Vital Visionaries: Jordana Dinallo – How Vision Therapy Helped Me Be a Teenager Again!
Dr. Bryce Appelbaum
At just 14, Jordana Dinello faced a life-altering challenge with PANDAS PANS that left her with vision problems. Doctors kept telling her that her vision was ‘fine,’ but she knew better. That’s when she discovered VisionFirst, the key to unlocking her true vision. Join us in witnessing Jordana’s inspiring journey of rediscovering her world and flourishing as a teenager once more.
Learn more about what is possible with Vision Therapy at myvisionfirst.com or follow Dr. Bryce at @drbryceappelbaum on instagram.
Full Transcript
Introduction and illness onset 0:00
My name is Jordana Donallo and I am from Rockville, Maryland. My whole life I was completely normal and healthy. When I turned 14 years old, I fell ill with PANDAS-PANS. For those of you who don't know what that is, PANS is pediatric acute onset neuropsychiatric syndrome. It is autoimmune encephalitis. And I also got many Lyme co-infections such as Bartonella and Babesia. I had one of the lingering symptoms after I started getting treatment, which was my eyesight was very bad. I couldn't see a bunch.
My eyes were weird, and all the ophthalmologists and optometrists that I went to, we went several, they all told me that my eyes are fine.
Vision problems and failed evaluations 1:03
And I knew something was off because my whole life I have seen completely normal. Then after, I felt sick, my eye sight was totally off. I started going to Dr. Applebaum about a little over a year ago. I Started going every single day I left school during lunch and I stayed there for an hour and we worked on my vision. At first was having a hard time adjusting to everything but now after doing tons and tons of therapy I am no longer dizzy anymore I used to be dizzy all day long every day. My eyes used go different ways when I was talking to someone or trying to do my work or just throughout the day I notice now that my eyes are able to focus on one thing at a time.
I used to see double vision constantly 24-7.
Starting intensive vision therapy 2:04
i can now see everything single which is amazing and i also have noticed that my headaches have reduced a bunch. One of the biggest changes that I noticed since going to vision therapy was my ability to read and learn. When I first got sick a huge symptom is cognitive decline, issues reading, so I had to stop going school for about two years. I started going division therapy and after just a few weeks I I noticed that I was able to read more and more. I now am at school. In the classes that i need to be in, I can read, i can see the Promethean board, which I couldn't before.
And I'm able process everything that im reading much better than I've been able before I used to... be reading things and it was almost like...
Reading, school, and cognitive improvements 3:06
I wasn't taking any of the information, just looking at the words. Now I feel like I am really able grasp what I'm reading more. Something that I wish I knew was that eye problems might not just be your sight, it might be vision, and it can be deeper than what the typical mainstream doctors will tell you. And that vision therapy can definitely help you and retrain your eyes to work with your brain better. I also learned that going six days a week was very efficient in helping my eyes work better than going in frequently throughout like months and stuff.
So I did intense and that helped a bunch. I'm happy to be a vital visionary because I want to share with the world that there is a way to get out of your eye suffering and to help that.
Lessons learned and future goals 4:08
But there are doctors like Dr. Applebaum who look deeper, think outside of the box, and truly care about what you're saying. Most of mainstream doctors just look at the surface of things. As for Dr Applebomb, I feel like he really was able to look deep and find the root cause and be able target that, which was to able help. Also, just in general, the whole office and everyone cares so much about your overall health and you as a person, which I feel like I don't get at other places. I have two big vital visions for the future.
My first one is to be able to go to college. I am happy that I'm able go college now because before I wasn't able read and learn. And my second one to spread awareness to those who have conditions such as autoimmune encephalitis and to show them that there are other ways to recover and heal that are more holistic that truly do work and help.
Comments