Meet our #Warrioroftheweek, Daniela Dunajska 💙
Spotlight on: Daniela
Hi! My name is Daniela, and I have been dealing with my chronic condition for a year and a half now. It started in September of 2021, and I was later diagnosed with Visual Snow Syndrome and New Daily Persistent Headache.
I had a 10-month straight migraine which turned into daily migraines but less constant. For those 10-months I was going from ER visits to brain MRI consultations to neurologists to neuro-ophthalmologists; anyone willing to take me in. I waited months for doctors to look at me in confusion, saying everything looked good and they didn’t understand why I was bedridden. I felt so last and unvalidated. My weekly routine would be laying in bed, and my parents had to drag me to appointments. I was in excruciating pain. Getting to where I am now took a lot of patience and really just taking it daily, treating whatever symptoms came up each day.
I took a big leap of faith and decided to attend college and not take a gap year. I didn’t want my chronic illness to take control of my life which it very much did. I had horrible, confusing symptoms, and I still took the risk and went to college. It was the best decision I had ever made. With the help of a modified schedule, a 504 plan, and empathetic teachers, I could attend my first semester of college and even end with a 3.9 GPA. It was the right amount of distraction and exactly what I needed to prove that I could do things with my chronic illness and not just have to lay in bed. I traveled to California to visit Dr. Tsang during the summer and have been seeing an acupuncturist and integrative health doctor.
The wellness approach has helped me the most. Eating well, incorporating movement into my day, and keeping myself distracted have helped me the most. As well as my ice roller, peppermint headache roll-on stick, gammacore, and most importantly, my blue-tinted glasses from Dr. Tsang. I’m still dealing with symptoms, but don’t let it get to me. Thanks for reading my story, and feel free to reach out with any questions! I just recently started a tik tok to raise awareness of having a chronic illness, so please feel free to check that out @slayingchronicillness.
Thinking of starting a podcast or youtube channel going more in detail about my story since I felt very lost during my journey and wish I had someone to watch.
Let me know if you’re interested 🙂
