So, I have POTS, short for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, it is a condition categorised by a sudden change in blood pressure and increase in heartrate upon standing up. it usually also comes with a high amount of chronic fatigue, brain fog, physical exhaustion, dizziness, loss of strength, collapsing to the floor and in some rarer cases loss of consciousness, which I am one of the very few people who experience that last symptom.
So, story time, my mother had a boss for a long time that she was close to who was a doctor.
He would often be very cordial and supportive of my mother and I when it came to my disability and such, but it was about as cordial as someone usually gets when they don't truly understand the condition. The thing about an invisible disability like POTS is the fact that when people see me, I'm usually up and about or looking physically okay, but in reality they're usually only seeing me at either my best and even when I'm having a rough time it's often hard to actually see how bad it affects me unless you're living with me 24/7 (and even then it's hard).
But, what eventually happened was that by pure circumstance, the doctor's wife ended up suddenly struggling with POTS herself, she was originally a perfectly able individual who was sort of a fitness nut and would do exercise all the time but now she was unable to do any of that anymore which is honestly really sad, I wouldn't wish that on anybody.
But, what happened after was I started getting comments from them saying things like "I never knew it was this bad for you" and my mother would tell me they said that with the tone of "look, they understand how you feel now" but all I could think about was the fact that it took them actually having to deal with the condition for them to actually genuinely care and understand what I was going through.
The fact that I wasn't given that opportunity beforehand really sucked even if I knew that it would've been like that either way, it's always like that with an invisible disability, even my brother who's lived with me for several years straight doesn't truly understand me or my disabilities and it's rough.
But, I also don't let it affect me too much, I understand it truly. It's impossible to ask someone to understand something they have no frame of reference to understand, all I can do is explain it to the best of my ability and give my advice to anybody who might have the unfortunate experience of having POTS as well, no matter if it's usually not as bad as mine is.
