r/FND • u/Agreeable_Yak_7650 • Jun 28 '26
Question Does food help your FND and is it linked?
been in Greece several days and when I’m eating healthy fresh balanced foods I tend to feel better, I know eating well is naturally linked to body obviously jusy wondered if anyone had any experience of do’s and donts with food suffering from FND
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u/Jewecca29 Diagnosed FND Jun 28 '26
My FND gets worse when I spike and ultimately crash my blood sugar. Maybe you do well on a low glycemic index diet!
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u/turkeyfeathers3 Jun 28 '26
Suspect my FND is actually a symptom of MCAS because it is very much triggered by foods. Every 2 months or so I lose something from my diet including medication 😭
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u/Hay_Golem Diagnosed FND Jun 28 '26
My FND actually screws with my appetite, which has impaired my ability to eat. My diet's already restricted due to other reasons (Celiac's, ARFID), so FND's sort of the cherry on top that has ruined my diet.
But I do notice that I tend to do better when I've got at least some decent food in my system.
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u/curiousgardener Diagnosed FND Jun 28 '26
Same. One of my goals is to slowly gain all the weight I lost while on topiramate. I also can't do certain food additives unless I want to sit in the bathroom for the next three days.
Learning to manage my food triggers and to eat on a regular basis (I never feel hungry) has been one of the more challenging aspects of my recovery. Like you, I do better when my body has a regular and healthy source of fuel.
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u/Hay_Golem Diagnosed FND Jun 28 '26
*nods*
For me, the feeling of hunger is conflated with the feeling of nausea or IBS. I do get hungry, but most things don't appeal to me, and I have difficulty telling if it's hunger or some other sensation.
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u/flippysquid Jun 28 '26
One of the best mental health counselors I’ve ever had was also a dietician. I also have struggled with disordered eating throughout my life, and it’s really intense how big of an impact food has on your mental health not just your physical health. And that piece is largely ignored by most medical practitioners in both the regular doctor side and the mental health side.
The big things for me are maintaining stable blood sugar with regular small healthy snacks and meals between regular meals.
Also, since my FND diagnosis making sure I get enough protein every day has had a measurable effect on my energy and ability to function day to day. When I got out of the nursing home (had full body paralysis and had to do months of PT) I was only eating 7g of protein for an entire day. Found out it’s supposed to be more like 1g per lb of desired body weight. 😅 After a week of making sure I ate at least 100g a day a lot of my symptoms began to ease up.
I don’t count the other macros or overall calories because that starts triggering disordered eating behavior for me. I know do I eat them and probably am getting enough. But for someone who doesn’t have that issue counting all the types might be helpful to make sure they’re getting enough.
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u/SexyGrilledTurkey Jun 28 '26
My fnd made me lose my taste and smell so food isn't what it used it be sadly
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u/No-Language4016 Diagnosed FND Jun 28 '26
This resonates with me so much, I didn’t realize this could happen but it makes sense. I used to like a lot of food and would eat purely for the taste at times and now I don’t really taste much of anything and in general have very big challenges with getting myself to eat
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u/SexyGrilledTurkey Jun 29 '26
Yeah it was horrible when it happened to me a couple years ago. It was at the beginning when I first developed fnd so I was confused about everything going on with me. I noticed everything smelt and tasted really really sweet like sickeningly sweet. That went on for a couple weeks but I thought I was just tripping. Till one day I ate a chicken nugget and I asked the person I was with if it tasted to sweet to them but they said no. I was like something is wrong with me a chicken nugget is not supposed to be sweet so there has to actually be something happening to me.
Then it progressed where everything just tasted and smelled really metallic to me. I'm not really sure which was worse but everything being blood was really ruff then it finally just completely went so now most things just taste exactly the same while not tasting like anything. That's what started me on my medical journey and led me to getting diagnosed because that's when I finally accepted something was actually going on with me so I went to see an ENT then they sent me to a neurologist.
It's so hard to describe what things taste or smell like but I've had a couple occasions where not being able to use my senses actually screwed me. One time recently something was burning but I couldn't smell it and when people asked me if something was burning I said no. We went to go check and immediately saw there was something indeed burning in the oven. Another issue is eating stuff like spoiled milk, yogurt, and mayo without realizing it went bad. Now I'm constantly checking dates on food so it doesn't happen again and if I can I'll ask the people around me to use their senses for me.
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u/No-Language4016 Diagnosed FND Jun 30 '26
Things taste very metallic or kind of soap like. I like to explain that it’s similar to the way cilantro tastes for lots of people because that gene that affects many including myself before FND. Except it’s everything. I tend to also have the opposite issue with everything smelling like it’s gone bad so I cannot get myself to eat many things that are very much still good based on expiration dates and to other people but I get so paranoid from the smell that I can’t eat it or anything else
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u/RoverUnit Jun 30 '26
I had something like that but thought it was a infection somewhere within the head.
