My Medical story

Part 1

I have been asked so many times to share my story. The amount of messages I have been getting on Instagram from others who have been injured medically should surprise me, but honestly, it doesn't. The sad truth is, it happens all the time. It happened in my family several times. It took me years to see medical injury is not rare.

I am going to first share about the TDAP vaccine I got in January, 2014. Someone in my family had a premature baby. Everyone was asked to get the vaccine to protect the baby from Pertussis. The TDAP is a combination of Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis.

Tetanus - Tetanus is due to infection from the bacterium, Clostridium tetani, which is found in soil, dust, or animal feces. It is a gram-positive, spore-forming, obligate anaerobic bacillus. This bacteria and its spores are found worldwide, however, it is more frequently found in hot and wet climates where the soil is rich with organic matter.

Diphtheria - an acute, highly contagious bacterial disease causing inflammation of the mucous membranes, formation of a false membrane in the throat that hinders breathing and swallowing, and potentially fatal heart and nerve damage by a bacterial toxin in the blood. It is now rare in developed countries because of immunization.

Pertussis - A highly contagious respiratory tract infection that is easily preventable by vaccine.

Whooping cough is particularly dangerous for infants.

Besides a cough that sounds like "whoop," symptoms include a runny nose, nasal congestion, and sneezing.

Treatment includes antibiotics.

After I got the vaccine, I immediately was not feeling well. My arm was sore and heavy and my shoulder was very tender. Within a few days, I was having a lot of heart palpitations and my whole body was aching. I thought I had the flu. By February, I knew something was wrong. I had no energy and was in constant pain. Then, I got a cold. I had never been sick like that. I could barely swallow. I was coughing so bad I would throw up. My entire chest hurt. I could barely eat or get out of bed. I went to the doctor and I was given antibiotics, an inhaler, cough syrup and a steroid. Even after taking everything, I was still coughing. The cough was aggressive. I spent weeks coughing. It was so bad I would have to walk out of meetings. It was exhausting. I wondered if I had developed asthma because I wasn’t getting better. I tried everything the doctors said but nothing was helping.

Then, in April, I woke up spinning. I couldn't even stand up. My husband rushed me to the hospital. They told me I had vertigo. They could not tell me how I got it. I was prescribed Meclizine and Ondatsetron.

Meclizine is used to treat vertigo but is also a high risk medication. I was not told this. The side affects from this are terrifying.

Ondatsetron is used to help nausea and vomiting, but it also has a ton of side effects.

I then got shingles. This was extremely painful and my doctor had no answers for why. At this point, my health was continuing to decline. My heart was racing, I kept getting sick, I had 3 episodes of Vertigo that lasted for days, I had headaches, joint pain, and was extremely tired all the time. I had 3 kids to raise and could barely function. It was horrible.

Then one day I noticed I was having a hard time swallowing. Especially when drinking something. I had to actually think about how to swallow. I was scared. I went to my doctor and again, nothing. Then, one day in August, while I was at work, my heart started racing. Fast. Then my chest felt really tight. A co-worker drove me to the ER. They did a EKG on me and admitted me into the hospital. I was given blood thinners and glycerin. I did not feel better. In fact, my head felt like it was going to split open. So, they gave me pain meds. I laid in that hospital bed alone, feeling like I was going to die.

I was discharged 2 days later and told I needed to see a cardiologist. I had a ton of tests done including a Nuclear stress test. To do this stress test, they inject you with radioactive material. I went stiff and had a seizure. Clearly my body was unhappy with everything going into it, but not one doctor noticed. As everything got worse, I was sent from specialist to specialist and prescribed more medications and had numerous more tests done. I was even given a cortisone shot in my shoulder from shoulder pain after the TDAP. That shot of cortisone cause me to have partial paralysis for 3 days. And yet, no doctor could tell me why? I developed allergies to foods that I had never been allergic to. I was diagnosed with SupraVentricular Tachycardia, Inducible laryngeal obstruction, Vertigo, Fibromyalgia, Chronic fatigue, Chronic pain, and anxiety. One doctor even suggested I had depression. Yet not one doctor could tell me why this was happening. I was so frustrated and so tired. These tests and doctors appointments went on until 2017 when I finally decided to walk away.

A friend of mine kept suggesting I see a naturopath and I realized I had nothing to lose. I did not believe in holistic approaches and was not sure what to expect. I made my appointment to see a naturopath. I will never forget that day. I was so sick my friend drove me. I could barely climb the stairs to her office. I waited in a room for Dr. K. The moment she walked in and I saw her, I had hope for the first time in 2 years.

Why? Let me first start by saying, most of the doctors I saw over the last 2 years were very dismissive. They also did not exude health. My cardiologist was an overweight man who seemed to breathe heavily when he talked. My pulmonary doctor also did not seem to be very healthy. So when Dr. K walked into the room and I saw a woman who was glowing in health, I felt very hopeful. Her skin was beautiful, she seemed very fit and was confident about helping me. She said, “let’s get you better.”

This was the day that saved me. It was not a quick fix. It was a long, hard, healing journey that I am still on, but I have healed in many ways and I have learned a lot along the way. Within days after seeing her, I was functioning a lot better. I even had my life back. I was able to be a mom again, a wife. I also had set backs. The thing with healing is, it is hard. It is not easy. It is not a magic pill. You have to figure out the source of what is causing your issues, and sometimes it is a lot more than one.

The naturopath I saw does not take blood, she does not prescribe meds and does not run tests. She is an energy healer and studied Reiki. She is 1 of 1000 US practitioners who practice Nutrition Response Testing at the advanced level. At $80 a visit and sometimes $100 in herbs and tinctures, I found it way more affordable than my copays and 20% patient responsibly in western medicine. I was all in with her and trusted her. She guided me and as she did I started to lead myself. I read books, I talked to other people injured, I studied Reiki myself and I learned. I took back the power to heal myself. And I did heal. Today I currently am still working on healing my cough but I no longer suffer from any of the other aliments I had.

I am going to write about some of my experiences and also write how I healed those diagnoses. Each of us are so unique and different, and since these are my personal stories, what works for me may be different than what works for you. Western medicine is designed to treat us all the same, however, we are not all the same. I think many holistic approaches understand this.

If I can be of assistance to you, please reach out. I would love to hear about your story and journey as well. You can dm me on Instagram @smilesciences or email me deanna@smilesciences.com We need to build our community.

Please subscribe to read more that I will be sharing with all of you. xoxo DeAnna