Doubting Her Paralysis

This episode was originally released on November 17, 2023. Marabai Rose was 38 in 2014. She was married, with two young children, she was healthy, and had a job she liked. Then a mysterious illness came over her. She was overwhelmingly fatigued. Soon, her legs could barely carry her through the house. And then, one day, a paralysis came over her. She could feel her breath getting more and more shallow. As she recovered, her attendants celebrated it as something close to a miracle. But she wasn’t really better, and doctors started to dismiss her claims – in ways that resonate with a long history of women’s health issues being dismissed. Marabai tells her story, along with the process of finally diagnosing the problem, and the ongoing challenges of finding the right care. Marabai wrote about her illness and what unfolded afterward in her book, Holding Hope: One Family’s Odyssey Through Lyme Disease and Psychosis. She also has a podcast inspired by the experience: Badass: Tales of Resilience. We close with a poem by Daniel Lassell, from his book Spit. Credits Inner States is produced and edited by Alex Chambers. Our social media master is Jillian Blackburn. We get support from Eoban Binder, Mark Chilla, LuAnn Johnson, Sam Schemenauer, Payton Whaley, and Kayte Young. Our executive producer is Eric Bolstridge. Thanks to LuAnn Johnson of WFIU’s Poets Weave for the recording of Daniel Lassell’s poem. Our theme song is by Amy Oelsner and Justin Vollmar. Additional music this week from Ramón Monrás-Sender, Backward Collective, and the artists at Universal Production Music.