Katharina Buczek
Social media has become the ultimate hub for sharing personal experiences, struggles, and milestones with the world.
And while everyone enjoys hearing about hilarious stories, romance, and “tea,” a social community has also emerged around medical conditions.
More and more people who struggle with their health have taken to social media to share their diagnoses, educate the community about their condition, and answer medical questions to the best of their knowledge.
The move has fostered a welcoming and supportive environment for social media users to tear down stigmas surrounding their ailments and show the world what it is really like to live with them.
One such user is Etta Shaheen, a woman from Las Vegas who started her Instagram account @The_Dizzy_Diva to shed light on vestibular migraines and persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD).
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, vestibular migraines often run in families and result in severe headaches, nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light, vertigo, loss of balance, and sensitivity to motion.
PPPD is a form of chronic dizziness in which diagnosed patients often describe feeling a “constant sensation of floating or rocking with nausea,” according to Stanford Medicine.
And unfortunately, Etta’s symptoms did not develop gradually and slowly reveal themselves. Instead, she woke up one morning in January of 2020 to her life changed forever.
Instagram; pictured above is Etta
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