By Fallon Head | Web Editor
I took the stairs too fast after a day of not properly hydrating. Five minutes before a quiz started, I was lying in the back of my car waiting for my head to stop spinning. The quiz is open for 10 minutes. I know I have to get to my computer in my dorm. The issue is avoiding passing out on my way there.
I call my mom to have a witness in case I pass out, text my roommate a heads up about my current issue and head back to my dorm. Slowly.
By the time I got back to my room, the quiz had been open for four minutes. I had lost half my time and the words were now spinning with the rest of the world in my brain.
I, like many college kids, have a habit of skipping meals, forgetting to drink water or staying up too late reading and doomscrolling. The problem is that just one of these can set off my Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) symptoms for anywhere from 10 minutes to a week.
POTS is a chronic illness where a person’s heart rate can increase dramatically when they stand up or do other activities that increase heart rate. It’s caused by a variety of conditions or incidents, from having a genetic history to a traumatic brain injury. For me, it was Long COVID-19.
When I first started showing symptoms, I would miss weeks of my freshman year of high school because I couldn’t stand up without the room spinning or black spots appearing in my vision. Even when I would make it to school, I was always exhausted and struggled to focus.
On its own, POTS can be controlled with an increase of salt in one’s diet, drinking lots of water and compression clothing.
I have the unfortunate situation where recurring vasovagal syncope, which is when a person’s blood pressure drops it results in fainting for less than a minute, runs in my family. My aunt, mom and I all pass out easier than most from low blood pressure, stress, overheating and lack of sleep.
With POTS, my one-minute fainting episodes turn into hours or days of fatigue, fogginess and problems absorbing information.
I rely heavily on a schedule to make sure I’m eating at least twice a day, getting a full eight hours of sleep and hopefully getting enough water in a day.
When living with POTS, the slightest misstep in taking care of myself results in immediate consequences, which can heavily hinder my academic life. Taking care of myself is my biggest priority, even if it can be a struggle at times.
I’ve had to choose between sleeping, studying or hanging out with my roommates. I have to force myself to take breaks when studying to get food or to just let my brain reset. Overall, this has improved my life exponentially because, while taking care of myself, I’m also giving my brain what it needs — what any brain needs — to fully process and store the information I’m learning in class.
Sleep is crucial for storing memories long-term, and anyone with an autoimmune disorder. It provides the brain with the opportunity to sort through everything that happened in a day, with minimal outside stimulus to distract or interfere.
College students need to take the time to take care of themselves. With the stress, pressure and endless life decisions, taking the time to eat, sleep and relax is not optional. POTS makes it so I don’t have a choice, but even without chronic illness, it is so much easier to be successful when properly taking care of your body and mind.
