Mental health and mobility problems

[doricgirl80]

Has anyone experienced mobility issues related to their mental health? I am having a lot of trouble walking and most tests are clear and everyone is saying talk to mental health team but I have no idea what they might do. Anyone with similar experiences?

Could they be referring to it as functional? I have a condition called Fnd which is psychological distress manifested as physical symptoms.

Have you seen neurology who can rule organic causes out? According to the neurologist I see, 25%+ of his patients are functional disorders. They are involuntary and are not faked or malingered although a lot of medics don't understand them and so blame the patient.

Think of your brain like a computer, the hardware is fine (so no lesions/ tumours etc) but the software keeps crashing (no virus) but it is linked to psychological factors.

Have a look at neurosymptoms website by Dr Jon Stone and FND hope for more information.

I've been lucky enough to have specialist treatment for this via the NHS which has really helped me via a biological psychological social approach.

You deserve proper answers.

Thank you. Tbh this is what I think it is too and I have no problem with that but no one seems to think it’s much of an issue as all the tests came back clear. I asked the GP about it being functional but she just kept explaining why it’s unlikely I have MS. How did you get a referral if you don’t mind me asking?

My neurologist basically treated the symptoms I had as far as possible. Then I made a private appointment with Dr Mark Edwards from London (I could have seen him on the NHS but it wasn't feasible physically for me to travel to London) so I saw him privately in Dublin. (I'm in Northern Ireland). He confirmed the diagnosis and recommended a unit in Leeds general infirmary so my local neurologist applied for funding which we got and I spent nearly 6 months there.

I arrived in a wheelchair and struggled to walk a few steps and when I was leaving I nearly forgot to bring the chair back with me (as it was thru my local NHS).

The psychological stuff was very difficult for me (it induced symptoms but gradually got better), I have many sessions of Emdr. This was added to physio input, dietary input, medication revision, occupational therapy, daily 1-2-1 time with very supportive staff, weekly team meetings where patient meets to discuss goals, feelings, plans, encouragement to social activities, social mealtimes where one member of staff sat down and ate a hospital meal with us, breakfast was help yourself and if wanted we could make our own food and were encouraged to cook one meal per week with occupational therapy. Groups were about twice a day if we wanted to attend them.

Thank you so much for sharing this - am glad it helped you so much and really good to hear this help exists. I looked into it and there is a specialist centre where I live so I will look into referrals. Thank you for giving me the confidence to pursue it.

My mum has a friend who had a huge breakdown, and as a result forgot how to walk. Had to learn again from scratch.