110 ICU Admissions to Rebuilding Her Life: Meghan’s Story With Stiff Person Syndrome and CRPS

Meghan spent 12 years and 110+ ICU admissions navigating Stiff Person Syndrome and CRPS. She and her mother Cindy share their story of advocacy and rebuilding on The Deeper Healing Podcast. Educational purposes only. Individual results vary.

ABOUT THE HOST, GUEST CO-HOST & GUESTS

Danielle Howley — Host, The Deeper Healing Podcast
Danielle Howley is the co-founder of Deeper Healing Medical Wellness Center and host of The Deeper Healing Podcast. She didn’t come from medicine — she came from desperation. When her husband Marty became gravely ill at 37 and spent a decade bedridden while doctors ran out of answers, Danielle refused to stop searching. That search led to a recovery his doctors had not expected — and it changed everything. She went on to co-found Deeper Healing in 2019, recruiting clinicians in environmental and integrative medicine to build the center she wished had existed when Marty was sick.
Today, the award-winning Deeper Healing Medical Wellness Center draws patients from around the world. A Canadian filmmaker created a documentary about their work — Body Burden: The Toxins We Carry — Featuring Deeper Healing. Every episode is built for the person who isn’t ready to give up.

Tiffany Jackson, ND — Guest Co-Host
Tiffany Jackson, ND joins as guest co-host, helping guide conversations that explore the root causes of chronic illness. She brings clinical perspective, a listener’s curiosity, and a passion for making complex health information feel accessible and actionable.

Meghan — Patient, Deeper Healing Medical Wellness Center
Meghan spent more than a decade navigating severe neurological and immune illness, including diagnoses of Stiff Person Syndrome and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, more than 110 ICU admissions, and a long period of profound debilitation that began suddenly when she was sixteen. Today, as an adult, she shares her story in her own words. Meghan reports being mobile, cognitively clear, and rebuilding her life. Her experience is described by her care team as one of extreme severity and is not representative of typical outcomes. Meghan is a former patient of Deeper Healing Medical Wellness Center. No compensation was provided in exchange for sharing her story.

Cindy — Meghan’s Mother and Primary Medical Advocate
Cindy is Meghan’s mother and was her primary medical advocate throughout her illness journey — including the years when Meghan was a minor and Cindy made all medical decisions on Meghan’s behalf. Her story reflects the emotional and logistical reality of navigating complex rare disease as a parent across more than a decade: the hospitalizations, the diagnoses, the institutions, and the persistence required to keep searching for answers when conventional pathways fall short. No compensation was provided in exchange for sharing her story.

0:00 Introduction and disclaimer
00:05 Meeting Meghan and Cindy Bayer during an ICU encounter
03:58 Background: a conventional medical family before chronic illness
05:06 Onset of symptoms following Gardasil vaccination (August 2012)
06:57 Severe hand pain leading to CRPS diagnosis
13:45 Searching for answers: GAD65 antibodies and possible Stiff Person Syndrome
18:25 Confirmation of rare Stiff Person Syndrome diagnosis at Johns Hopkins
21:48 Long-term struggle: 12 years, 110 hospitalizations, 70 ventilator admissions
29:39 Shift toward alternative/root-cause approaches in treatment
41:45 Recovery outcome: walking again, completing a Master’s degree, and advocacy work

– Take the First Step Toward Deeper Healing: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/survey/ipf0ZEulujjTaya4WuYa

– Learn more at DeeperHealing.com: https://deeperhealing.com/

– Wondering about your own body burden? Take the free quiz: https://go.deeperhealing.com/body-burden-assessment

– Support patients in need: The Deeper Healing Foundation: https://deeperhealing.com/foundation/

– Watch the documentary: Body Burden: The Toxins We Carry — Featuring Deeper Healing: https://theemfguy.com/op/body-burden-ev/?oprid=96512&ref=242734

– Free MD Guidebook: A Guide to Living Well in Toxic Times: https://go.deeperhealing.com/live-well-in-toxic-times

– Mold Recovery Course: https://go.deeperhealing.com/mold-recovery-course

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