Crippling brain condition that left an under-18 kayaking world champion in a ...

Having won two gold medals in the 2017 under-18 kayaking world cup when she was just 15, it’s fair to say Georgia Carmichael was in peak condition.

But just six weeks after the event, she was struck down with searing headaches, chronic fatigue and an unbearable sensitivity to bright lights. Within months, she had suffered a devastating seizure, leaving her paralysed from the waist down and reliant on round-the-clock care.

The only possible cause, she believed, was a bump to the head weeks earlier, following a minor fall in the changing room at her school.

Just months after winning two gold medals in the 2017 under-18 kayaking world cup, Georgia Carmichael had suffered a devastating seizure, leaving her paralysed from the waist down and reliant on round-the-clock care

Just months after winning two gold medals in the 2017 under-18 kayaking world cup, Georgia Carmichael had suffered a devastating seizure, leaving her paralysed from the waist down and reliant on round-the-clock care

But as Georgia, from Marlow, Buckinghamshire, later learned, this seemingly insignificant knock was enough to trigger a crippling neurological condition that would change her life for ever.

Georgia was – eventually – diagnosed with functional neurological disorder, or FND. It affects the central nervous system – and, for decades, has been dismissed by doctors as being ‘all in the mind’. And that leaves FND patients’ fighting to be taken seriously, in a similar way to those with chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME.

This is also thought to be a fault with the central nervous system, and affects 250,000 Britons. ME causes physical and mental fatigue as well as painful limbs, loss of concentration and digestive issues.

Distressingly, as no physical cause can be found, ME was commonly misdiagnosed, often as depression, stress or another mental health problem, as symptoms can seem similar.

Now, leading experts have dubbed FND ‘the new ME’ and warn that, for similar reasons, thousands of Britons may not be receiving appropriate treatment.

Dr Tim Nicholson, a neuropsychiatrist at London’s Maudsley and King’s College hospitals, says: ‘As has been the case with ME, FND has very often been misconstrued as something imagined or faked because the disorder falls between the gap of physical and mental health. Sadly, even some doctors may dismiss it as feigned because they can find no physical evidence for it.’

Weeks before the stroke, she was struck down with searing headaches, chronic fatigue and an unbearable sensitivity to bright lights.

Weeks before the stroke, she was struck down with searing headaches, chronic fatigue and an unbearable sensitivity to bright lights.

Yet Georgia’s incapacitated state, 17 months after the onset of symptoms, proves that the horrific consequences of FND are undoubtedly a reality. The schoolgirl, now 17, says: ‘I now have no control of my body. I’m unable to even sit up. I basically have the abilities of a newborn baby.’

And she is not alone. A series of recent studies have revealed that thousands of Britons may be suffering from this cruel but hidden illness.

British researchers estimate that up to one in six patients treated for neurological problems could be suffering FND, making it the next most common problem after headache conditions. But many remain misdiagnosed.

Experts believe a physical or psychological factor, such as the minor injury Georgia suffered, can trigger the brain to malfunction. It is thought that FND disrupts the messages sent via nerves between the body and the brain.

This causes a range of symptoms similar to those of epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease, including limb weakness, numbness, tremors, blackouts and seizures.

Mobility is often so badly affected, that many are left bed-bound or in a wheelchair.

At best, symptoms are mild and temporary, disappearing after several months. At worst, they are crippling and enduring, continuing for the duration of sufferers’ lives.

When Georgia first presented her cascade of symptoms to doctors in August 2017, after her world cup heroics and that bump on the head, they believed she was suffering concussion.

But soon she became hypersensitive to light and noise, leaving her unable to leave the house without sunglasses and earplugs.

Her mother Cindy, 54, says: ‘Over that summer she changed dramatically. She struggled with lots of people talking at once, she missed school and kayaking practice.’

Eventually, Georgia was forced to give up training completely.

Cindy, a public speaking training consultant, and her husband Dominic, 55, made an appointment with a sports doctor who urged them to take Georgia to see a paediatric neurologist.

It was while waiting for that appointment that Georgia went for a walk – and suffered a stroke-like seizure. Unable to walk or talk, she

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