AvatarThe Washington PostAvatarAvatarFor days she couldn’t stop getting sick. At first she doubted the probable cause.verified_publisherThe Washington Post - Sandra G. BoodmanThe vomiting happened with little warning and for no apparent reason. Sometimes it would strike the day after Alice Moon had been out with friends. Often it happened while the Los Angeles public relations specialist was in a car on her way to the airport — or on the plane. The episodes became so …
AvatarThe Washington PostAvatarAvatarA teenager’s apparent clumsiness foreshadowed a shocking diagnosisverified_publisherThe Washington Post - Sandra G. BoodmanJudy Kalnas remembers thinking that Jessica, the youngest of her six children, resembled the elastic-limbed cartoon character Gumby. As a child, she said, Jessica would topple off her bike and “get up laughing.” In high school, she fell during field hockey practice. Over the years, her worst injury …
AvatarThe Washington PostAvatarAvatarHis anemia was followed by searing foot pain. Seventeen years later, in precarious shape, a stellar athlete learned what was wrong.verified_publisherThe Washington Post - Sandra G. BoodmanJeff Sipos wasn’t used to feeling wiped out. At 31, the California elementary school principal was an endurance athlete in exceptional condition. Even though he had asthma, Sipos had climbed Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States, completed a rim-to-rim hike in the Grand …
AvatarThe Washington PostAvatarAvatarAll his life, his health was poor. It took more than 50 years to find out why.verified_publisherThe Washington Post - Sandra G. BoodmanFor as long as he can remember, Steven Knapp never felt well. “That was pretty much true from early childhood,” said Knapp, a self-described “Army brat” who was born in Germany and grew up in Turkey and a half-dozen states, including Georgia where he has lived since high school. Now 61, the …
AvatarThe Washington PostAvatarAvatarHer lungs seemed to be a mess. But the problem that nearly killed her lay elsewhere.verified_publisherThe Washington Post - Sandra G. BoodmanWhy, Gail Multop wondered repeatedly, couldn’t doctors put an end to her seemingly intractable lung ailments? Multop’s problems seemed to progress slowly but relentlessly. In November 2016, she contracted pneumonia. A second bout followed six months later. By then, the early-childhood education …
AvatarThe Washington PostAvatarAvatarShe began to talk — then mysteriously fell silent. Months later her parents learned why.verified_publisherThe Washington Post - Sandra G. BoodmanThe July day wasn’t too steamy — a rarity in Madison, Ala. — and her toddler’s physical therapy session wasn’t scheduled for another hour, so Jeannette Vega thought she’d take 26-month-old Tiana outside to play in their yard. Immediately, she was struck by her younger daughter’s difficulty climbing …
AvatarThe Washington PostAvatarAvatarNearly 100 doctors have tried to diagnose this man’s devastating illness — without successverified_publisherThe Washington Post - Sandra G. BoodmanFor Bob Schwartz, one of the hardest things about his unnamed illness is sleeping in snatches. When Schwartz, who battles insomnia, does manage to fall asleep, he wakes up every 90 minutes to urinate copiously. Most nights he sleeps a total of four hours. Chronic sleep deprivation is only one symptom …
AvatarThe Washington PostAvatarAvatar‘My entire scalp was on fire’: A doctor repeatedly insisted she had a tension headache. Something more serious was going on.verified_publisherThe Washington Post - Sandra G. BoodmanGalen Warden was lying in a hot bath after a punishing week at her demanding marketing job. Her neck and shoulders were, as usual, in knots, so Warden thought she’d expedite the relaxation that a restorative soak usually delivered by sliding under the water. When she sat up about 30 seconds later, …
AvatarThe Washington PostAvatarAvatar‘Maybe you’re just someone with blood in their urine’verified_publisherThe Washington Post - Sandra G. BoodmanKathy Hipsher was having a horrible year. She spent months battling a vicious stomach virus, followed by lingering nausea and pain that left her subsisting on a bland diet consisting largely of Cream of Wheat and applesauce. Her gut problems were accompanied by days of fatigue so extreme that at …
AvatarThe Washington PostAvatarAvatar‘When I tell people what happened, they freak out’: A sore arm results in 4 surgeries and 8 days in a hospitalverified_publisherThe Washington Post - Sandra G. BoodmanAs he climbed into an Uber bound for a Washington emergency room, Michael Zelin remembers thinking he’d be home in a few hours, after a doctor checked out his sore arm and prescribed a painkiller. The 39-year-old real estate executive wasn’t sure the midnight ER trip was necessary. “I remember …
AvatarThe Washington PostAvatarAvatarA toddler’s dwindling voice was chalked up to acid reflux. Her problem was far more serious.verified_publisherThe Washington Post - Sandra G. BoodmanVivienne Weil was an unusually quiet baby. “She never cried loudly enough to bother us,” recalled Natalia Weil of her daughter, who was born in 2011. Although Vivienne babbled energetically in her early months, her vocalizing diminished around the time of her first birthday. So did the quality of her …
AvatarThe Washington PostAvatarAvatarFirst he was hoarse. Then he couldn’t chew. How one man’s hunch led to the truth.verified_publisherThe Washington Post - Sandra G. BoodmanLarry Weller didn’t want to spoil the party. Surrounded by relatives who had gathered to celebrate his oldest granddaughter’s 18th birthday at a favorite Italian restaurant, he fervently hoped that no one, other than his wife who murmured her concern, noticed what he was doing. Weller had been …