#muscle weakness

Symptoms came out of NOWHERE for Ryland. It was on their way to Erid when BOOM he gets hit with the new disorder beam

He had already had a lot of other issues, the fishing incident did not leave him unscathed and it might have triggered his FND. The fun thing about FND is that doctors don't really know what causes it to happen!

It starts with limb weakness. Losing feeling or the use of an arm for days at a time. His left leg will lock up. One week, his legs are completely useless and weak and they have to turn off the gravity so Grace can get around until him and Rocky figure out how to make mobility aids

Rocky getting TO WORK on making mobility aids. He has clocked in to the Mobility Aid Factory. His engineer brain is working at full capacity

Grace had already had some trouble with getting around, just general pains and chronic pain flare up. We know it gets worse for him on Erid with the stronger gravity. Now he has to deal with FND + weird gravity

Drop attacks sneak their way in at some point. He will be completely fine and then suddenly just on the floor. Some have warnings, others don't. His FND seems to be aware sometimes and only does it around areas where Ryland can hold on to something. He usually feels a little fuzzy before a drop attack

Rocky has gotten good at noticing when Ryland is starting to fall and tries to help lessen the fall. He's better able to do it once he makes his xenonite suit so he can use his arms better.

With drop attacks come injuries, and he's often more bruised than he is not bruised.

If Rocky weren't already super protective over Grace, he is like 10x protective now. He is so so worried about Grace falling and hitting his head again, especially after reading about what head injuries can do to humans

The limb weakness wasn't his main problem. That one didn't stick around for very long and only makes appearances once in a blue moon. The real stickler was the functional movement disorder.

BOOM tics and tremors be upon ye white boy

Authors note: People who say they wish they have tics and they they are sooooo cute, I hope astrophage eats ur house

He can't feel his tics coming. Unlike tourettes, functional tics usually do not come with an urge and are much harder to suppress. The first week he has them, they cause a migraine. He cannot stop jerking his head, flinging it back, turning it left or right. His whole upper body just jerks back continuously over and over. He's figured out they get better when concentrating on something so they aren't too bothersome in the lab, except on bad days where he keeps slamming his fist on the table. Slamming + labs do not mix

One day, shortly after his tics appeared, he was trying to listen to Rocky yap about something but his body just won't listen to him and is just jerking and ticcing really bad and it's causing him to slam his hand on the xenonite wall and it makes rocky jump. That was the last straw for him. He sobs and sobs and sobs and his tics get worse and it just makes him cry even harder. He wants it to stop with all of his heart and he just... can't. And oh man this breaks Rocky. He knows Grace cannot control it but he can't do anything about it except comfort him.

Ryland already has trauma with things that were out of his control. His last years on earth were spent doing something he didn't have a lot of say in right up until his last moments. Was he excited to research something and help prevent something that would harm his students. Yes, yes of course, but some of his rights were still taken and that's very hard on a person. I imagine he has a sort of similar struggle with his FND. Sudden onset with no control over it , no rhyme or reason either. Another problem for him to worry about and one that gets in the way of his studies at times.

Did you know there are also functional seizures (also called dissociative attacks)? Let's give him that too. I've already seen some amazing fanart of Ryland getting seizures and Rocky helping it through it and also freaking out the first time, made my heart BREAK. Functional seizures can look pretty much the same as tonic-clonic seizures (it's the seizure that everyone thinks of when you say "seizure"), except theirs no surge of electrical activity in the brain. These types of seizures do not show up on scans. And you can also be aware during them. There's movement seizures and non-movement seizures, the latter is just like a seizure but you are literally just not moving. What if Ryland gets epiletic AND functional seizures. Double whammy.

Not to make things worse but I'm about to make things worse. FND can get worse if you don't take care of yourself. If you aren't eating properly, sleeping, are too stressed, if anything is out of whack, it can sometimes make your symptoms worse! Also being aware of your symptoms can make them worse, so if you are thinking about it, it's probably not gonna go away. Being sick 1000% makes it worse (at least in my case)

On the way to Erid, we know Ryland gets sick. He doesn't have enough food., everything just kinda sucks for a bit. I'll let you put two and two together on that. Maybe I'll write more angst later

hEDS genuinely hurts.

i am in pain CONSTANTLY.

my hypermobility is not a party trick i can turn off whenever.

it causes debilitating pain and fatigue and fainting and constant doctor visits.

people look at me with DISGUST in their eyes when i dislocate my joints.

people tell me i am disgusting for my knees that go in rather than sit in place, for the pain i am in, for the amount of energy it takes to get out of bed, for popping my joints back into place.

i'm told i'm faking it when i use my mobility aids because i don't LOOK like i'm in pain.

i cannot turn it off.

even when i want to.

because it doesn't work like that.

i can't change it if people are uncomfortable with the way my body works.

braces do not fix everything. standing differently doesn't not fix everything (i also have a knee injury so idk why people think i can stand differently????????)

my hypermobility is not because i do gymnastics. it is because i have hEDS. and hEDS is a horrible and disabling condition to have.

"pretty much everyone is hypermobile to some degree though!!!!!" but their bodies don't decide to not work whenever it damn pleases. but their bodies don't hurt everywhere whenever they do anything. but they don't dislocate their joints when they're sleeping. but they don't go to the hospital and have surgery to fix their bodies.

if you have symptomatic hypermobility (or other conditions like arthritis) and holding a pencil is painful and difficult, try ✨baby pencils✨

i have ‘my first’ pencils made by ticonderoga, and they are oversized #2 pencils made for small children learning how to write. i can’t hold pencils ‘properly’ or i hyperextend my distal joints, and the way i’ve adapted to holding writing utensils is uncomfortable at best, typically painful. the extra wide pencil is helpful because i don’t have to hold it as tightly, which helps with the pain

(pictures below the cut for fear of taking up too much space on your feed if you aren’t interested)