If I would google a diagnosis I USED to have: Is there a cure for POTS syndrome? This is what it tells me.
In big letters: THERE’S NO CURE. Well thanks google. And then I am told that symptoms can be managed by lifestyle, medications, and diet. But here we are, cured of POTS without doing what it said. I went OFF the meds, overtime got back to eating foods I had been cutting out, and also started doing activities any individual with that diagnosis should not be able to do.
I remember being in the thick of all my symptoms and searching for relief. I learned from doctors and others with the diagnosis what would trigger symptoms (lifestyle management), what medications to take so I could at least cope, and what foods to avoid and beverages to drink in access. My whole life revolved around this diagnoses as well as the multitude of labels that fell under this diagnosis. I became chronic illness. I lost myself and now I was basically just POTS. Instead of my authentic self, carefree, outgoing, and full of life, saying the shots, my diagnosis now was.
Let me get to the point here. What I meant to say is that google, doctors, and nurses can tell you something about your diagnosis and we believe them.
“You will never heal.”
“You need to live this way in order to manage your discomfort.”
“No there is no cure.”
What they often don’t take into account is that our brain is neuroplastic, which means changeable. And the impact a dysregulated nervous system can really have on our lives.
Our bodies have a unique way of knowing how to heal. You get a cut or scrape and its going to start to try healing. You get a flu; you are always either getting worse or getting better slowly. Your body knows how to do things and move them one way or another. So, with this work sometimes we get asked specific questions, does it work for this or that? When we are stuck in a state of survival like fight, flight, or freeze (a lot of people are in freeze unknowingly) we are not in a state of healing. When we do this work, we can help guide our nervous system and body to a place of healing (which is the top of the survival ladder, ventral vagal/homeostasis, our body can finally rest, digest, and heal like it was always meant to do. AND all manner of surprises can happen. When we are in these other survival states constantly, it messes with our bodies ability to detox, digest, fight off infections, regulate, rest, flow, balance, circulate and it wears down on our body over time. The body was designed to easily flow from one survival state to another and back to the top but not stay chronically in one state.
So, if you feel like you are stuck for life with what you have, think outside the box. Maybe, just maybe it could change. I have heard of everything from autism, dry skin, to motion sickness and more being shifted with this angle of work. Like we always say, don’t put nervous system work in a box, anything is possible when we look at it this way. I can’t always tell you for sure if you ask me about a certain diagnosis or symptom, but what I can tell you is whether I’ve heard of someone else who has found a shift with that or not and that alone can bring just enough hope to give it a try.
In my journey I remember asking a coach about a certain symptom I had, I couldn’t seem to find anyone who had got a shift with this specific symptom. The blood tests kept coming back abnormal and it disappointed me. One time, my doctor even looked at me and said, "Its just not all in the brain." I was annoyed at her because I didn’t want to give up this easily on this one. I get it, not everything is in the brain but it still didn't hurt to keep hoping. The coach had told me that just because it is not on the list, that list is always growing. So, I decided if nothing else maybe I could be the one to add it to the list and I would keep on hoping. Roughly a year later, I got a test back and I cried tears of joy as my doctor told me that test was now normal. I thank God for this as He was the ultimate healer I know.
hp
