Where FND comes from.
so far the research we have on why this happens is physiological and psychological.
(My knowledge as a medical student. )
Your limbic system dysfunction that is what causes it now the limbic system processes emotions, flight or fight, motivation, as well as memory and long term memory. Sensory Also regulating stress hormones and sleep hormones.
It’s made up of 5 main parts
Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, Amygdala, Cingulate Gyrus. Among Thalamus, among others)
Why it’s a neuropsychiatric disorder.
people with PTSD Trauma or psychological stresses or physiological stress I.e (viral infections injury or pain)
Have this because it can’t regulate it itself anymore due the stress it was put under, emotions disrupted can cause seizures not being able to regulate why ppl with mental health are more at risk but so are ppl with physiological stress.
Other illnesses caused by limbic system dysfunction and breakdown are, anxiety, PTSD, depression,Addiction, Alzheimers disease, schizophrenia, neuropsychiatric disorders all caused by this disfunction FND is the one that stands out as different that doesn’t share things in common other then the cause (as we know it be)
However it also is tied to epilepsy. Why I believe over 30% of ppl with FND have epilepsy to. (Known as temporal lobe epilepsy) extremely hard to see on an EEG. Nearly impossible they use a specialised epilepsy MRI and SEEG as the best diagnostic tool.
And limbic encephalitis often causing epilepsy limbic encephalitis causing inflammation brain
However FND is so under studied. I have my own opinions on FND firstly i believe they diagnose it way to freely a lot of ppl “have it” simply because they can label quick.
But regarding what FND is
The limbic system is a group of deep brain structures, WHILE they say FND is not electrical i believe it could potentially be electrical in some cases the thing is if FND is caused by the limbic system dysfunction as we know it be an EEG would never pick that up due how deep it is the brain.
If temporal lobe epilepsy (comes from the same place your limbic system) can not be detected on a standard EEG how can they expect this limbic system dysfunction expect to see it with FND as well?
The best diagnostic test for temporal lobe epilepsy is
SEEG A surgeon places tiny wire electrodes directly inside the brain to catch the deep limbic signals.
The second best is a specialised epilepsy MRI looks for scar tissue, shrunken areas hippocampal sclerosis or tiny birth differences in the limbic system causing the seizures
PET scan or SPECT They map blood flow or chemical activity to see which part of the brain is causing seizures in the limbic system or if it comes from other parts.
And VEM however this often detects normal activity.
Epilepsy’s Deep within the brain can not be detected on a standard EEG. Why could that not be the same with FND seeing as where it comes from?
Potentially a stimulus that we haven’t seen before.
FND cases are completely different from each person some are very alike I personally believe there’s a few different things going on, with this one big thing they are Labelling FND. I do believe some are driven under trauma however the markers are clear. Therapy and antidepressants will help. Cases where this doesn’t help need to be re looked at. But again I believe there’s multiple illnesses going on here ones we may not have a name for
This is my few as a medical student unfortunately not uncommon they do this with multiple diseases. Chronic, especially. It’s easier to call it one thing then to call it multiple and do the common symptoms so it can go under an umbrella term.
Just my opinion. What are your thoughts?