{"id":15660,"date":"2025-04-09T20:43:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T20:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neurosymptoms.org\/?page_id=15660"},"modified":"2025-04-09T20:44:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T20:44:07","slug":"ronis-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/neurosymptoms.org\/en\/stories\/functional-seizures\/ronis-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Roni's Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>Living Between Seizures and Silence<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

My Journey with Epilepsy and FND: Struggle, Discovery, and Hope
<\/strong> (by Roni \u2013 April 2025)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a>When Seizures Were Only the Beginning<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For years, epilepsy defined my life\u2014or so I thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seizures were frightening but manageable at first. I adapted to their unpredictability. I learned to live between the storms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But slowly, my body began to betray me in ways even seizures could not explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sudden paralysis. Weeks without speech. Total physical shutdowns that left me trapped inside my own skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the while, the tests came back “normal.” Doctors were puzzled\u2014or dismissive. Friends slipped away. I lost my job. I lost my voice. I lost pieces of myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the seizures continued\u2014violent, relentless\u2014layering fear upon fear. I wasn’t just living with epilepsy anymore. I was fighting an invisible, unnamed war on two fronts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a>A Life Shrinking in Silence<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There were whole seasons when I couldn\u2019t walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would lie in bed, fully awake but unable to move my legs. I would open my mouth to speak\u2014and nothing would come out. Most recently, in March 2025, I lost my voice for 22 full days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neurologists, MRIs, EEGs, new medications\u2014hope after hope collapsed under the weight of unanswered questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one could explain why my hands stopped working. Why I collapse without warning. Why my body refused to obey me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I began to feel invisible\u2014screaming inside a silence no one could hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a single mother, the guilt was unbearable. How do you explain to a child that you can\u2019t walk or talk\u2014and no one knows why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even on the days I could barely move, I fought. For her. For myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a>Finding a Name: FND<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In March 2025, after another traumatic collapse, I turned to what I had left: my own determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I devoured medical journals. I watched patient stories. I compared symptoms, notes, clues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And on April 3, 2025, I found the missing piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Functional Neurological Disorder (FND).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At last, there was a name for the nightmares that had no diagnosis. FND explained the unexplained: the paralysis, the speech loss, the collapses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn’t crazy.
 I wasn’t imagining it.
 It was real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FND doesn\u2019t replace my epilepsy\u2014it stands beside it, complicating it. Two disorders intertwined, demanding different approaches, different forms of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now, at least, I had a map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a>How I Fight Back<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Living with both epilepsy and FND is exhausting. Some days, survival feels like a full-time job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I have built my own set of weapons\u2014small, sacred tools that keep me standing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n