Here is my story:

My name is Ethan McCollum and I am writing to you with hope that you can help me identify what has been going on with me for the past year. I beg you to read this email in its entirety, and a response would be greatly appreciated, no matter what you have to say.

My story starts nearly a year ago, entering the second semester of college of my Sophomore year. I had recently moved to my college town of the University that I transferred to, and everything was going wonderful in my life. I was making great money marketing online, always had good grades, was a football star in highschool, class president, scholarships to college, etc... Anyways, everything was great up to this point in my life and I was doing well. I remember vividly one night(the night before the SuperBowl between the Broncos and Panthers actually) that I was hanging out at my friends house and we were drinking alcohol and having a good time. I do remember getting pretty drunk, but don't remember anything really significant happening other than that.

The next morning, I wake up with a hangover(not surprising) and my friend and I end up wanting to go to the store to get some food and soda and snacks etc.. for the Super Bowl watch party we were having that night. I don't recall exactly when I started getting weird symptoms, if it was before or after we got to the store, but I do remember exactly how I felt. I started feeling dizzy, not a normal hangover dizzy, but just a general sense of being out of it. My vision was fuzzy, and I had a weird feeling in my throat like there was a ball stuck in it. I believe those were my main symptoms, also feeling lightheaded and feeling like there was a chance I could pass out. That continued throughout the night, and I was hoping I would wake up the next day and feel fine and that maybe it was just a really bad hangover.

The next day came and nothing had changed, I felt like I was going to pass out on the way to class and went to the University doctor to see what he had to say. He did some blood work and basically told me I was just dehydrated and needed to drink more water and I would be fine. I believed him, and started drinking more water. The next week I felt absolutely horrible just like that day, but was feeling a bit better each morning that passed, until finally one morning I felt mostly normal, and though maybe I had just gotten a weird sickness that worked its way out of my body. Anyways, I didn't even think about it anymore and felt good for the next month and a half...

And then again, after a night of heavy drinking, I woke up feeling dizzy, lightheaded, just out of it in general. At this point I thought maybe I was having a weird reaction to alcohol, and decided to stop drinking and also changed my diet thinking that all of the sugar and carbs could be causing this feeling as well, maybe an overload of yeast. I stopped drinking for a month, rarely any sugar too, and after about three weeks I felt mainly back to normal, but not completely. There would still be times that I felt kind of out of it, but no real pain or anything like that.

I remember after the night I was initiated into my fraternity, I had a couple of mixed drinks with my friends, thinking that beer would be worse because of the yeast in it. I woke up the next day and felt normal, which was a pleasant surprise.

I felt good for at least a month this time, and up to this point it felt like what was triggering attacks was carbs, sugar, energy drinks, beer, etc... however it could have all been a coincidence that I would start feeling weird after consuming those things.

A few days after my initiation, I woke up early to work on an assignment and had a sugar free energy drink and started feeling weird again. At this point it could have been the anxiety of the whole situation causing me to have symptoms, but I don't know.

Basically for the last year(on and off for the first few months, but constant after that) these are now my symptoms from worst to not as bad:

Terrible pain and pressure in back of my head when standing or sitting up. The pain starts at the base of my skull and radiates up the back of my head.
Fuzzy vision(I had always had even better than 20/20 vision up to this point, so it isn't truly a vision problem)
Weakness in right leg, feels as though it is dragging when I walk and takes much effort some days. Other days it isn't as bad.
Throat feels tight, especially when the pain in my head is worse. Feels difficult to swallow at times.
Tight Neck, hurts to turn my head either direction, I get some relief when I bend my head forward.
Terrible, terrible fatigue.
Neck pain
Bad Depression, Bad anxiety.

The thing that is unique about this horrible pain at the base of my head is that there are times that I feel as though I cannot go on it gets so excruciatingly painful, however as soon as I lay down on my bed, within 10-25 minutes the pain is almost completely gone, that is until I get up again, then it comes right back within the same time frame.

Doctor, I truly hope you will reply to this email, as I need answers. I am young, bright, and anyone that knows me will tell you I am going to do big things in this lifetime. I didn't notice the depression much until recently, as I realized that it had hurt and ruined relationships with friends, and my ex girlfriend, whom I love very much. I am a shell of my former self, and have to be a recluse because of these terrible symptoms. I have not told anyone except my family about what I am going through, so it is especially hard to be around others with this going on. I don't know how much longer I am going to be able to bear the pain, I can barely make it through one of my classes without having to leave early to go lay down. The pain gets so bad I feel as though I may either puke, or pass out from it.

I have had all the blood tests you can think of, complete blood count, lyme, etc... everything coming back pristine.

I have had two MRI's, one laying down and one upright. Both came back inconclusive, showing no abnormalities, however the chiropractor I have been seeing for an adjustment on my atlas(he thinks could help) said that the upright MRI didn't show a chiari malformation, but that it was close(whatever that means) and didn't really tell me anything else. If you want to look at my scans, I can have them sent to you. Thank you.


Anything you can say to help me with this would be so appreciated. I don't know where to turn at this point. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and may God bless you.

Ethan McCollum