PotsieSpoons

Comics for the chronically ill

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[Comic of Potsie and Susan watching the news. The reporter says, “Experts are reminding the public to wash their hands, avoid physical contact, and to steer clear of large crowds.” Potsie gasps! She swings a blanket around herself with a dramatic flourish then stands on the couch, poised like a superhero, and proclaims, “My time has come!”]

It’s the age of 🧼🙌🧼 germaphobic introverts 🧼🙌🧼

Support my work on Patreon!

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[First image is a comic of Potsie, carrying tea to her studio—the teacup begins to wiggle as she gets random hand spasms! But she is able to successfully place the teacup on her desk before accidentally spilling or dropping it. The second image says, “Thank you, Peeps! Model Warren, Sandy Athey, Autumn Duran, and Rachel! Want to join the club? Come support me on Patreon! www.patreon.com/PotsieSpoons]

One day I’m going to drop something fragile AND important and be surrounded by Shards of Sorrow™️

A big thanks to this month’s patrons! Friendly reminder that, as a patron, you get monthly downloadable wallpapers, access to a private Facebook community, and more! Coming up in March, I’ll be holding a ✨special offer✨ wherein everyone who signs up as a Primo Peep will receive an exclusive print! 🥳

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Aaaaand my Patreon is now live! You can find it here! 

If you want to directly support the work I’m doing, this is a great way to be an active participant in helping me raise awareness, educate others, and encourage even more people! So give the link above a little click and check out some of the cool bonus content you can get each month!

Thanks for all your support over the years, everybody--I really appreciate it!

[Purple image that says, “Support my work on Patreon and become one of Potsie’s Peeps!” Potsie and Susan are beside this--Potsie gesturing grandly and Susan holding a cup of coffee, unimpressed. She asks, “Do people even say ‘peeps’ anymore?” Below this are smaller images representing the various Patreon tiers--Pint-sized Peep, Primo Peep, Power Peep, Puppy Peep, and Producer Peep. Below these, it says, “Get cool bonus content and my undying gratitude!” Followed by the link to my Patreon, which you can find here.]

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Potsie! I finally got a pots diagnosis but I’m v confused by my tilt table results. I have a call in to my doctor to see if she knows the answer but I was wondering if you did! It says I showed significant orthostatic intolerance but didn’t meet the criteria for orthostatic tachycardia....but I have a pots diagnosis which has tachycardia in the name??? - confused but jfc glad to finally have a diagnosis

Hey Anon!

Congrats on getting a diagnosis! It can be such a battle to get to this point, and I’m glad you finally have a name to put with the symptoms you’ve been experiencing!

As for your question...POTS is a form of orthostatic intolerance and a primary symptom is tachycardia--so I’m just as puzzled as you are with this one! I’m glad you’ve got a call in to your doctor, and this serves as our friendly reminder that I am but a simple comic artist doing my best to make complicated topics more understandable. 😅 

I hope you get a call back and some clarification soon! And I hope this new diagnosis opens up some treatment options for you that are really helpful!

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hi potsie! i recently started using walking sticks and i'm already sick of people asking "oh my god what happened?" because nothing really Happened, my legs are just Bad and i'm always low on energy and stamina! but that takes too long to explain in passing, do you have any advice on what i could say to people instead?

Hey there, @maknaebias!

Unfortunately, this is a very common issue anyone who uses a mobility aid faces. For some reason, it seems to be socially acceptable to ask for a person’s complete medical history as soon as they start using a mobility aid?? I can’t tell you why, and I can’t even tell you how to properly respond in every situation, because there’s no “right” answer. 

BUT I can reassure you that you don’t owe people an explanation. If they’re a total stranger, you have a right to just not answer. It’s really not any of their business anyway! If it’s an acquaintance who sees you out and about, you can simply say, “Nothing happened--these just help me get around better. Have a nice day!” and continue on with your day. 

Whatever the situation, I lean towards kindness, because the world needs more kindness in it. But you can be kind without giving a full explanation to everyone who asks, because it really isn’t their business. You control how much you tell them in that situation--if you feel like educating them about your condition, go for it! But if you just want to get on with your day, then remember you don’t owe them an explanation. 

I hope this is helpful!

