My Life With POTS

I first experienced symptoms when I was a child. I would stand and lose my vision, losing feeling in my legs, and almost faint (pre syncope). At 12, I fainted for the first time getting out of the bathtub and we blamed this on the water being hot.

One day I was hiking with my family and my heart rate was higher than everyone else and wouldn’t come down. I was feeling pretty terrible. I went to the doctor and had blood work done, was sent to a cardiologist and did a poor man's tilt table test. I was sent home with a heart monitor, then finally diagnosed with POTS at 16.

I try my best to function on a daily basis. My second semester of junior year, I had to go take classes while homebound due to bullying and constant fainting. I deal with lots of chronic pain and other issues on top of my POTS.