‘GP told me to get moving after neurological disorder paralysed me’

Sumeet Singhal, a consultant neurologist at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, said the lack of understanding around the condition needed to change.

“For something so common and that affects so many young people – the fact that it’s still not so well known, the fact that most doctors still don’t really have a very good understanding of it – it’s something we need to focus on,” Dr Singal said.

“In most places it’s not even taught in medical school which is something that needs to change.”

Dr Singhal said FND can affect neurological function without causing structural damage to the brain or nerves, which can sometimes “confuse people into thinking it’s somehow less real or serious than other conditions we see”.

He added: “Probably most people will tell you that at some stage they’ve been told they’re imagining their condition or even that people might think they’re putting their symptoms on.”