Stress and anxiety trigger terrible neurological disease and paralyze a London woman from the waist down

Financial and work stress has left a 21-year-old woman unable to walk or talk, caused by a rare neurological disorder from which doctors say she may never recover.

According to media reports, Londoner Dani Cooper spent months fearing for her finances before she became paralysed, unable to move her legs and was hospitalised. Doctors say Dani's ordeal began when she came home from work one day feeling dizzy and nauseous, but she dismissed the signs as mere tiredness.

But the fit young woman began to struggle to walk to the kitchen and went to a hospital emergency room, where her symptoms were dismissed as migraines made worse by her period. The next morning, the former caregiver woke up unable to speak or move.

Diagnosis of a functional neurological disorder

After that, extensive tests were conducted and eventually Dani was diagnosed with functional neurological disorder (FND) – a condition in which the brain has problems sending and receiving information. According to her doctors, financial and work-related stress, triggered by the cost of living crisis, were the main reasons for her situation.

Dani said that because of the high rents, she was barely able to afford food and accommodation.

Although she was able to speak again within a week, she still finds it difficult to walk and relies on a wheelchair to get to work. “I had been worried about money for a long time. I had to choose between food and petrol to get to work – the cost of living crisis hit me hard. Eventually I fell into a deep depression, crying every day and that probably triggered the condition,” said Dani, who can no longer go to work. “FND is like when a computer has too many tabs open and crashes. My brain shut down and stopped communicating with my body. My life changed overnight,” she told the Sun.

What is a functional neurological disorder?

According to experts, FND is not caused by any disease or injury. For unknown reasons, the nervous system malfunctions, causing extreme weakness, paralysis of the limbs, recurrent seizures, tremors and twitches, and other nervous system symptoms.

Doctors say FND is rare in children under 10 years old. Before age 50, it is more likely to occur in women, and after that, it affects men and women equally. Although the cause of FND is unclear, this condition and its symptoms are real. It causes serious suffering and cannot be turned on and off at will.

Signs and symptoms of FND

FND causes a range of symptoms that affect your body movements, senses and thinking: