From Wheelchair to Marathon Training
by Lisa Hall, Author of ' Taking Charge of Your Own Health'

Imagine entering the hospital with gastrointestinal symptoms and emerging with a very different, but much more debilitating set of neurological symptoms. Suddenly, you feel semi-conscious 24/7, weak, fatigued and clumsy. You have hissing in the ears, phantom smells, and intolerance to passing scenery and stimuli. You are unable to drive a car or walk more than 20 or 30 feet. You immediately go to your doctor, expecting to receive a prompt diagnosis and treatment so that you can hurry up and feel better. You have no idea that you are embarking on a nightmarish, decade-long journey.

Seven years and thirty-seven doctors later, you are still seeking the correct diagnosis and treatment for the mysterious symptoms. You can’t work, you still can’t drive a car, and you can’t shop in most stores because of your brain's intolerance to stimuli. You walk with a cane to help you cope with the constant spinning and swimming sensations and to help you feel more connected to the ground. At times, you even need a wheelchair for mobility.

By this time, you have been to some of the top medical facilities in the country, where one physician after another can’t find the source of your symptoms. Some physicians have even suggested that perhaps your symptoms are all in your head, and you are subjected to a battery of psychiatric tests. One psychiatrist even suggests in a written report that you are “suffering from conflict about your role as a southern woman,” and that the stress from this “conflict” is causing your disabling symptoms.

This was my life until he appeared - doctor number 38, my hero. This amazing doctor correctly diagnosed me with an autonomic disorder that was most likely triggered by the high fever during the hospitalization, and caused by a build-up of neurological assaults, including a lightning injury eighteen years earlier. He prescribed a combination of medications that has gradually given me back most of my life during the last eight years. Prior to my diagnosis and treatment, I had trouble walking from the front door to the mailbox. Now I run 25 - 35 miles per week, I drive my car every chance I get, and I just re-entered the workforce full-time. And I recently completed my first of many half-marathons!

My amazing medical journey inspired me to write a book entitled Taking Charge of Your Own Health. Because of the valuable lessons I learned along the way, I feel compelled to share my messages of hope and patient empowerment. I am very interested in sharing my story with your audience, in hopes that my experience will help others.

As politicians continue to debate health care reform in Washington, Americans are facing shrinking health care resources that limit access to affordable quality care. You cannot wait for the government to fix the current health care system. Now more than ever, you must understand and exercise your options to get the most out of your health care and to utilize your resources efficiently.