One Test Could have Changed Everything

I started having symptoms in middle school after a few falls at a skate park. I was overweight so my family coughed up the symptoms of depression, over sleeping, and fatigue (or laziness).

After a few fainting spells, one of which I was out on the road for an hour, I was set up with a cardiac monitor which luckily caught a 288 beats per minute heart rate. That got me a week in the children's cardiac ICU. I was the only talking and awake child in the unit. For a week we did a variety of testing - stress test, catheter lab - and they refused to let me shower. I was given a loop monitor and "diagnosed" with ventricular tachycardia. That meant no sports or any physical stimulus -  even climbing the stairs was not allowed.

My senior year of high school, I turned 18 and wanted a second opinion. Due to the fact that I was weightlifting to get healthy and that ventricular tachycardia didn't really add up with my symptoms. I finally was correctly diagnosed in Jan of 2020 after almost 3 years of false living. All it took was a tilt table test and 45 minutes in the morning. No catheter or needles, just a board and some straps.

Many medical professionals told me that I was a faker, hormonal, anxiety, attention seeking or just a girl when I went to them for help between age 13 and 18. It was hard and sometimes I still doubt myself. I have a hard time standing up for myself in a professional environment, but at least now I can live my life with the correct diagnosis and knowing my own body. I still get mistreated - hospitals assume drugs with anyone my age so Narcan was used on me a few times.

But I know that my illness is real and just because it's not physically visible doesn't mean living a normal life isn't extra hard. Times when I have to stand for long periods of time are especially difficult in Las Vegas. But at least I'm independent and figuring it out a day at a time.