Patient Responses

Luke is a very bright, determined but frustrated 10-year-old dyslexic. According to his mother:

"Almost instantly…he stopped tripping…dozing out and began telling us what happened each day. It's like he suddenly showed up for his life."

Since starting on inner-ear enhancing medication, 37-year-old Andrea's panic attacks have disappeared during the day and while sleeping. Overall anxiety and agoraphobia are now minimal. Vertigo is gone. And Andrea completed her first book (500 pgs) ever with greater speed and recall.

Shortly after treatment began, there resulted significant improvements in 15-year-old Nicole whose pre-existing symptoms had intensified after acquiring Mononucleosis at 13. Her reading, writing, math, memory, speech and auditory processing, direction, concentration, balance, anxiety…all responded favorably to inner-ear enhancing medications.

We first started seeing Dr. Levinson in December of 2009 when Nicole was in the 9th grade. Reading and keeping up with school work was getting more and more difficult for her each year. There were some subtle indicators in elementary school that there was some sort of problem, but as each new school year hit the problem was becoming more obvious. I just wasn’t sure what the true problem was. We took Nicole to several different doctors near our home and had her tested by the school. Everyone sent us away saying “Everything’s fine.” She was managing to get A’s and B’s and was actually in an advanced junior/senior high school in our town. No one realized how much she was struggling and how hard she was working at home to get her work done. Her self-esteem was going down quickly and it was breaking my heart seeing her feel defeated all the time. She often said she felt like some freak of nature or alien. We were really at our wits end and didn’t know where to turn. I heard an article on the radio about Dr. Levinson’s book, “Smart but Feeling Dumb.” It sounded interesting and I thought maybe it could have some helpful information, so I checked it out from our local library. When I started reading the book I was literally in tears because it was as if he knew my daughter and was describing her exactly. There was no way he could be making this stuff up. He hit on so many issues in the book that it made me realize that Nicole had been dealing with Dyslexia all along. I knew right then that he was on to something and I had to find out what it was all about. I spoke to several local doctors about Dr. Levinson’s theories but none of them were familiar with his research, so I decided that the best way to get help was to go straight to the source. That trip to New York was the best thing that ever happened in Nicole’s world.

Nicole graduated high school in May 2012 and her life is so much different than when we first saw Dr. Levinson 3 years ago. It is so hard to truly describe the changes. Not only did the treatment make it possible for her to just complete her school work, she did it with all A’s. Getting her work done was no longer an issue. She is so much more confident in herself and what she can do. She has realized that she really is smart and is in fact a normal human being, not an alien. She never liked books but now reads for pleasure. We highly recommend Dr. Levinson. If you know in your gut that something is not right with your child don’t give up on what the professionals tell you and just accept it. Be the voice for your child and don’t be afraid to keep asking and searching for help. Going to Dr. Levinson was definitely worth the time and money. Anita Barbee

Shortly after 9-year-old Andrew was treated for his dyslexia/ADHD, his reading, writing, memory, balance/coordination, speech and auditory processing, concentration and activity level as well as sleep pattern all improved.

Dr. Levinson has been instrumental in helping my daughter achieve goals that we thought were far beyond her reach. Once he evaluated her and she began on her regimen, we immediately saw improvement in her tracking of reading and handwriting legibility. Once we added in additional medication, her progress was even greater — she was able to sit through class and it became much easier and clearer for her to comprehend what she was learning. Her focus greatly intensified and she feels better about herself in general. We feel so fortunate to have found Dr. Levinson and his unique approach to helping our daughter reach her maximum potential.

Mrs. Allison Friedman

Brittany Simon is a highly social 19-year-old college student who responded very rapidly and favorably to medical treatment. Her concentration, activity and impulsivity levels significantly improved as did her reading, writing, mental clarity, organization, mood and overall energy.

I first saw Dr. Levinson in 1988, flying across country from San Diego, after a lumbar tap left me with disabling imbalance. I had a lifetime history of anxiety attacks, dyslexia and phobic responses, but these new imbalance symptoms were off the charts by comparison. After a day in Dr. L’s office, he was the first doctor to acknowledge that the lumbar tap could have played a role in my imbalance. He explained that already having an underlying vestibular disorder, the lumbar tap put me over the edge.

He gave me a “cocktail” of medications and supplements. Within just a few months the anxiety attacks, dyslexia and phobic responses were a distant memory and my balance had improved enough for me to return to work. Still, over the years I continued to struggle with my balance and was eventually diagnosed with MdDS (Mal de Debarquement Syndrome), a disabling balance condition that most people get after a cruise or rough plane ride. But mine had been caused by the lumbar tap.

I recently learned that there is a good likelihood that the lumbar tap caused a spinal fluid leak that causes my severe imbalance. When I learned this and made arrangements to have a blood patch to seal the spinal leak at Duke Medical Center, I contacted Dr. Levinson (9/12/12), 24 years after our first meeting. He explained to me that the outcome of my spinal procedure would have the best possible outcome if the known vestibular disorder and its partial contribution to my imbalance were treated first.

I have just begun to take the new and improved meds Dr. Levinson advised and I already notice a difference in my balance. With the patch for the spinal leak, I am hopeful that I can be made whole again. I said it 24 years ago and I will say it again. When I first walked into Dr. Levinson’s office I felt as though I had just left a country where everyone spoke a foreign language and no one understood me and suddenly found myself in the presence of someone who spoke English. He is one of a kind and I am so grateful for that.

