Imagine being a speech therapist and waking up in an ICU, unable to speak, swallow, or move your head and neck. That's what happened to Vanessa Abraham, MS, CCC-SLP, seven years ago when she was paralyzed by the pharyngeal-cervical-brachial (PCB) variant of Guillain-Barre. In this episode, she shares the full story from ventilator, tracheostomy, G-tube, and eye gaze boards through her path to eventually rebuilding her voice, her ability to swallow, and her clinical practice. 

We cover:

  • The PCB variant of Guillain-Barre and what recovery actually looks like
  • How Vanessa found the Neubie, which turned out to be the missing link in her recovery
  • The ways she uses electrical stimulation on the head and neck in her speech-language pathology practice, and how she dials in for swallowing and vocal cord function
  • Polyvagal theory, why the body can't heal in a state of fight-or-flight, and how Vanessa uses the Master Reset
  • Her frameworks for working with children with autism, adults with neurodegenerative conditions, and people experiencing PICS (post-intensive care syndrome)

Vanessa is now one of the first SLPs in the world using the Neubie and has become a passionate educator through her book Speechless, her various talks and appearances, and her clinical practice. Her story is a very powerful pain-to-purpose conversation.

 

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