I was a perfectionist and set myself very high standards. If things weren’t quite right it would cause panic. I suffered from anxiety, depression and exhaustion but I felt stuck. Sit down to rest in the evenings? Forget it! I would feel like a failure if I did that. I remember chatting to a friend who said she was going to watch tv with a glass of wine. I burst into tears. Why couldn’t I do that? I didn’t know there was another way.

Then things got more serious…

To begin with there seemed to be no pattern to when I would feel exhaustion or fatigue, including low concentration, drop falls and muscle tremors and spasms. At my worst, I was so low on energy that I would sit at the kitchen table holding my head up and my fiancé would have to feed me.

Then one evening at the beginning of April 2013, my symptoms continued for four hours which was both terrifying and exhausting. I am so glad that happened because without that I never would have been referred to Neurology and actually get a diagnosis. At the end of that month I was given the diagnosis of Functional Neurological Disorder. It is a condition that affects around a third of people attending neurology out-patients’ clinics but not many people have heard of it.