Two years ago I became unwell. It started as dizziness and progressed very rapidly to a host of symptoms including nausea, crippling headaches, disorientation, stuttering, vertigo, and complete exhaustion. I spent a fair amount of time in doctors? offices, with neurologists, in hospital, and undergoing a battery of tests. After six months, the doctors had determined that I was not suffering from a brain tumour, cancer or a host of other particularly unpleasant diseases and disorders. What they did decide is that I was suffering from unending, back-to-back, migraines (both the regular type and vestibular), coupled with inner ear problems. Whilst I was incredibly relieved that my diagnosis was not terminal in any way, I was also somewhat dismayed to learn that there was little the medical profession could do to help me.
I am a single parent who is self-employed. As you can imagine, this illness took a toll both on my children, and on my business. I often found myself unable to work?I had to reduce my client list and manage on less income. Caring for my children was becoming increasingly difficult as I was unable to drive, or leave the house much at all. Being in busy visual or auditory environments would make the symptoms much worse and was almost unbearable. I was feeling at my wits? end and my stress levels were climbing through the roof, which brought along issues to do with anxiety and exhaustion.
After one year of this situation, a year where I exhausted so many medical options, I thought of Dr. McCrodan. I wasn?t sure if he was able to help, since I had erroneously believed that he only worked with children, but I contacted him anyways. He was fantastic, right off the bat. At our first visit, he assured me that he could help me. He explained everything in a clear way, and answered all of my many concerns. I admit to being the sort of person that has to understand something well before putting my faith in it, and he was incredibly patient with my many questions and concerns.
The first few months of therapy were hard. I won?t sugar-coat it. It wasn?t easy. It felt as if I was rolling back down the hill, rather than climbing up it! I almost quit a couple of times! But Cam?s team, and in particular Sue, were incredibly supportive. They had warned me that things would be difficult to start, but that they would get better. They tailored my program to walk that line between helping me and allowing me to continue work. The empathy, compassion and support I received were what got me through those first few months.
Now, here I am 9 months later. I won?t say I am cured, because they have yet to discover a cure for chronic migraine! But I can honestly say that my life is unrecognizable from where it was when I started with Dr. McCrodan. Not only can I work full-time again, and care for my children with energy and enthusiasm, but I have reclaimed my life. I can go out whenever I want to, I can sit in a restaurant, I can do a grocery shop, I can live a life! I wasn?t sure if that was ever going to be the case again. I still get migraines, but only a couple a month rather than every day. And the migraine symptoms are much more manageable now and last a much shorter length of time.
I cannot speak highly enough of Dr. McCrodan and his team. They changed my life. Dr. McCrodan?s compassion and his vision are humbling to me. He brought an energy and unwavering confidence to his treatment plan that got me through many a dark moment. I shudder to think of what my life would look like if I hadn?t taken that leap of faith, nine months ago. And I am forever grateful to Dr. McCrodan and his team.
Alexandra Lovis
