"This is just a psychosomatic disorder."
The young rheumatologist sitting across said to me. I just stared at him, dumbfounded and in silence….
Although he was the most direct, countless others have implied a similar thing. This was even after I received the official POTS diagnosis from a cardiologist.
So how did this affect me?
Since there was “nothing wrong” with me, I kept pushing myself. After all, all of the tests came back clean. So I must be overreacting.. Right?
I thought to myself: "I should be able to do all of the things that a person with no health problems can".
But I was wrong. So instead, I just crashed. Again and again.
Does that sound familiar?
Unfortunately, this is just one of the effects of dealing with an illness that is not taken seriously.
At one point, I realized that by pushing so much, I was just hurting myself more.
I kept pushing.
Then hitting a wall.
And then my symptoms would flare up.
And that would make me feel even worse emotionally.
In order to start healing, I needed to acknowledge that my body was sick.
Even if some did not believe in my illness. I needed to honor my own body and believe in myself to get better.
Since my flare-ups would not allow me to properly sleep, eat, or exercise, I realized that I was not consistent.
I started small. At first, I set a relaxation routine where I would take a few minutes a day to just breathe and be in nature. Then, I started a nighttime routine, and an exercise routine, and so on.
All of that took time, patience, and support.
I finally stopped distrusting my body and listening to what others said.
Only after I started listening to my body and becoming more consistent, I noticed massive changes.
How are you listening to your body and giving it what it needs? Let me know in the comments below.
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