Rhonda Underhill was 34 years old when she started getting massive headaches. She felt fatigued and couldn't stop vomiting, but what came up didn't look like anything she'd ever seen before. It resembled dried-up coffee beans, black and goopy. Rhonda, who had just started a new job in Maryland, didn't yet have insurance or coverage to see her primary care doctor. When she went to urgent care, the doctor diagnosed her with vertigo, which is most often caused by a problem with the balance-controlling inner ear and can result in dizziness and vomiting. They prescribed her an anti-nausea medication. But Rhonda's symptoms didn't subside. As time went on, she did her best to mask them, taking aspirin for the headaches and blaming the fatigue on stress from work and the busyness of planning her upcoming wedding. All the while, she was getting progressively sicker, pushing through the pain because she wanted to make a good impression at work. "There were days when I had my fiance take me to work because I just couldn't drive," Rhonda recalls.
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