Imagine taking a small afternoon nap, and waking to find that you can no longer walk. Sounds like a crazy Sci-Fi movie, but this actually happened to a woman in Australia. Doctors tested everything but could find no medical reason for her sudden and terrifying paralysis. Gradual movement returned to her arms overnight, but things got even stranger when the 24-year-old discovered she could still run and stroll backwards.
I knew that I should still physically be able to walk because there was nothing in my brain that was stopping me, but I couldn’t do it,’ Ms Licence told Daily Mail Australia. The more that I would say in my head “walk, you know you can walk, this is stupid Miranda” – I still couldn’t do it.’ Her physiotherapist’s first words to her were ‘I’ve never seen anything like this, But with her supportive father David and partner Sam by her side, fervently researching her puzzling condition online, things started to click. After countless brain scans, a lumbar puncture and multiple blood tests, doctors conceded that there was no organic medical explanation for what was going on. It was then that she was diagnosed with functional neurological symptom disorder, a broad condition also known as conversion disorder. FND sufferers have a problem with their central nervous system, which effectively means they show psychological stress in physical ways.
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