(Health.com) — One morning when I was in my 20s, I woke up to the familiar sound of a banging radiator and the unfamiliar sensation of spinning. A half beat after I opened my eyes, I felt a strong swell of nausea.
To my single, 25-year-old mind, this was the stuff of nightmares. I dragged myself to a drugstore and bought a pregnancy test. Negative. So I resigned myself to waiting it out.
It proved to be a long wait.
Weeks later, I developed abdominal pain. Next, a urinary tract infection that had no regard for antibiotics. My doctor ran tests, looking for red flags — an elevated white blood cell count, a thyroid hormone out of whack, something. But they were all normal.
Stumped, he referred me to specialists: a urologist, a gynecologist, a gastroenterologist. I had an endoscopy, a barium X-ray, a colonoscopy. And the theories flew: ulcers, endometriosis, lupus.
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They kept me up late at night, wondering if the most recent theory would be the diagnostic version of Mr. Right — but without the joy that implies. I just wanted an explanation.
My doctors prescribed even without a diagnosis. I took a drug to speed gastric emptying, prescription antacids, even a drug that put me in faux menopause. Nothing worked. And the side effects were awful. I had hot flashes. My stomach was raw from antibiotics.
My father, an oncologist with a policy of not treating his family, watched anxiously from the sidelines.
“Stop seeing specialists,” he advised. “They only think about their 10 inches of the body.”
So I stopped seeing doctors. I still had my symptoms, but I made sure I was always near a bathroom. In that way, I achieved semi-normalcy.
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Then one day, five years after that first wave of nausea, sitting in a pizzeria sipping water and eating soup, the smell of pizza hit me full force. I wondered what it would be like to eat without feeling sick. A wave of anger and determination hit me. It was time to resume the search for a diagnosis.
I thought hard about what I wanted in my next doctor the way some people envision their ideal spouse. I wanted to find an internist, someone who looks at the bigger picture. I found one who had studied acupuncture in China; he spent an hour asking me questions.
One was

It Took 5 Years To Solve My Medical Mystery

(Health.com) — You’ve been told a trillion times not to buy produce out of season. But that doesn’t mean you have to skip the fruits you love this time of year. It’s just a matter of knowing which version is the healthiest and tastiest.
“In the winter, frozen or dried options may have a leg up over fresh when it comes to flavor and nutrition,” says Elizabeth Somer, R.D., author of “Eat Your Way Sexy”. In other cases, fresh is still the way to go. Here’s your guide to making the best picks now.
Blueberries
Buy ‘em: Frozen
Frozen blueberries are typically the petite wild version, which have been found by scientists to contain more disease-thwarting antioxidants than their traditionally cultivated counterparts (the type you’re most likely to find fresh right now). Also, fresh blueberries are pricey in winter and, if trucked in from afar, can go moldy fast.
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Apples
Buy ‘em: Fresh
Apples are a top-notch source of quercetin, an antioxidant shown to slash the risk for certain cancers. And quercetin levels in a fresh apple hold up even if it was picked months ago and put into cold storage until the winter, a “Nutrition Journal” study suggests.
Nearly all of the fruit’s quercetin and half its fiber is found in the peel — which you’ll get with fresh apples but usually not with dried. (Opt for certified organic, if possible, to avoid pesticides on the fruit’s exterior.)
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Peaches
Buy ‘em: Frozen
When it comes to juicy goodness, winter peaches from South America are mere shadows of the fresh, locally sourced summer version. They’re also about twice the price.
They’re not as good for you, either: “Peaches can lose a considerable

Get Your Favorite Fruits This Winter