Merry Freer

• Initial Response
• Follow-up

• Ever since he was three years old, Ethan had been misdiagnosed by various physicians. One medical center diagnosed him with audio neuropathy, another with Language Developmental Disorder and others placed him on the Autism spectrum notating either mild to moderate autism or Asperger’s Syndrome.

  Ethan is a very bright boy who naturally excels in mathematics. However, prior to treatment with Dr. Levinson, Ethan’s reading ability had been evaluated as two grades below par. We knew this did not reflect his aptitude nor his effort, and that something was clearly wrong. Given the fundamental importance of reading skills, we thought we might have to put Ethan into a special school.

  In May of 2010, Dr. Levinson examined Ethan and solved the puzzle that had been perplexing our doctors and our family for seven years. Dr. Levinson diagnosed Ethan with Dyslexia and ADD due to a simple and treatable inner-ear dysfunction. He explained to us that many of the symptoms associated with Dyslexia are commonly exhibited by children who are Autistic, and the reverse. What a relief it was to finally have a simple, logical explanation we could act on rather than a bunch of confusing and frightening terms leading us in circles to nowhere.

  Following special neurological testing and a definitive diagnosis, Dr. Levinson prescribed a series of medications for Ethan. One week after starting the first antihistamine, Ethan picked up a Dr. Seuss book and read it by himself. We were absolutely astonished. Previously, he couldn't read a sentence and refused help. He also suddenly became more outgoing socially--wanting to be funny and make others laugh. His eye contact dramatically improved and his prior tics lessened and then completely disappeared. Also his memory noticeably improved.

  Over the next few months we noticed further improvements in Ethan’s ability to process information, pay attention in school and overcome anxieties. None of the side-effects we feared occurred. His dizziness disappeared, a symptom we didn't before know about. OCD and perseveration tendencies lessened. His reading improved enough so that he no longer had to be pulled from class for special instructions. Fears persisted but overall anxiety had sharply diminished.

  After one year of treatment, extra tutoring and a lot of hard work, Ethan managed to pull within average scores for reading in his grade. He is now happy, confident and outgoing. We will always be grateful to Dr. Levinson for his peerless insights and his extraordinary care. It is a shame that there are not more doctors like him available to the public.

  Ethan's Mom

• Ethan and his mother have provided follow-up observations upon returning home and during implementation of the total medical program recommended.

  Within a few hours after increasing his first test dose, Ethan's initial improvements continued to rapidly expand: Ethan remained calm instead of becoming severely anxious and motion sick on the drive home. For the first time ever, he was smiley, talkative and even able to sleep in a moving vehicle. Importantly, he felt happier than ever and had the most comfortable night's sleep in memory. In fact, Ethan now wants to develop a website to help other dyslexics.

  A summary of Deborah Haney's report — Ethan's Birthday (September 20, 2012)

  “After one antihistamine: For the first time ever, Ethan wanted to celebrate his birthday by going to a busy restaurant. He hugged his brother at dinner in front of everyone, chose to shop at Walmart afterwards till 9:30pm. And he decided to write Dr. Levinson his own private letter expressing both his improvements and a desire to share them with others. He is now determined to help others as he was helped. Previously blocked, his deep, warm and affectionate feelings are suddenly emerging.”

  September 19, 2012: Ethan's first spontaneously written content

  (dr. levenson, the email that ethan sent was in his own words, i did not tell him what to say, and he sent it before i could read it so i don't know what he said, but i wanted him to send it in his own words.)

  “hey this is Ethan Haney after being in your office on September,17,2012 and after taking the motion sickness pills i was alot more happier and was not in stress,nerves and i was happy in a car on the way back and Dr.Levinson i was sleeping better at night last night i went to bed at 9.00 a clock and i sleeped until 7.30 in the morning i never been this so happy never in my life before i was a baby hey Dr.Levinson can i created a website and link it to your website and if say yes i will do it next mouth ok that my new email ok”

  Ethan Haney

  September 27, 2012

  Ethan just learned and named the days of the week and months of the year. And he is able to recall more than half of the multiplication tables—a task eluding him until now. Although now getting bored doing nothing within the house, he's still too fearful of going outside because of his sensitivity to light.

  September 29, 2012

  Amazing. Ethan was outside shoveling gravel today. He poured concrete for 40 minutes before going inside. That's something incredible to us!!!!! More updates will follow later.

  September 21, 2012

  Ethan has continued to improve. Following Dr. Levinson's instructions, Ethan has avoided foods and dyes he was sensitive to and feels much better than before. Following your advice to get reading glasses with a tint and magnification, he went one step further. Ethan recently surfed the internet and found a program (Zoom Text) that has allowed him to magnify and change colors of the reading material and its background. He read two paragraphs of Dr. Levinson's web site without missing a word. What an amazing leap forward for someone who really couldn't read a month ago, despite years and years of trying.

  It’s only been about a month since Ethan has been to Dr. Levinson and he is much happier and smiles a lot. That alone was worth the trip. But there is no doubt in our minds that everything will improve. He's now talking about getting his drivers permit. Thanks Dr. Levinson. We will update you soon.