I go to Miami with Darren and my feet go numb when walking into a nightclub.

Worst vertigo attack of my life. Had to call an ambulance and go to Mayo Clinic

I test positive for covid 3 more times and 2022.

I start to get these odd dizzy spells when out with friends, or when getting out of my car. They would only last around 2 to 3 seconds but they really worried me. I started to change the way I ate, drank, etc in order to combat them. I never thought it was anxiety, but later I would be told that this is likely what it was. I still believe it had something to do with Long Covid.

I had a terrible chest congestion that lasted for around 6 months

I had about one month of feeling great! It was at about this time that I decided to change my lifestyle and get healthy. I would work out 6 days a week, get on a keto diet, and minimize my drinking. It was also about this time that I started getting VERY depressed (out of nowhere), and started to see therapist to try and figure out what was going on with me.

Dizziness, Nausea, Pins and Needles and Numbness Began.

Panic attacks start because of coming off of Lexipro too quickly

My anxiety was soooo incredibly high that I had to find something to do with the energy. I would bike nearly every day in an effort to get rid of the nervous energy. It was also one of the only exercises that I could do that would eliminate my dizziness (but ONLY while I was biking). The moment I stepped off the bike, I would get dizzy again. I was also taking Clonazepam during this time since I could not take Lexapro. This causes clumsiness, which resulted in falls.

After seeing dozens of psychiatrists and psychologists, we thought that maybe my antidepressant (Lexipro) played a roll in my symptoms and decided to start trying medications. I was no longer able to take Lexapro because for some reason when I did, it felt as if I was getting ripped to pieces and slices by razor blades all over my body. So, we tried other meds. Nothing helped:

Gabapentin, Lyrica, Amitriptyline, Zoloft, Abilify, Latuda, Effexor, Buspirone, Bupropion, Mirtazapine (Remeron), Pristiq, Cymbalta and even the horse dewormer, Ivermectin!

My body was not able to handle ANY of them except Abilify, but that was only after I took a round of steroids (prednisone).

After a visit to my primary care, my mother comes up with the idea to try prednisone. For the first time... EVER, during this illness something gives me a shred of relief. After doing a round of these steroids, I am FINALLY able to tolerate SSRI's.

As a result of prednisone working, I was able to get back on Lexapro and taper off of Clonazepam

I met with Dr. Von Tobel, who was very energetic. I went there on the advice of my psychiatrist Dr. Justin Spooner, who wanted me to get Occipital Nerve Block Injections. Von Tobel didn't feel that this was accurate and instead wanted to try a cervical facet injection, which is used to treat chronic neck pain and headaches. The latter was much more invasive. Neither treatment seemed to fit what I was going through. It wouldn't be until later that I would discover the Stellate Ganglion Block, which is similar to the cervical facet injection.

I was so desperate for anything to work, I even tried reaching out to psychics, body code, emotional code, and reiki healers. It's pretty sad how people will take advantage of the sick. These people just straight up ripped me off. But then again, it was pretty stupid of me to try these things to begin with. Ha!

After finally getting back on Lexapro for a couple of months, my body breaks out in a severe rash.

Brain optimization puts a purple laser on it and it clears up.

At the advice of one of my psychiatrists - Dr, Justin Spooner, I met with an evaluator at River Point to discuss the possibility of getting an electric shock treatment to try and reset my nervous system. The thought of it was quite scary but I went anyway. My parents and I agreed that this would be a last resort treatment.

Over the course of the next 18 months, I would see dozens upon dozens of doctors, endocrinologists, neurologists, nerve specialists, psychiatrists, pain & circumstantial specialists, ENT’s, chiropractors, therapists, acupuncturists, and a whole slew of wellness doctors. After spending the equivalent of several people’s life savings (in addition to the cost of my health insurance), the medical field was not able to offer a shred of relief.

I would go to therapy for several months to help with my extreme anxiety, likely caused by the disease, illness (long covid etc).

Because I am so dizzy and faint, I decide to come off of Atenolol

I can't figure out why I am still dizzy, nauseas and have so many feelings of numbness and cold throughout my body, so I decide to wean off of Lexapro. Worst decision of my life.

I would go to numerous ENT doctors over the course of a year and get CT scans done, vertigo tests, hearing tests, and just about everything else you could think of that would test my vestibular system and hearing. Almost everything came back normal even though I am still suffering from debilitating tinnitus, dizziness, ear fullness, head pressure ... you name it.

I would go to Brooks Vestibular Rehabilitation for several months and continue treatment at my house via an iPhone app. I would do this for over a year, with little to no results.

Went to Thrive Chiropractic for 2 months, costing me $13,000.00, which only produced more symptoms. They did soft wave, adjustments, vibrating chair, and ball exercises.

I start taking supplements like Ashwagandha (which gives me burning sensations throughout my face and body). I would also see a wellness doctor at the beach and pay a specialist from Colorado to treat me with dozens of supplements costing hundreds of dollars in addition to their visits costing a little over $1,500.

