Rare condition saps young mother’s strength
July 12, 2012 at 7:00 am in Hudson Star-Observer
Glance through this month’s issue of “Fitness” magazine and you will find Melissa Holerud of Hudson featured in the “fitlife – I did it!” section. However, she suffers from a nervous system condition called dysautonomia, specifically POTS, which affects her heart rate and blood pressure. Continue Reading
She is to be commended for talking publicly about her struggle w/ POTS. As a fellow POTS patient, I would like to say a few things though. First of all, POTS is not “rare.” In the U.S., to be classified as a “rare disease,” a max of 200,000 people can be affected by it. Also, by definition, POTS is not a disease. It is a syndrome, which is a collection of symptoms. It can be caused by many different diseases. In fact, it NEVER occurs by itself. It is ALWAYS caused by something else. In the U.S., recent estimates show us that 500,000- 1 million Americans have POTS. This makes it more common than Multiple Sclerosis & Parkinson’s Disease COMBINED & more common than Autism. Unfortunately, the vast majority of doctors have never heard of POTS & most people have not either. This needs to change. Articles like this one are a step in the right direction.
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