Speaker 1: Hey everyone, it's Lauren Brt Pacheco and welcome to a
Speaker 1: special bonus segment of Symptomatic. We've honestly been so blown
Speaker 1: away by the outpouring of support for the stories we've
Speaker 1: been sharing this season and for the community that they've
Speaker 1: helped create. So many of you have reached out to
Speaker 1: share how these stories have resonated with your health journeys.
Speaker 1: So today we wanted to update you on one particular
Speaker 1: story that we've received a ton of outreach on the
Speaker 1: season case number nine, Michelle. So if you haven't listened
Speaker 1: to that episode, here's your spoiler alert, because we've invited
Speaker 1: Michelle back to share some of the messages that we've
Speaker 1: received from listeners and to get her reaction and update
Speaker 1: on all.
Speaker 2: Of the above.
Speaker 1: It is so good to see you again.
Speaker 2: It's so good to see you. I'm happy to be
Speaker 2: back with you.
Speaker 1: I want to share some of the reactions we've gotten
Speaker 1: from your episode, but first I want to hear how
Speaker 1: how did your friends and family react to it.
Speaker 2: Everyone was so excited to listen. Many people were surprised.
Speaker 2: I heard a lot of people say, oh, I had
Speaker 2: no idea if you had been going through that for
Speaker 2: all those years, it feels good that I can talk
Speaker 2: about it, and I'm comfortable talking about it, and it
Speaker 2: just feels good.
Speaker 1: At the end of the episode, I had expressed the
Speaker 1: optimistic hope maybe you would find some silent migraine twins
Speaker 1: of sorts in terms of your symptoms.
Speaker 2: I feel like I kind of did. I had two
Speaker 2: friends reach out to me to say, wow, I've experienced
Speaker 2: similar symptoms for years and didn't realize it was related
Speaker 2: to migraines. And that was a shock to really good friends.
Speaker 2: That was pretty interesting.
Speaker 1: Isn't that so amazing because there is this empathy and
Speaker 1: this understanding of going through what you went through years
Speaker 1: for decades. And we got some amazing emails and messages
Speaker 1: and I'd love to share some of them with you.
Speaker 1: So the first one was an email that we received
Speaker 1: from a woman named Cheryl in Massachusetts, and she said,
Speaker 1: I was just listening to your podcast featuring Michelle. I
Speaker 1: went through a similar experience. I was tested for MS
Speaker 1: head blood test MRIs, but nothing definitive came back. They
Speaker 1: had run every test imaginable to no avail. That referred
Speaker 1: me to a migraine specialist. He knew what it was immediately.
Speaker 1: Michelle can feel free to reach out anytime. I'm glad
Speaker 1: she was finally able to find out what it was.
Speaker 2: Cheryl. Wow, that just brings tears, so I I I'm
Speaker 2: just so grateful for this podcast and to know that
Speaker 2: it wasn't in my head all those years, and to.
Speaker 1: Know how your story resonated with other people, and that
Speaker 1: if you hadn't reached out to me and expressed the
Speaker 1: desire to share, this wouldn't have happened.
Speaker 2: Yes, that is incredible. So we don't have.
Speaker 1: Time to read all of the ones that we got,
Speaker 1: but one that really resonated with me was a review
Speaker 1: actually that we got on Apple Podcasts, and it was
Speaker 1: just so moving. The woman wrote, Michelle, I can relate
Speaker 1: OMG as I sit in my car at one am
Speaker 1: in Phoenix after listening to your podcast, I sit in
Speaker 1: complete awe. As I write this, I'm having an episode
Speaker 1: the right side of my face, right side of my throat, numb,
Speaker 1: right fingers, twitchy, pain in my spine. Yep, another episode
Speaker 1: to hear you're doing great and living life is a relief.
Speaker 1: And now it's my turn to use your story to
Speaker 1: finally cure my symptoms. Thank you Michelle and to everyone
Speaker 1: on this podcast. Fun side note, this was maybe my
Speaker 1: third podcast ever.
Speaker 2: Wow, isn't that incredible? It just gives me chills, especially
Speaker 2: when she says one side of her throat that was
Speaker 2: one symptom that always sitod out to me, like how's
Speaker 2: it even possible?
Speaker 1: And that she stumbled upon the podcast the third time
Speaker 1: she'd ever listened to a podcast ever, and the episode
Speaker 1: she's listening to is describing the exact symptom she's experiencing
Speaker 1: in real time.
Speaker 2: It's Oh, my goodness, wow.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, honestly, Michelle for sending me that
Speaker 1: email a year ago.
Speaker 2: Basically, well, thank you for allowing me to share my story.
Speaker 2: It has really made it a lot of difference, and
Speaker 2: it's changing people and connecting people.
Speaker 1: And that's honestly what makes this really a joy for
Speaker 1: me to work on.
Speaker 2: And my daughter really appreciated the chance to participate in
Speaker 2: it also, Oh, she was wonderful. She wanted you all
Speaker 2: to know how much she appreciated and Lauren, I just
Speaker 2: want you to know how much I appreciated how well
Speaker 2: it was done and how well it was produced. So
Speaker 2: thank you so much, and thank you.
Speaker 1: As a kid say for slipping into my DM. All right,
Speaker 1: So that wraps this up, and thank you again and
Speaker 1: to all of our listeners and to everybody who took
Speaker 1: the time out to share their experiences with silent migraines.
Speaker 1: It means the world to us and we're so excited
Speaker 1: to connect with more of you in the future and
Speaker 1: to continue bringing awareness to overlook and underdiagnosed health conditions.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to share the impact our show has
Speaker 1: had on you, or even if you want to share
Speaker 1: a medical mystery of your own, you can reach us
Speaker 1: at Symptomatic at iHeartMedia dot com and of course, as always,
Speaker 1: you can like, subscribe and follow Symptomatic a medical mystery
Speaker 1: podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get the stories
Speaker 1: that matter to you. Thanks again for listening, and until then,
Speaker 1: we very much hope you stay well.