Meet Emily Deaton, 21, of Mechanicsville, Virginia. Like many people with invisible illnesses, Emily’s journey to an accurate diagnosis was more of a nightmare than a dream.
Emily has a disease of the autonomic nervous system called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS).
The bodies of people with POTS can’t properly regulate digestion or heart rate—a classic sign is an increase in heart rate of at least 30 beats per minute within 10 minutes of becoming upright.
During her junior year of high school, Emily had a “stomach bug” that turned into ongoing, debilitating symptoms. She started rapidly losing weight, felt dizzy all the time, was continually fatigued, and suffered from joint pain.
Let’s see how many of Emily’s experiences are shared by our awesome PatientWorthyians!
Today, Emily is a happy, busy college student successfully managing her POTS.
A newspaper in the UK, The Daily Mail, recently featured her story. We at PatientWorthy give Ms. Emily major props for being brave and never, ever giving up! Way to go, Emily!
