I woke up with a headache one day, almost two months before my 15th birthday. The headache emerged overnight, and it bothered me all day. By the second week, I was beginning to grow more symptoms: I felt exhausted and suffered from very sharp pain in my ear, as well as a slight stomachache, so I went to a doctor to see what was wrong. 

For more than 5 years, I had this headache. The nature of the headache would change throughout the day, turning from a splitting headache to a dull one, to a throbbing one, to a stabbing one. Sometimes it felt as if an axe were slamming my head open. I was chronically exhausted, could barely walk through my house, had very poor balance and coordination, suffered from earaches and sharp stomachaches beneath my ribs, from great sensitivity to sound, from nausea, from dizziness, from vertigo, from heart palpitations and chest pains, from breathlessness.  Periods (menses) left me practically comatose. For years, I was bedridden.

I saw numerous doctors — neurologists, neurosurgeons, endocrinologists — had 4 MRIs, CT scans, and many blood tests. They tested every medication they could on me, none which worked, some which just made me sleep for 16 hours and I'd still wake up in pain. Nothing made the headache decrease in intensity, not even slightly; it was always at a level 6-7 in pain, sometimes increasing to 9 on bad days. No medication reduced the pain by even a point, but one drug did start giving me seizures. The doctors didn't know what was wrong, and they didn't care to find out either; prescribing me drugs seemed to be their main concern.

After 5 years of this, and seeing 22 doctors, in my complete desperation, I searched online for an alternative medicine doctor, and found Anamika. She was really my last hope. If her treatment didn't work, I planned to go to India and test my luck with Ayurveda.

Seeing Anamika was the best decision I ever made.

The first consultation was about 2 hours long, which was something positive in my book, since I was sick and tired (so to speak) of seeing doctors for 15 minutes only to be diagnosed as a "Mystery Child." I wanted someone to actually examine me and listen and search for what was wrong. Anamika listened very attentively and took gigantic notes. She asked all sorts of questions, from the typical (what is the nature of the pain, the intensity, the location, the additional symptoms) to the more atypical (during what season of the year did I become sick, what happened a few months prior to the illness, what kind of weather aggravates my symptoms, whether the severity of the pain changes according to the time of day, what are my dreams or nightmares like, etc.) She asks everything, because she says all symptoms — physical and emotional — are tied together and are relevant for a precise diagnosis.

Within 3 months of following her instructions, I began to see the headache and stomachaches actually decrease in intensity for the first time ever. Every month, my symptoms improved a little more. My headache, stomachaches, exhaustion, dizziness, nausea, and seizures all began to go down. About 6 months after the first consultation, I felt well enough to do vigorous exercise, and I could do it without my symptoms intensifying. About 11 months after the first consultation, the headache and stomaches and exhaustion officially disappeared.

Strangely, I then started having to deal with emotional symptoms, but Anamika was extremely supportive and encouraging through that emotionally trying time. She told me it was a normal part of the process, and that those symptoms meant I was actually officially getting better and going back to normal. I dealt with these emotional symptoms for a month, and then had lousy days very occasionally for 2—3 months, before those symptoms too started going away. Anamika spaced our appointments more and more, after indicating that I was officially recuperating and didn't need to see her as often.

It's now almost been two years since my first appointment with Anamika, and I can say with full confidence that I am finally officially cured. :D For over 1 year now, I have had no headaches, no stomachaches, no exhaustion, no dizziness, no nausea, no vertigo, no anything. My last emotional symptoms disappeared 8 months ago. I even have very slight period pain now, after she treated that as well once I complained about the intensity of my menstrual pain, and I can now continue with my routine even on the first day of my period. I am as active as I like, go to school regularly, volunteer, travel, and no longer mold my life around my body. My life has changed so much, in every positive way. This has been the best year I've had in a long, long time; my head and my body feel light again, and I'm as cheerful as I was before I became sick, and I am ecstatic and so grateful that I met Anamika and chose to see her those two years ago. It really was the best decision I made. I can never repay her for what she's done for me, in restoring my health and bringing my life back to where it's supposed to be.

~ B. Rogowski - Student UC Berkeley