"I was voted most involved in high school. Now I struggle to simply get through a 2 hour shift." Brittany's story with POTS, EDS, Gastroparesis, and more

I was always extremely active, often only going home to sleep. That was until one day everything changed. I just kept getting hit with set backs. When I was 20, I developed mono, which was only the beginning. It seemed as if I got sick one day and never got better. My health continued to digress. Months later, I developed awful chest pain, a 105 degree fever, extreme nausea and vomiting, and began hallucinating as a result of my symptoms. I was so out of it. I went to Express Care twice and to the ER 3 times. They all sent me home with the diagnosis of anxiety and the common cold. At one point I was even told that I was “wasting time and resources.” I wanted to give up. I felt as if I was dying and no one was listening. One night I crawled to the bathroom to throw up and ended up sobbing on the floor instead. I knew something was wrong. My sister held me as my parents drove me to the ER yet again. My mom demanded more tests, but once again, they refused, saying that I was too young to have any serious issues. That was until one angelic nurse advocated for me to get a D-Dimer test. A normal test is anywhere below 500. Mine was over 4,000. I was immediately sent in for a CT Scan, which revealed multiple bilateral blood clots in my lungs - a Pulmonary Embolism. I was lucky to still be alive. I wish I could say that doctors started listening to me after that, but that wouldn’t be the truth. I continued to struggle with my health. I still wasn’t able to keep anything down for months, but I was told it was all in my head and I was intentionally making myself sick. They denied running anymore tests. It wasn’t until I was on death’s bed once again that I received a diagnosis of Gastroparesis and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome with suspected POTS. Even with the diagnosis and the lab results of extreme malnutrition and dehydration, I had to fight for treatment. After countless appointments and hospitalizations, I was finally given proper nutrition via a NG tube, and eventually a GJ tube. I am still very much so at the beginning of my chronic illness journey, but it has taught me so much.

Looking back, I wish I could give my younger self a hug and tell her to keep advocating for herself, even when it’s beyond difficult. It only takes one medical professional to believe you in order to get on the right track. The nurse that stood up for me that fateful night quite literally saved my life, and I couldn’t be happier getting to be here and tell my story to help others.