Accepting the reality of a difficult situation in life can reassure someone that one day, a light will shine at the end of a dark tunnel. These past three years have been everything but simple for Ally Smith, who has been searching for answers, visiting doctor after doctor trying to figure out why she woke up every morning nauseous.
In the summer of 2013, Smith’s health began affecting her day to day life in negative ways. Nausea, fatigue, muscle weakness, and anxiety were only the start of a long journey that Smith had yet to explore. In March of 2014, Smith was diagnosed with a disorder that made her say, “Wow, my life will never be the same again,” Smith said.
Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Hard to comprehend, right? Unfortunately, those four intricate words would soon take a toll on Smith’s life.
To keep it short and sweet, POTS is well known abbreviation for the rarely known disorder. Although POTS can strike any age, gender, or race, it is most often seen in women between the ages of 15 and 50. Men can develop the disorder as well, but approximately 80 percent of patients are female.
Smith developing the disorder was not uncommon at all. While POTS is a rarely known disorder, it is common at the same time.
POTS is a form of orthostatic intolerance that is associated with the presence of excessive tachycardia upon standing. Orthostatic intolerance is the development of symptoms when standing upright which are relieved when reclining, while tachycardia refers to an abnormally fast resting heart rate. These two symptoms make up the disorder, and can be clear warning signs that POTS is not something that can be taken lightly.
The symptoms for POTS are different for everyone. The main issue in Smith’s case was that her nervous system does not function properly.
While the diagnostic criteria focuses on the abnormal heart rate increase while standing, POTS usually presents itself with symptoms more complex than a simple increase in heart rate. Many POTS patients also experience fatigue, headaches, lightheadedness, heart palpitations, exercise intolerance, nausea, deficient concentration, shaking, fainting, coldness or pain in the extremities, chest pain, and shortness of breath.
Taking trips to the doctor’s office became a regular routine for Smith. After seeing several specialists and taking multiple tests, no one was able to comprehend what the issue was. Even though there were no answers at the time, she never lost hope. Smith knew that she had to take this to another level in order to unveil the truth.
“We eventually sent everything to Lurie Children’s [Hospital] and there was actually a doctor there who studies POTS, and he diagnosed me right away. And that was like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders cause there was a reason for it, there was an answer,” Smith said.
Despite the fact that there is no cure for POTS, Smith will not let that keep her from living a life with no worries. There are things to gain, and there are lessons to learn while living with POTS. In Smith’s case, it not only has given her perseverance and hope, but most importantly, it has reminded her not to give up.
“Don’t give up, like that’s so cliché, but you don’t know what the future holds for you, so you never know what you’re missing out on if you just give up,” Smith said.