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Exciting news! I’m starting a Patreon soon! 🥳 Here’s a quick comic to explain what Patreon is and a bit about how it works. I’ll post the link to my Patreon page when it’s live! 🙌

[Images are a comic explaining what Patreon is. The first panel says, “I’m starting a Patreon!” Susan and Potsie are below, and Susan says, “I’ve heard of Parreon, but I’m not really sure what it is...?” Potsie says, “Allow me to explain...” The second panel says, “Patreon is a membership business where people have direct access to their favorite creators. Think ‘Michelangelo in your attic’ kinda thing.” Michelangelo from TMNT is scratching his head and says, “But I live in a sewer—“ someone off-screen yells, “Not THAT Michelangelo!” The third panel says, “Patreon gives creators and opportunity to offer more content to their followers and it gives followers a way to directly support their favorite creators. It allows you to cut out the middle man!” Below, Potsie snips a pair of scissors while a dude in a tie says, “This seems a bit drastic—“ Potsie replies, “I’m sorry, sir, but you’ve got to go.” The fourth panel says, “It’s not crowdfunding and it’s not donations—it’s a direct transaction between me and you!” The fifth panel is a bit complicated, but more or less it says: “There are different levels of membership, or ‘tiers’ with different benefits—including my undying gratitude!” The sixth panel says, “I’m SUPER EXCITED about this next step, because it’s going to give us a better opportunity for community, more ways to raise awareness, and new ways to help even more people!” Potsie says, “My chronic illness comics will always be free, as long as I have any say in it, because that’s important to me. But I’m so excited about all the NEW things this will enable me to share with you all!” The final panel says, simply, “I can’t wait to see what we can create together.”]

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[Comic of Potsie and Susan. Susan says, “A new decade is upon us! So, what are your plans for tomorrow?” Potsie replies, “I dunno. Probably pretty much the same stuff I did today.” Susan says, “Yeah same I guess.”]

Happy New Year, Tumblr 🥳

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[Comic of Potsie and Susan in their Halloween costumes—Susan, finishing up her 80s inspired outfit, asks Potsie, “So, are you finally going to tell me what you’re dressing as for Halloween?” Potsie says, “Only the most terrifying thing known to humankind...” She spins around and makes a scary face and says, “A primary care physician who says your symptoms are all in your head!” Susan is surprised for a second—then squints as Potsie smiles. In the second image, Susan puts her hands on her hips and says, “Nobody’s gonna get that—” while Potsie sadly says, “I know.”]

Happy Halloween, everybody! I hope you all have a spook-tacular day! 🎃👻🎃

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[Comic of Potsie and Susan--but it begins with a daydream scenario in which Potsie is walking beside Tom Hiddleston. She says, “So everything your body does automatically, a POTS patient’s body does improperly or not at all.” Tom Hiddleston says, “Incredible! Please, do continue.” Susan asks suddenly, “Hey, Potsie... What are you doing...?” Potsie replies, “Daydreaming.” She then goes back to her daydream.]

In my mind, Tom Hiddleston and I are awareness-raising BFFs.

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[Comic of Potsie and Susan eating dinner–Potsie is pouring tons of salt on her food while Susan frowns and says, “The American Heart Association must hate you.” Above them are the words “POTS Problem #2: Salt!”] What’s your favorite salty food? 🧂 ⁣
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Fun fact: While pickles and pretzels are often a go-to salty snack for POTSies, there are a lot of other options out there! A quick google search for “saltiest foods” or “saltiest snacks” shows that condiments, breads, and even cake mixes can be surprisingly high in sodium! Basically, processed food is terrible for “normal” people because so much of it is so high in sodium—but that makes it pretty good for us! 😂 Just check the labels on the things you’re looking at when you shop and see what sorts of things are high in sodium! ⁣
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Sodium/salt is important for POTS patients because it helps hold in all that extra water we’re supposed to be drinking. 😉 The salt + water combo = a higher blood volume, which helps combat symptoms like blood pooling and low blood pressure. Finding the amount of salt that works for you can take some experimenting, as everyone has different salty needs, and some people need so much extra sodium that they can’t get it all via food and have to take salt tablets. Talk with your doctor about your own adventures into the land of salt and see what they recommend for you specifically—you don’t wanna add too much salt, as it can make you feel gross. 😷 As with most POTS things, finding the right salt + water combo is a delicate balance and can be a bit tricky, but many patients find that a proper balance really helps their symptoms! ⁣
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What high-sodium food have you found that’s surprised you? The internet told me Raisin Bran is super high in sodium, which I thought was really weird. 😱⁣

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[An animated version of my “What is POTS?” comic!]

Behold! An animation! With narration! 🥳 I had a lot of fun making this, and I hope you all enjoy this quick little guide about POTS! You can find it on YouTube here.

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[Comic of Potsie and Susan. Potsie says, “Sometimes, someone says something super dumb, and I have to ask--is it really worth the jail time?” Susan sips her tea and glares at Potsie, then turns towards the reader and says, “I keep telling her it’s not, but she won’t listen to me.” Potsie grins.]

Listen to Susan, kids.

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[Image that says “Types of Palpitations: *The gentle tickle *The hummingbird flutter *The cough-inducing THUMP *The “I think a horse just kicked me in the chest”]

Tag yourself--I’m “cough-inducing THUMP.”

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[Drawing of Potsie at a table, drinking glass after glass of water. Another girl cheers her on, “Chug, chug, chug!” Above them are the words “POTS Problem #1: Hydration!”]

