“The first thing that I noticed in speaking to the POTS Care team is that they are fully dedicated and committed to making “invisible illness” visible. In bringing light to the underlying condition that had been responsible for my declining health, it was very evident that Dr. Driscoll placed the utmost importance on making sure I understood how she came to the conclusions that she had made during my visit.”
Ross came to POTS Care after suffering for 10 years and after years of treatment for presumed Chronic Lyme disease. A complete review of his case suggested his condition was not actually Lyme disease, and further testing revealed his true underlying problems. Changing treatment dramatically allowed his body to begin healing, including restoring his liver function, which was declining from so many medications and supplements. At POTS Care, we see a fair number of patients who present as Chronic Lyme disease, with all of the typical symptoms, but who do not indeed have true Lyme disease.
Interviewer: Many people who are considering coming to POTS Care wonder exactly what happens here – do they use real science? Is it quackery? Is there anything you would like to share for those people?
Ross: Being someone who has exhausted all resources in both mainstream and alternative medicine, I have had endless experience in trying to differentiate between the right and wrong path to try and regain my health. From the moment that I walked into POTS Care, I knew it was going to be a different experience than anything I had been through in the past. The atmosphere that the team creates for their patients is indescribable. The program at POTS Care is so well laid out and organized that it is very apparent that they know exactly how to achieve the goals and objectives they have set forth for your visit. The first thing that I noticed in speaking to the POTS Care team is that they are fully dedicated and committed to making “invisible illness” visible. In bringing light to the underlying condition that had been responsible for my declining health, it was very evident that Dr. Driscoll placed the utmost importance on making sure I understood how she came to the conclusions that she had made during my visit. I was not only given detailed explanations at every turn of the process, but I was also presented with literature validated in the medical community to support our discussions. With complex health conditions, there is always the very real question of whether a treatment approach is based upon a solid foundation of accurate information and research, or if it is based upon “quackery”. There is no question that Dr. Driscoll has built her diagnostic and treatment approach on a foundation that stays with the science.
Interviewer: Were we able to identify any underlying problems contributing to your illness that others have missed?
Ross: For the number of doctors and health facilities that I had been to over the years, I was very doubtful that POTS Care would be able to identify something that had not been presented to me in the past. Not only were they able to find something that had been missed, but they were able to find the root cause and driving force behind my health issues over the last 10 years. Finding the very foundation of my problem brought with it explanation of how my symptoms had progressed over the years.
Interviewer: Would you like to share anything about your struggles or journey before coming to POTS Care?
Ross: I started having minor health issues starting in my early 20’s, which presented at the time with symptoms of unexplained fatigue/lack of energy and brain fog. Just as anybody would do, I started making appointments to a variety of different doctors to try and figure out what was going on. When you’re in that position, your expectation is that you go to the doctor, identify what’s causing you to feel bad, and get on the path to feeling better. After visiting a number of doctors and being told that everything looked okay, I started to realize that my expectation was seeming less and less achievable. Due to the fact that my symptoms were what I would consider to be manageable at that time, I got back to life trying to better handle my stress and lifestyle. I pushed through school, graduated, and began my career as a mechanical engineer. All the while, my symptoms were slowly getting worse as time went on.
By the time I was 28, the severity of my growing list of symptoms reached a point where they were significantly impacting my quality of life. I could no longer even almost try to convince myself that there was nothing wrong with my health and I finally crashed. At this point, I began actively trying to figure out what was causing me to be so ill. Even though the severity of my symptoms felt like there should have been a major red flag, no doctor that I went to could identify a problem that would be contributing to the symptoms that I was describing. Running out of options, I ended up turning to alternative medicine where I was given a variety of different diagnoses such as adrenal fatigue, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and finally Lyme disease. After being told that I had Lyme disease, I thought I had finally found the answer. Even though my Lyme test results came back as negative every time that I was tested, I was told that testing for Lyme was very unreliable and that it was the only explanation for my symptoms. Throughout my journey with what was thought to be Lyme disease, what I was observing and being told by my health practitioners just wasn’t adding up. That along with seeing absolutely zero positive results from the variety of different treatment approaches that I had tried over the course of a year and half, I decided that I needed to branch outside of Lyme and again begin looking for answers. After visiting a local doctor, I was finally pointed in the direction of POTS Care. That is the turning point where my journey to regaining my health began.
Interviewer: Do you have anything you would like to say to others that may be thinking about coming to POTS Care?
Ross: Thinking back on all the time that I spent trying to get on top of my health issues, the worst part of the entire journey was not knowing what was going on or where to go for help. If you are struggling with an “invisible illness”, I cannot even begin to tell you how strongly I would urge you to visit Dr. Driscoll and her team at POTS Care. They are beyond unbelievable and will stop at nothing to help you regain your health and quality of life.
Interviewer: Thank you so much for sharing your story.
