“Prior to coming to POTS Care, I was passing out multiple times a day and yet after beginning treatment, I suddenly I went to 97 days without passing out! As of today, the frequency of my migraines have decreased remarkably and my fainting spells are few and far between. While I still have bumps in the road, my life has improved immeasurably. I have completed high school and am now holding down two jobs, am able to live independently and look forward to what the future holds for me.”
Natalie came to POTS Care after being ill for 6 years. She had a diagnosis of POTS, and also suffered with severe ice-pick migraines. Natalie had previously been to the Mayo Clinic for evaluation and treatment, but did not see any improvement in her illness. After locating the underlying cause of Natalie’s POTS and beginning proper treatment, Natalie was able to return to a normal life. A few months after leaving POTS Care, Natalie answered some questions about her experience.
INTERVIEWER : You have been through a lot, haven’t you? Can you share with us what your illness has been like and how it affected your life?
PATIENT: I have never really been a healthy person. From an early age, I suffered from stomach aches, headaches (so far back that I couldn’t even pronounce the word!), general complaints and too many missed schools days. I started getting migraines in 7th grade causing me to miss about one week of school every month. Over the next few years more and more symptoms started to appear. Migraines, GI issues, dizziness, tachycardia, fainting, etc. Every doctor I saw ended up throwing their hands up and telling me nothing was wrong. All they wanted to do was throw ineffective medications at me. They thought I was faking it because they could not find anything wrong with me. I went to Mayo where I was finally diagnosed with POTS and then completed a three-week pain clinic there. While I did learn some important coping mechanisms and I found my support system, I didn’t find any relief from my symptoms. If anything, I became more symptomatic when I returned home.
INTERVIEWER: Do you feel that the care you received here at POTS Care was different than previous care you have received?
PATIENT : I do! It was more personal and thorough. At previous facilities, it was more of a “one size fits all” type of process. At POTS Care, they cater to individual needs. They also seemed to care more about me as a person than just an appointment. So often when I was in with a doctor, I felt like I was on one side of the table and my illness was on the other side of the table and the doctor was so focused on the illness that they forgot there was a person attached to it. At POTS Care, I felt like they treated me as a person with an illness instead of two separate entities.
INTERVIEWER : Were we able to identify any underlying problems contributing to your illness that others have missed?
PATIENT : I would have to say yes – undeniably. I spent almost a month at Mayo and while I did learn some valuable things there, my symptoms never subsided. During my week at POTS Care, they found a number of underlying issues that no one else found, nor looked for, in the 6.5 years I had been seeking answers and treatment.
INTERVIEWER : Do you feel like we used real science to help you?
PATIENT : Prior to arriving at POTS Care, I was skeptical as to what methods were actually being implemented to find a treatment for the “root cause” since everything I had ever been told was the reason I was sick was because I have POTS and there is no treatment for POTS. Once we arrived at POTS Care I quickly realized that legitimate medical practices were being utilized to treat this “untreatable” condition.
INTERVIEWER: Do you feel like you have a better grasp on how to heal from your condition now?
PATIENT : Most definitely. I now understand that so much of my medical condition stems from inflammation and other underlying conditions. While I still need to keep up on my POTS treatments, the medications that were prescribed for me helped tremendously.
INTERVIEWER: How have you been since your visit to POTS Care?
PATIENT : Once I returned home, it took a couple of weeks to start to see much benefit from my time at POTS Care. Shortly thereafter, I started to realize that I was becoming less symptomatic. While I continued to deal with migraines, which have always been one of my most problematic symptoms, my GI issues and fainting spells dramatically improved. Prior to POTS Care, I was passing out multiple times a day and suddenly I went 97 days without passing out! As of today, the frequency of my migraines has decreased remarkably and my fainting spells are few and far between. While I still have bumps in the road, my life has improved immeasurably. I have completed high school and am now holding down two jobs, am able to live independently and look forward to what the future holds for me.
INTERVIEWER: What would you like to say for the folks considering coming here?
PATIENT : I think you have to go into every treatment opportunity with an open mind and realize that while some people have phenomenal results, others may have good results and other may have mixed results, but that is just like any other medical treatment out there. My diagnosis is POTS. There aren’t very many doctors who even know what that is much less how to treat it. The fact that Dr. Driscoll digs into your medical history and looks at root cause is so much more than any other doctor that I have seen in six years has ever done for me. I wish every person who comes to POTS Care the very best.
INTERVIEWER:Thank you for talking with us today, Natalie!
