Case #29: Cienna

Murder in Illinois

iHeartPodcasts

True Crime, Society & Culture

3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 25 November 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For as long as Cienna Ditri can remember, she has had random bouts of “heavy legs”and loss of vision. As she got older - that sensation grew into episodes in which she could not move altogether. Cienna was passing out multiple times a day and frequently losing vision. After a slew of misdiagnoses - she was unsure she would ever understand the cause…until one doctor found the needle in the haystack.

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****** SPOILER ALERT BELOW ******

You can learn more about Periodic Paralysis at periodicparalysis.org

You can follow Cienna at @chronicallyperservering on instagram, tiktok, facebook, and youtube.

You can find Cienna’s substack “In Rare Form” at chronicallypersevering.substack.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ruby.
0:06.5	And I was walking back, and I lost my vision.
0:10.7	It was all gone.
0:12.7	I did not know what was going on.
0:14.5	Nothing like that had ever happened to me before in my life.
0:17.7	Doctors just gave her a timeline of,
0:20.7	we don't think you'll live past your 25th birthday.
0:23.4	The life becomes so restrictive that the fear that dominates now becomes unbearable.
0:33.6	I didn't have these long-term dreams or goals because there was no long-term.
0:40.1	I was just fighting to survive every day.
0:43.9	How terrifying would it be to fight an unknown enemy?
0:48.8	One you didn't recognize and didn't see coming.
0:52.3	What if that enemy was coming from within?
0:55.5	A disease that even doctors couldn't identify.
0:59.0	Nearly half of Americans suffer from some chronic illness
1:02.1	and many struggle for an accurate diagnosis.
1:06.3	These are their stories.
1:09.5	I'm Lauren Bright Pacheco, and this is symptomatic.
1:18.2	Hi, I'm Sienna, if you haven't met me yet.
1:21.3	I would say that I am a 31-year-old disabled girl in the world just sharing my real life so that hopefully people like me see themselves represented and feel a little less alone.
1:36.1	Sienna-Ditri is sunshine in a bottle.
1:39.0	She moves through life with contagious enthusiasm and undeniable warmth.
	...

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