Allergic to gravity
Photo by Wilke Geurds
I am allergic to gravity, and my POTS is to blame for that. POTS is an abbreviation for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. In non-medical terms this means that when the position of the body (Postural) is upright (Orthostatic) the heart rate starts to increase (Tachycardia), among other symptoms (Syndrome).
POTS is a type of dysautonomia, an umbrella term for problems in the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system controls everything that happens automatically and subconsciously in the body. This is the reason why POTS comes with a myriad of symptoms. The symptoms I struggle with the most are: palpitations; feeling like I am going to faint (and sometimes actually fainting); fatigue; shortness of breath; blood pooling; and dizziness. Additionally, I suffer from nausea; orthostatic headaches; brain fog; a heavy feeling on my chest; weakness in my legs; barely being able to sweat; and coat hanger pain (pain in my neck and upper back). POTS can come with more symptoms, and every POTS patient is different
Some of these symptoms are present all of the time, whereas others only appear when standing up. When standing up, gravity causes blood to displace downwards. Usually, blood is distributed again normally, but this doesn’t happen for people with POTS. For them, standing is the cause of insufficient blood flow to the organs. The body reacts to this by increasing the heart rate too much
However, I am not just a woman who is allergic to gravity. I am also Stephanie: a student, (girl)friend, daughter, lover of languages, bookworm, artist, history nerd, Winnie the Pooh fan, and so much more. I am my disability, but I am also not my disability.