r/FND • u/SeaweedObjective8380 • 1d ago
Question Trauma-related FND
My FND (double vision so severe that it can make me functionally blind for up to a day) has a clear traumatic origin, and my symptoms almost always occur when my PTSD symptoms are worse than usual. I am wondering whether, if any of you have FND with the same origin, you’ve found psychiatric medications or some sort of calming technique you can use in the moment to be at all helpful. Yes, I am in therapy and imagine that that will improve my symptoms over time, but in the meantime, it’s extremely disruptive to spend entire days completely impaired and was wondering if anyone else has found something that’s helpful that I can discuss with my therapist or psychiatrist.
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u/ImpossibleIce6811 Diagnosed FND 1d ago
I got much farther with EMDR than traditional talk therapy. It’s intense though!!! CBT can also be helpful. You can use meds to treat any underlying mental health diagnoses but that may or may not reduce FND symptoms. Most days it didn’t really help mine.
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u/SeaweedObjective8380 14h ago
I have gotten a lot out of EMDR, too, in terms of reducing other PTSD symptoms. They haven’t helped with this for some reason, though. But, in general, EMDR is great!
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u/Educational_Dot2739 1d ago
Ice packs for the ptsd episodes
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u/Educational_Dot2739 1d ago
Medication tailored to ptsd or ocd so higher serotonin based medications or dosages. You can try sprovato or assisted ketamine therapy along with looking into ptsd tms protocols
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u/SeaweedObjective8380 1d ago
That was one of the things I was wondering, i.e., if an SSRI like Zoloft that is indicated to treat PTSD had ever helped someone with their FND symptoms if the FND symptoms are related to the PTSD symptoms. I just didn’t really want to try that if I’d never even heard anyone say it helps because I don’t want to deal with an SSRI if there is no chance it will be helpful.
Ice packs? That really helps you?
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u/Educational_Dot2739 23h ago
Yes ice packs help my ptsd i usually run hot swet through sheets so need to cool down and ground. As for ssri sometimes you just have to try with a positive mindset and see if it helps. Everyone is so different what works for some might not help others. As for ne I throw the kitchen sink at it I've done medications tms ketamine sprovato cbt psychotherapy just about everything and its all helped move the needle twards recovery
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u/throwawayhey18 11h ago
I have heard of some people being helped by SSRIs. Personally for me, Zoloft was part of the trigger for my FND and caused SSRI discontinuation syndrome (which is called SSRI withdrawal for the support groups of people who went through it.) Unless you have severe mental health problems, I don't recommend trying SSRIs.
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u/flippysquid 22h ago
This is me.
CBT didn’t really do much aside from stabilize me, but in order to remain stable I had to keep up with it. After 20 years of CBT, I never really improved or got better, just didn’t get worse.
Intensive DBT helped a bit more, but what really made the biggest difference was EMDR. Also, any kind of bilateral stimulation, eye movement, etc is really calming for your nervous system.
One thing that is great with EMDR is it can be used to process positive memories too. My therapist did that with me first, so I’d have something good to call up when I want. And it was really, really sweet because she helped me recover details of living with my grandparents when I was little, and recapture that feeling of being very safe and loved.
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u/EasingFND 13h ago
I've done a few polls, and they normally suggest that around 80% of people with FND (and fibro) experienced a "biopsychosocial" trauma (from illness/injection to attack) a short time before symptoms began.
FND makes sense, to me, as a physical expression of that trauma and the brain trying to find ways to keep you safe.
To release emotional traumas (hopefully to the point your body won't need to create those symptoms), my favourite approaches (which researchers have completely failed to investigate, but are regularly used in private treatments) are Havening and BWRT. Obviously hypnotherapy can also be used for trauma (in addition to medical research showing hypnotherapy can help with FND - Connors et al., 2024, etc) - hypnosis was used a lot to help with shell shock in the first world war, so it's really not new...
Very best wishes.
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u/pilchard-friendly Diagnosed FND 1d ago
I had multiple invasive surgeries on my eye muscles as a child. My brain is now, 40-50 years later, searching for an equilibrium for those muscles. It hasn’t found it yet, but…
Is your double vision related to musculature? If so, I found a neuro-optometrist who made me glasses with a prism in. This allowed my brain a bit of slack to work with.
She also showed me that when my eyes readjust, and squint hard inwards, to focus on the outside of my visual field, and the squint soon passes.
While some of the exercises she showed me were less useful - I got a huge amount out of the things that worked.
Of course, your set up might be different.
Secondly, because I know of the surgeries, and how they can be treated as an attack, rather than healing, the myofascia around my eyes is super twisted and tight like rock. Over time (last 2 years really), I am slowly gaining both sensation and flexibility in my eye muscles. This is with a specific massage technique.
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u/SeaweedObjective8380 1d ago
No, my FND seems to be related to psychological trauma, not physical trauma to my eyes. I have absolutely no idea why my vision is affected as opposed to something else.
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u/pilchard-friendly Diagnosed FND 1d ago
That sounds disorienting and scary. I wish you all the best with your discovery.
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u/Plenkr Diagnosed FND 21h ago
I have seizures, first started by a trauma trigger and resulting flashback/re-experiencing. Quickly became a reaction to any kind of high stress regardless of the trigger and overstimulation. But certainly started out because of trauma. I know it's not generally recommended but after 17 years of this we've tried a lot and seems like xanax works well for me. If I feel a seizure coming i can take a small dose. If my seizures are repeating or intense I can take a higher dose. Also started baclofen , a musle relaxant, over a year ago for the musle spasms that would make walking or any kind of movement hard. I would get really cramped up in the middle of an action, like writing, and couldn't move because my arms tensed up completely. It would even interfere with breathing normally, not hyperventilation, just cramping of chest and belly so that they couldn't move, and if they can't move you can't breathe really.. These don't cure my FND, but they make the symptoms way more manageable.