‘Alice in Wonderland’ – everyone knows about the book and the film, but did you know that it is also a syndrome? A woman from Las Vegas claims that she has been suffering from the rare disorder. She opened up about all her struggles due to the condition.
The 41-year-old Etta Shaheen had a long two-year struggle with the awful disease and finally found her road to recovery. The lady dished about all the changes she had to go through to finally come out of the dreadful zone.
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‘Alice In Wonderland’ Syndrome Is Like “Floating Out Of Body”
Etta Shaheen claimed that she is suffering from a terrifying condition. The Las Vegas resident noticed that something was wrong in 2019. She felt like she was off her balance and her head was “filled with cotton wool.” But after she got tested, she found out that she was normal. “I had MRIs and CT scans and everything came back normal — but something was very off and I was terrified,” said Shaheen.
But unfortunately, in the beginning of 2020, she started violently vomiting and had to be hospitalized. “My heart was pounding, I was sweating, I was extremely cold and I thought I had a stroke or heart attack,” she told Jam Press. “I realized I was completely unable to walk and barely able to talk.”
Desperate to find what’s wrong with her, her partner Michael consulted an ENT specialist. They diagnosed her with chronic vestibular migraines which lead to Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness and the little-known ‘Alice in Wonderland‘ syndrome.
When the diagnosis was made, she was unable to do simple tasks like walk the dogs, cook, clean, work, shower by herself, and was almost bedridden. “For the first two years, my symptoms were 24/7,” she said. “It was the hardest point in my life, it was so debilitating I can’t even put it into words. I was unable to do anything — I couldn’t even walk down stairs.”
The Road To Recovery
Shaheen talked about her road to recovery as well and thanked her partner for being supportive. “First and foremost I had to figure out my triggers, what was causing me to feel worse,” she said. “So I changed my diet, tried to cut as much stress as possible, cut out toxic people in my life and made sure I moved my body daily.”
Shaheen further explained how after a year she learned about neuroplasticity. “This helps you learn to take your mind away from your symptoms and helps create new pathways in the brain so your body can heal,” she said.
“Most importantly not putting a name or emotion to my symptoms. I had to relearn how I thought about my disease and how I approached it to be able to heal. It took a tremendous amount of work,” Shaheen said. “Sometimes doing these exercises several hours a day. I had to think of myself as a healing person, not a sick person.”
Although her symptoms have disappeared, there are still chances of recurrence. “When I have stressful events, my symptoms will spike and I will need to slow down. I remind myself when they do spike that it is temporary and I will be back to my baseline soon,” she said. “I would say I am at 90% to 95% most days and during relapse I am at 80% to 85% and it only lasts a few days at the most.”
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