I had a brain MRI done on this day. The radiologist misread the MRI and stated that he saw demyelination which often means MS. This extremely frightened myself and my family. We rushed to see a neurologist only to find out that there was no demyelination and that I certainly did not have MS. After confirming this with a total of 6 neurologists, I requested that the radiologist redo my report. He refused, likely to protect himself from getting sued. He caused me so much additional stress and concern.

After getting the reading back from the radiologist regarding my recent brain MRI, we immediately scheduled an appointment with an MS specialist because the radiologist said that he saw demyelination in my brain. The neurologist / MS specialist confirmed that there was no demyelination and that I did not have MS

My sickness causes my testosterone to drop to 199. As a result, I see a testosterone replacement therapy doctor who has me start taking shots. Come to find out, long covid and many other chronic illnesses cause testosterone to severely drop while sick.

I had a wisdom tooth that was coming in, that needed to be removed. Although I could barely function, I thought that there might be some chance that the tooth was pressing on a nerve, causing the dizziness. Going through this surgery was absolute hell, but I forced through it in hopes that it might resolve one of my main symptoms. It didn't.

After trying just about everything, I started to hear about chronic illnesses that had no origin. The theory is that your brain learns pain, and puts you in a constant state of stress, anxiety and pressure. This was the beginning of the worst mindf*%k's of my life, and one of the worst things anyone can do to someone. While I am sure that the teacher's have good intentions, there's nothing worse than telling a control freak that you have to fully let go and stop searching for answers. The premise is that NOTHING is wrong with you and you have to retrain your brain to accept the pain, tell yourself that you are safe, and you will get better. It's all bull crap! Sure, you can be mindful and do stress reducing activities, but there is still something wrong with me, and I am damn sure not going to give up, until I find the answer or get better.

One of the worst experiences of my life. I go to the in patient Pain Rehab Clinic for 3 weeks, likely making my symptoms worse.

Knowing that I was unable to take any medications that altered serotonin, I looked for drugs that helped with anxiety and depression that used a different mechanism of action, such as Ketamine and Clonazepam which affected Gaba. While these drugs did not help much, they helped me get through some terrible panic attacks.

After getting out of Mayo Clinic, there was this belief that I had something called the mind body syndrome. It was very much like what Re-Origin taught, in that my body learned the pain, and that I needed to retrain it to unlearn it (bull crap). Since Mayo Clinic was a complete waste of time, I decided to seek out the best therapists to see if they could help me. While I learned some simple breathing techniques that you could learn on the web for free, I paid upwards of $15,000 in therapy to learn those same strategies. None of it helped. To their own credit, talk therapy has NEVER worked for me, and likely never will. I am probably just too stubborn.

Along with CBT, PRC (Pain Reprocessing Therapy) and Mind Body Therapy, I decided to try Hypnosis as well. As much as I completely hated the idea that I needed to change my mind to get rid of the pain, I was going to throw everything that I could at it. While it did calm me during some severely anxiety ridden times, in the end, it didn't do anything to resolve my disease (likely long covid).

I participated in a study for people with vertigo. Otolith Labs sent me a device that I would ear around my head. It would vibrate in certain areas. Since this was a study they sent working devices and placebo's to users, like myself. I think I got a placebo - ha! It obviously didn't work.

We couldn't figure it out ... so why not check my spine?! The results came back stating that there was compression and other issues, which led me back to the Chiropractor.

I read that acupuncture could help with anxiety, depression, dizziness, and many of the symptoms that I was experiencing ... it supposedly could even help with long covid. Although I had issues with needles, I was willing to try anything. While it was relaxing at times, I ultimately had zero relief.

Disc Centers of America convinced me that they could likely fix me with traction and laser therapy. I spent just over $1,200 and went to a few appointments before realizing that nothing there was going to work for me.

Vertigo Test at ENT Surgery Lake Mead.

I got a nerve conduction test done to rule out nerve damage. Fortunately, no nerve damage was found. The test was quite painful.

The idea with this appointment was to see if my brain was sending odd signals. The doctor put a cap on my head with electrodes on it. It didn't work.

I went here to try and tackle my dizziness. While I didn't get any results, the people who worked here were amazing. They worked directly with me. We did a lot of strange exercises where they put me in chairs that moved around, snowboarding (in office), foot baths, brain taps etc. Total cost: $3,800.00

Still on the thought that my illness could be the result of learned pain, I came across a site that claimed that ALL of my symptoms could be something called "Hyper Stimulation" which could be the result of extreme anxiety: https://www.anxietycentre.com/

After reading through the site and learning quite a bit about how anxiety work, I scheduled my first appointment with Phillip Heinen, and continue to meet with him weekly.

With my dizziness still persisting, an ENT doctor at UF Health orders a CT of my temporal bone, a cVEMP and a EcochG. The results came back normal, for the most part.

I had the first procedure done to my right side

I had the 2nd procedure done on my left side.

I got my first occipital nerve block done on this day. I did not see any significant results. The pressure and tightness in my head remained.