“You should exercise more.” A brutal statement. One I had tried to fulfill on my own, and time and time again, had failed. It was a frustrating piece of advice from my doctor, and felt so out of reach as I navigated my bouquet of chronic illnesses....
27 June, 2024 POTS No comment
I am so excited to report that after graduating from the 3-week Pain/Symptom Rehabilitation Center at Mayo Clinic in Rochester and continuing the program at home, I am nearly 100% recovered!...
05 March, 2024 POTS 3 Comments
The Valsalva maneuver is EASILY the most fascinating thing I’ve gotten to do in this entire medical adventure. On the surface, it’s a fairly quick and easy part of autonomic testing, but underneath, it’s one of the coolest and most complicated mechan...
17 January, 2024 POTS 3 Comments
With postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (or POTS), life is already a bit of a balancing act to keep all systems running smoothly, so as I prepared for surgery this fall, I was a bit nervous about how my body might handle it. The combination of...
06 January, 2024 POTS 3 Comments
My sister is a rockstar. I know I write a lot about my own journey with chronic illness, and I can often focus on the ways that I am able to manage my own symptoms and challenges. But what I don’t talk much about is the ways that my family makes i...
30 December, 2023 POTS No comment
Without a doubt, midodrine has been crucial to the management of my postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. Now that I have been on it for 2 months, I can confidently say that I experience significant benefits, minimal (if any) lasting side effect...
17 December, 2023 Featured POTS 3 Comments
Living out the lifestyle changes that are recommended for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) can be easier said than done. Having POTS is hard. It’s inconvenient. It is not fun. And yet in the midst of daily limitations and hourly copin...
06 December, 2023 POTS 1 Comment
People with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) are notorious for drinking pickle juice, double-salting their fries, and even eating salt right out of the shaker. In the early days of having POTS, I certainly had a thing for salami, gree...
30 November, 2023 POTS No comment
What is the QSART? The QSART (Also known as the QSWEAT) is short for the “Quantitative Sudomotor Axon Reflex Test”. The goal of this test is to get a better understanding of a person’s nerve/sweat function, which can be tested by stimulating their b...
22 November, 2023 POTS 3 Comments
Waiting sucks. Especially when it comes to waiting for medical answers that could very dramatically impact your life, your perspective, and everything about the future. While waiting for a full evaluation at Mayo Clinic for the constellation of s...
11 November, 2023 POTS 1 Comment
It finally happened y'all! I have officially received a comprehensive evaluation on my symptoms of autonomic dysfunction and the miscellaneous health issues that have been so debilitating. I was especially jazzed about this opportunity, because Ma...
02 November, 2023 POTS 2 Comments
There are lots of ways to go about reducing the symptoms of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), including lifestyle changes, medication, and even physical therapy. I had heard of people having success reducing symptoms through exercise ...
13 October, 2023 POTS 2 Comments
When my postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) first started escalating, the most concerning symptoms included things like chest pain, palpitations (like my heart was flopping), and tachycardia (racing heart). Not knowing what was happening...
27 September, 2023 POTS No comment
As I’m sure you can understand, getting a puppy didn’t seem like a great idea when considering the reality of potty breaks, playtime, and the general activity needed to keep up with a four-pawed toddler. Especially as it pertained to me and my physic...
27 August, 2023 POTS Random 3 Comments
I am driven by striving. In one conversation with a Christian mentor, the words blurted out before I could properly weigh them: “Striving is what makes life worth living.” I wasn’t completely wrong, but I definitely wasn’t right either. A more approp...
06 August, 2023 Mental Health Random No comment