by Jake Meeus-Jones

A woman who suffers 17 seizures a day and tics that cause her to hit herself in the head with a knife says a rare disorder has “taken her life away”.

Blissica Pearson, from Maidstone, woke up in September 2023 with "excruciating" stomach pains and was rushed to hospital.

But after a CT scan and chest x-ray doctors couldn't find anything wrong and the 22-year-old was discharged.

However, her pains returned the next day and despite doctors still being unable to find a clear cause, she was discharged with morphine.

With the pain relief not working, Blissica returned to hospital and began to tic and spasm "almost five times a second" and struggled to talk.

Doctors were eventually able to stabilise her but still weren't able to pinpoint the issue and she continued to suffer from extreme ticking and spasming at home.

After a visit to a chiropractor to relieve pain in her jaw from the ticking, Blissica was urged to have a scan of her brain.

Warning: some readers may find the following video distressing to watch

Within 20 minutes of sitting down with a private neurologist, she was diagnosed with functional neurologic disorder (FND)

It is a problem with how the brain sends and receives messages that can cause tics, seizures and weakness.

Since her diagnosis, Blissica hasn't been able to do things on her own or work due to her seizures and regularly loses the ability to speak in stressful situations.

The former head of shipping said: "It's taken my life away.

"When I have stressful situations around I can lose my speech again. I'm always dropping and falling over.

"I can't curl my hair because it results in burning from the hair straighteners when I tic.

"My life got taken away from me overnight but I'm not letting it be my life - I'm living my life with FND.

"I remember when I was having my brain scan and I was doing my eyelashes whilst waiting. I've not let myself crumble to FND.

"I can't do anything alone, so I have to rely and count on other people.

"Even to see my partner, my family have to drive me and he drops me home. I can't learn to drive now until I've recovered.

"I can't work anymore. I am getting sick pay at the moment but that stops after 28 weeks so it'll be stopping in a month. That's terrifying and there's no way I can work."

Blissica’s dad died when she was six-months-old and she was bullied at school. She believes this may have contributed to trauma resulting in her FND diagnosis.

She said: "I've gone through a lot of trauma from childhood. At school, I was horrendously bullied.

"Someone took a photo of me as I was getting changed in Year 9 and shared it round the school.

"But for years at school I was bullied and attacked, so much so that I changed my name when I was older.

"That was very traumatising as a kid. I was too scared to leave the house for years."

Blissica was denied the personal independence payment (PIP) due to not having enough evidence at the time.

She said: "I had no proof and evidence backed up.

"They've shut applications now but I've now got doctors notes saying I can't bathe on my own, that I'm in a wheelchair, can't cook for myself etc."

Blissica had lost her speech at the time of her diagnosis and only remembers being told that the condition is reversible.

She said: "I couldn't talk as I was a mess at the time.

"I don't really remember, all I remember was him saying FND is a condition that can be reversed with the likes of CBT, but when I tried that it was really bad for me.

"I'm trying therapy at the moment and if worst comes to worst I'm going to go into FND rehab at the end of the year.

"I gained my speech back a few weeks later. My sister would play Justin Bieber songs in the car and I would try and sing along and mumble."

Blissica's advice to any others who are in a similar position is to seek help and not try and battle it on their own.

She added: "Therapy is so important for everyone.

"Turning into an adult can be so detrimental in your life. Last year was the best year of my life and most life-changing in a bad way.

"I'm grateful it's happened now, when I have a family and kids I'll be able to be the best mother I can.

"Don't let FND take over your life, if you can.

"I do get embarrassed and feel ugly because I'm disabled but it's horrendous to even think that but I'm trying to learn to feel cute and attractive with this.

"There are days when I go out with my partner and I'll look and feel fine but other days when I'm having seizures that can be really heavy."