Paralysis

Although it took me 62 years to get a diagnosis, statistics indicate it takes approximately 20 years for someone to get a diagnosis for Periodic Paralysis. This is inexcusable and is due to several factors. First, everything else must be ruled out and secondly, because it looks “fake” to doctors. One of the physicians, who originally diagnosed me, told me that of the few patients he has had with Periodic Paralysis, they were all diagnosed with “conversion disorder” before they got their diagnosis. I myself received this diagnosis, as did most of the 125 members of my Periodic Paralysis Network Support and Education Group.

I was written off as a faker because I have a mental illness

I remember this strong feeling of heaviness, I could not move or even talk. But I could hear everything that was going on around me. I found it incredibly frustrating (but somewhat amusing now looking back) listening to the paramedics and police trying to work out who I was and what had happened to me. I was scared and stuck.

It’s Not All In Your Head: Unraveling The Mystery Of Conversion Disorder

For the patient, whether they are in an emotionally repressed society or not, the experience of living with Conversion Disorder is akin to any other patient’s experience of chronic pain, illness or trauma. For the patient, the symptoms are real, the pain is real and the need for empathy and treatment is great. The ongoing stigma attached to mental illness, chronic pain and other oft-termed “invisible illnesses” may prevent many from seeking treatment. And surely, it prevents all from feeling at home in their own minds and bodies.

A Brief History of Conversion Disorder

The first documented cases of what we know call conversion disorder date back to ancient Egypt and around 1900 BC in the Eber Papyrus, the oldest medical document discovered.

Conversion disorder diagnosis rarely made, poorly explained

The underlying cause is not well-understood by medical science. The term “conversion” refers to a psychodynamic theory that unconscious conflicts are “converted” to physical symptoms.

Conversion disorder: advances in our understanding

The diagnosis of a possible conversion disorder should be considered when neurologic signs are atypical, do not conform anatomically or are at odds with the results of clinical investigations. In such a situation, excessive investigations carry an iatrogenic risk and may prolong a patient’s symptoms. The absence of a clearly identifiable stressor is not uncommon; such an absence does not invalidate the diagnosis and clinicians should not be dissuaded from further psychological inquiry.

Conversion Disorder: An Insight into the Basics

They present as physical symptoms like blindness, paralysis, numbness etc. which cannot be explained by physical evaluation and are due to some underlying psychological conflict or a mental illness. In the beginning, people with conversion disorders were thought to be malingering, which means to make-up or pretend to have certain symptoms just to get attention or for other sort of gains because their occurrence could not be justified by any physical cause. They are sometimes related to certain stressors or a past trauma or other types of complex mental illnesses and personality disorders.

Conversion disorder? One patient’s ‘moving’ story

Lonely and grieving her daughter’s death, Ms. M confronts diminishing coordination and increasing involuntary limb movements. Doctors say she has conversion disorder. Is this diagnosis correct?

It Could Just Be Stress: The Teens of LeRoy and Conversion Disorder

One argument used against conversion disorder as a diagnosis for what's currently going on in tiny LeRoy is that the diagnosis is uncommon and it doesn't make sense to see it in so many teenagers at once.

Neural correlates of conversion disorder: overview and meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies on motor conversion disorder

Conversion Disorders (CD) are prevalent functional disorders. Although the pathogenesis is still not completely understood, an interaction of genetic, neurobiological, and psychosocial factors is quite likely.

Taking the 'mystery' out of conversion disorder

"To say that they're faking, it's just inappropriate. People do not fake things that adversely affect their life in such a way. ... [Conversion disorder] is simply a reflection that something is wrong in the mind, brain and body."

Resources

16 Signs You (Or Someone You Know) Has Conversion Disorder

Imagine you're just finishing up your lunch break when you suddenly can't move your legs. Up until this point, you were perfectly healthy with no signs of any kind of physical illness. It would be terrifying, to say the least — and this is exactly what happens when someone has conversion disorder.

Conversion Disorder and Mass Hysteria

Conversion disorder is a psychiatric, rather than neurological, disorder. It arises out of the way one uses his or her brain rather than from some lesion, infection or injury of their brain tissue. Yet it is critical to understand that victims of conversion disorder do not fake symptoms.

Convert This!

Living With Conversion Disorder.