The story of Claudia
Hello. My name is Claudia Pinzon. I’m 31 years old. I would like to share my POTS story with you. I’ve been having lots of health problems for so many years. When I was a child I suffered from Tachycardia and took heart medication to keep my heart rate under control. The doctor said it was just Tachycardia and some arrhythmia but as I got older and with the help of the medication, the Tachycardia went away for a while. When I was a teen I started having gastrointestinal problems and started suffering from severe anxiety. Then through the years I started developing hypotension (low blood pressure). When I was 19 I got into an ATV( all terrain vehicle) accident and my knee and spine were affected by it so a few years later I got a knee surgery and a spinal fusion. When I 20 I started having other health problems like severe migraines, interstitial cystitis and around 24 my Tachycardia came back. My blood pressure became Orthostatic hypotension and I started getting lightheaded, dizzy and weak. Doctors did all sorts of tests and thought it was just vertigo. I was on all sorts of medications for migraines and other things but some of these medications were making everything worse and I kept wondering what was wrong with me. Even the doctors wouldn’t know. It wasn’t until 2 years ago that my blood pressure started causing even more problems. I started fainting, I couldn’t feel my legs, my heart felt like it was going to explode and my brain felt like it was in a blender 24/7. I was also extremely weak and exhausted. My mom was watching a tv show and there was a doctor taking about a disease called Dysautonomia and everything he said regarding that disease was related to every single one of my symptoms so my mom told me to mention this to my primary care because she thought I could have it and I did mention it. I was sent to Dr. Peter Novak for autonomic testing. He did the test and found out I had POTS which is a form of Dysautonomia. THANK YOU MOM!! After all these years I finally got an answer and so I did research on POTS and found out it was rare and there was not much awareness for it.
I started treatment with my primary care because Dr. Novak left the hospital and then last year I found an amazing doctor who specializes in POTS and she put me on the right path. I’ve had bumps in the road but I do feel much better as far as my POTS goes. Dr. Anindita Deb is treating my POTS and she thinks I’ve always had it and the spinal fusion surgery could have flared it up a bit more. She has helped me so much. Even though IÂ can’t work at the moment, I feel so much better. I’m not fainting everyday anymore. After 10+years I know what I have and I want to keep raising awareness and keep staying strong!