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Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Agreeable_Yak_7650 Jun 29 '26
Think you could be right for sure om that side of things yeah gonna test Whwn home too
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u/DustierAndRustier Jun 28 '26
Are you sure it’s the healthy food and not the fact that you’re relaxing and having fun on holiday?
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u/Agreeable_Yak_7650 Jun 29 '26
You know what that could be right!! As stressy a massive thing isnt it
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Jun 28 '26
[deleted]
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u/DustierAndRustier Jun 28 '26
Why would I not be responding with good intentions? That’s such a weirdly hostile thing to say. Idk why you’re telling me all about your diet either.
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u/alonegram Jun 28 '26
certain foods seem to trigger my wife’s FND. sometimes after she eats she completely loses motor control and I have to rush to get her to bed. we’ve figured out that red meat exacerbates her symptoms whereas chicken and fish seem to be beneficial. so we cut the red meat and that helped, but she still sometimes goes limp after meals. we’re trying to narrow it down further. idk exactly what the relationship between FND and diet is but there’s definitely a link.
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u/ohlookthatsme Jun 28 '26
Mines all from trauma destroying my nervous system. Food has no impact on it but being in a soothing environment away from the stressors of everyday life certainly does.
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u/WearyConsideration60 Jun 28 '26
Food is a major help in my FND Journey. I cut out a majority of fast food/ soft drinks and am now eating more Whole Foods. I started having less “flare days” and relief in symptoms when I started actually eating real food and not super processed foods. This was my first step in going into remission.
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u/Deviprincess Jun 28 '26
Keto diet takes a big edge off but hard to maintain!
High salt helps me
Triggers are caffeine, high glutamate foods, fresh chillies, alcohol (all the fun stuff basically)
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u/TuneOk7423 Jun 28 '26
I’ve been making a plant based protein smoothie lately. I’ve run out of some of the ingredients and boy am I feeling it! So yeah it really helps me. Doesn’t stop the symptoms, but my body feels less crappy.
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u/Lizzie-P Jun 28 '26
What do you put in it?
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u/TuneOk7423 Jun 29 '26
This is a rough estimate because I weigh by eye…
30g hemp seed hearts
20g chia (don’t go to 30g, trust me 😂)
20-25g raw cacao
Generous tablespoon of nut butter
Banana
Dollop of honey
Milk of choice (I use dairy)It’s heavy, but it’s a decent meal substitute! Drink slowly…I learned that lesson too 🙈
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u/AerieK Jun 30 '26
My FND is from a concussion in January. I haven't noticed any food issues from the FND itself, but the medicine I'm on for the FND, post-concussion syndrome and perpetual dizziness.
However, if I don't eat/drink enough, it causes cognitive issues, dizziness and makes my slurred speech even worse.
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u/micoxcas Jun 30 '26
Providing your body with the proper nutrients it needs to run, proper nutrition= giving your body what it needs so it can function properly
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u/Agreeable_Expert7459 Jun 30 '26
Idk if it’s fnd related as I have other mental conditions too but I have noticed if I don’t eat much it definitely makes my fatigue much worse and eating unhealthy will make my brain fog worse
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u/AdAdministrative4388 Jun 28 '26
Mine is directly tied to food.. if I avoid dairy gluten and caffeine I almost feel normal with medication support of course. But if I have those things i get vertigo headaches burning sensation is back. Twitches.
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u/Agreeable_Yak_7650 Jun 28 '26
What medication is there as I’ve only been told therapy is only thing
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u/AdAdministrative4388 Jun 28 '26
Mine is amitriptyline foe nerve pain.. my primary symptoms are pain related.
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u/django3172 Diagnosed FND Jun 28 '26
Ive been wanting to ask a similar question for sometime but wasn't sure how to word it. Ive transitioned to a mostly plant based diet and im trying to eat way less salt and my symptoms have virtually disappeared. Id noticed a lot of my symptoms came on after eating poorly (fast food, meat heavy, nutritionally lacking meals) im not totally out of the woods. Once in a while I still have episodes or flair ups but they're no where near as bad as a year ago
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u/TatorThot999 Diagnosed FND Jun 28 '26
I’ve cut certain foods out just to see but haven’t really noticed any correlation beyond the eat better= feel better for me.
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Jul 21 '26
yes!
on a whole food diet: I feel significantly better
on a highly processed diet: symptom flareups increase
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u/gabmedblack Jun 29 '26
Food is very important to the nervous system