Hello all! I have decided to keep this blog to share my journey through life with an invisible illness. I'm going to try to be honest; the good, the bad, and the ugly. So here it goes...
I was a "regular" girl until the age of 20. I say "regular" although my life has been anything but ordinary. In 7th grade I was diagnosed with panic disorder, which progressed into agoraphobia by 10th grade. For about a year in 2005, I was homeschooled with severe panic attacks. I thought that this was the worst part of my life, and whether I was right or not, I'm still not sure. I do know that ever since then, everytime I have fallen ill and gone to the doctor, it has been chalked up to anxiety and panic. I think somewhere in the back of my mind I always knew that there was more to all of my sick days then just anxiety.
However, on February 12, 2010 everything changed...and quickly. I was on a weekend away with a school group and began passing out, 4 or 5 times each day. I thought it might have been the change in altitude or anxiety. I had passed out a few times before, but I believed that to be from the hole in my heart, little did I know it was so much more than that.
On March 1st, I went in for a tilt table test, in which I took 4 minutes to pass out. I was then diagnosed with Dysautonomia.
Dysautonomia is a malfunction of the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system controls the unconcious bodily functions, such as heart rate, digestion, and breathing patterns. Some symptoms of dysautonomia include extreme fatigue, thirst, dizziness, anxiety, tachycardia, low blood pressure, trouble breathing, syncope, intolerance to heat, blood pooling, etc.
Each day presents a new challenge while living with dysautonomia. New challenges that lead to frustration, tears, laughter, and lessons. I'll try my hardest to keep you updated on all of the above.
-Brooke-
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