In the ‘My Story’ page, I briefly talked about being told I had Conversion Disorder, based on the fact that I had a minor car accident a few months before, more like a fender bender or in my case, a non-fender bender as I was driving a Saturn at the time so it was all plastic and it looked good, but had nearly $5,000 worth of damage under the plastic.

Conversion Disorder, what the hell is that? Conversion Disorder is described as “Conversion disorder is a mental condition in which a person has blindness, paralysis, or other nervous systems (neurologic) symptoms that cannot be explained by medical evaluation.” Ahhh, that translates to one to two things. Thing 1: We have no clue what is wrong with you, nor do we really care to figure it out, so we will label it like this and say that you are making it all up in your head, or Thing 2: We have no clue what is really wrong with you right now, but we hope to keep you coming back for more visits as I have a boat payment that is due every month”.

During that time I did some research and found out that many people suffering from neurological issues had been wrongly diagnosed as having Conversion Disorder. Now don’t get me wrong, Conversion Disorder is a real illness, and often does present itself after a traumatic event like a car accident.

Conversion disorder is when a person experiences temporary physical symptoms, such as blindness or paralysis, that do not have a physical cause. While the exact cause of conversion disorder is unknown, researchers believe it occurs in response to stressful situations or trauma. It is thought that conversion disorder is a physical response to mental, physical, or psychological trauma. It is sometimes referred to as a functional neurologic disorder.

Symptoms include shaking, paralysis, or double vision. One example is feeling uncontrollably shaky after a traumatic event, such as witnessing a car crash, even if there is no physical reason to be shaking.

Ok, I’m pretty sure that mine isn’t temporary, but then again, that really depends on how you define temporary I could say we are temporarily alive on this earth, even though in that example temporary can be defined as about 100 years.

Basically, if the doctor can’t figure out a medical reason for you having the neurological symptoms you are experiencing, they may diagnose you with Conversion Disorder. The best part of all that is that the treatment for this “neurological” condition is:

• treating any underlying mental health conditions, such as depression
• cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
• psychotherapy
• relaxation techniques, such as meditation or yoga

So, really conversion disorder isn’t neurological at all, it is mental. Hmmmmm, so my doctor at the time thought I was loony toon, that must have been why I fired his ass.