How do you hydrate? 💦 ⁣ ⁣ It’s been a long while since I posted my POTS Problems comics, so I figured it might be fun to post this series again! Of course, that also means that every time I look at the older ones, I feel the urge to redraw them... 😅 But, hey, it just means my stick figures are improving, right? 😂 ⁣ ⁣ Hydration is important for everyone, and staying well-hydrated does lots of good things for your body! But it’s especially important for POTS patients because adding in extra water AND SALT to your daily routine helps to increase your blood volume. Many POTS patients (like me) have a low blood volume to begin with—add on to that things like blood pooling and low blood pressure—other common POTS Problems—and your body is in quite a mess. 🙈 Increasing water and salt intake increases that low blood volume and can help with lots of symptoms. ⁣ ⁣ Figuring out how much water and salt you need every day is a very individual process, as every body is different and has different needs—but a good place to start is 2 liters of water and 3-5 grams of salt each day, according to Dysautonomia International. Experiment with salt and water intake to find a balance that works for you! ⁣⁣

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[Drawing of Potsie dressed up as Harry Potter, looking into the Mirror of Erised--her reflection is holding a spoon. Above her it says, “Harriette Potsie and the Sorcerer’s Spoon”.]

“The spoon chooses the spoonie, Harriette...”

The second in my series of spoonie spoofs! You can find the first one based on The Lord of the Rings here.

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NASA has done a lot of research on what happens to the human body in space, and here are some of the things they’ve learned:⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ 1) Microgravity alters where your blood likes to hang out—on Earth, blood travels down and it’s our bodies’ job to pump it back up, but there isn’t really a “down” in space! Because of this, there’s more blood hanging out in an astronaut’s head, and this can cause changes in vision, along with feelings of dizziness, motion sickness, or even syncope (fainting). ⁣Astronauts also experience a decrease in blood volume, exacerbating these symptoms.⁣ 2) Because they don’t have to support their own weight in microgravity—or anything else, for that matter—astronauts lose muscle mass pretty quickly! They also lose bone density super fast—which are just a couple reasons why astronauts spend about two hours a day working out. 💪 ⁣⁣ 3) Astronauts also experience cardiovascular changes, because their hearts don’t have to work as hard to circulate blood. Exercise is very important for them. 🏃🏻‍♀️⁣⁣ 4) Living in the International Space Station means astronauts only see the same few people for months—they’re super isolated, and they have to learn to deal with the psychological effects of that isolation. ⁣ 5) After astronauts return to Earth, they may experience a change in cognitive function. Astronaut Scott Kelly spent a year aboard the International Space Station, and once he returned, researchers documented that his cognitive speed and accuracy declined.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Life in space creates a lot of symptoms in the human body—and POTS patients experience many of these same symptoms! ...but for totally different reasons, of course. 😅 ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ I’m hopeful that more research on how the human body reacts to space—and how to help reduce the changes astronauts face during spaceflight—will help POTSies here on Earth!⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ But I also wonder if learning about POTS—what causes it, and how to effectively treat it—might benefit astronauts in space. 🤔 If we have such a wide overlap in symptoms, maybe there’s a way we can learn from each other... ⁣⁣ Just a thought, NASA. 😉

[Image is a side by side comparison of two stick figures. The first is a POTS patient, who experiences dizziness due to poor circulation, brain fog, altered heart rate and blood pressure, loss of muscle mass due to fatigue, low blood volume, and is usually dehydrated and isolated from others. The second is an astronaut, who experiences dizziness/motion sickness due to altered gravitational states, alterations in cognitive functions upon return to Earth, altered heart rate and blood pressure, loss of muscle mass due to microgravity, lowered blood volume, and is prone to dehydration and isolated on the International Space Station.]

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[Comic of Potsie and Susan--Susan says cheerfully, “Remember, the only disability in life is a bad attitude!” Potsie stares at her and, slowly, it dawns on Susan until finally she says, “Ugh, I wanna punch myself in the face.” Potsie says, “I knew you’d get there.”]

I sketched this comic a while ago, almost immediately after I saw this phrase in a comment...that was like legit on a disabled person’s post...and I was just like...so mad I didn’t know what else to do. 😬 

This phrase is awful for a very serious reason: It invalidates actual disabilities that really do limit people. Our culture is so obsessed with “you can do anything you put your mind to” that it forgets that, actually, we can’t. Even if I REALLY REALLY WANT TO, there are some things in this life that I am physically incapable of doing—and that’s totally OKAY. Really, I am quite fine with it. I am—dare I say—happy, even! 😱 It’s not wrong or bad or shameful to be limited in some areas—it’s just life, and we need to start treating it as such. 

So maybe, instead of invalidating people’s experiences with disability, we just need to start listening to them to learn what their lives are really like—their triumphs and struggles and frustrations and victories, all together, whole and complete. 

There are lots of disabilities in life, and a bad attitude isn’t one of them. ✌️