Fighting for a Diagnosis: It's NOT Anxiety

One day in late 2023, I was just going about my business. I had spent a fun day with my boyfriend and took a nap because I worked night shift at my Certified Nursing Assistant job that night. I made it to my job and got to work giving my residents their showers. On the last shower of the night, I felt myself becoming unusually drenched in sweat, unusually fatigued and started to get dizzy. I was able to dress my resident and get them back to their room. I needed to sit down, but on my way to the break room I got a pulling type of pain in my chest. I remember reaching my hand out to ask for help, then everything went black. 

Next thing I know, I woke up in an ambulance. They took me to my local hospital where ER doctors took blood work and an EKG. My blood work was normal, and my EKG showed severe tachycardia. The doctor said I probably just had a bad anxiety attack. I knew that was not the case. This was unlike anything I had ever experienced. Fast forward one week. I went to a cardiologist who gave me a 24-hour holter monitor. When I went to see him for the results, he said the monitor recorded episodes of tachycardia, but he thinks it is anxiety as well. 

I went home and took matters into my own hands by researching my symptoms. I found a creator on TikTok who posts about her chronic illnesses. Her videos taught me about POTS. My symptoms aligned exactly with hers and as I did more digging, began to think this is what was happening with me. GI issues, blood pulling, extreme fatigue, convulsive syncope to name just a few of the symptoms I was experiencing. So, I went to my primary care doctor and brought up POTS to her. She informed me she didn’t know much about it, but she referred me to an electrophysiologist. This electrophysiologist finally was somebody who did not dismiss my symptoms and he took my orthostatic vitals and diagnosed me with POTS immediately as my change in heart rate from sitting to standing was a 35 BPM jump. I am one of the very few lucky ones who didn’t have to wait years for a diagnosis. 

However, the fact that at the start of the process my symptoms were dismissed as anxiety and I had to do my own research and educate multiple doctors on POTS in order to get the diagnosis, proves there is not nearly enough information and research about it out there. I want to share my story to hopefully help others on this journey and help educate medical professionals on the topic and how severe it can be for some people. POTS has disabled me, but I don’t intend to let that stop me from telling my story and spreading awareness.