Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Jill Brook: Hello fellow POTS patients and lovely people who care about POTS patients. I'm Jill Brook, your horizontal host, and today we have an episode of the POTS Diaries. Today we are speaking with Dr. Alls, and thank you so much for joining us today, Dr. Alls.
[00:00:15] Alisha: Thank you. I appreciate you for having me.
[00:00:18] Jill Brook: Well, for starters, can you tell us about your doctorate? What is your doctorate in?
[00:00:24] Alisha: I have a doctorate in organizational leadership for K to 12 education.
[00:00:30] Jill Brook: Oh, neat. What is that?
[00:00:32] Alisha: In my study, I worked on understanding what intrinsically and extrinsically kept black teachers in the classroom. So what caused them to stay from an organizational standpoint. So how could leadership help them to stay or motivate them to stay?
[00:00:48] Jill Brook: Wow, that sounds really important and interesting.
[00:00:51] Alisha: Yes. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work.
[00:00:54] Jill Brook: Okay, so what are some other basics that we should know about you? Like where are you?
[00:00:59] Alisha: I am from Warren, Ohio born and raised. I am a single, mother of twin nine year old girls, . And they do not have POTS as of right now, thank goodness. But I was diagnosed with POTS in 2010.
[00:01:15] Jill Brook: Okay, so you've had a long time living with it now. So that sounds like a lot of work to have two young girls with POTS, I mean, you with POTS, not them with POTS. But I guess before we get to your POTS journey, if we could learn a few more things about you, such as are you willing to tell us your age?
[00:01:35] Alisha: I just turned 37 last month.
[00:01:38] Jill Brook: What would your friends or family say your personality is?
[00:01:41] Alisha: extremely bubbly. Every job I've had, everybody calls me Smiley, so I am constantly trying to uplift and motivate people. I try to stay as positive as possible, and POTS honestly was a big thing for me, which helped me to realize that being positive is extremely important.
[00:02:01] Jill Brook: Yeah. And sometimes it takes a lot of work, right? Like I'm just wondering, like, did it used to come more naturally? And then POTS came along and you're like, okay, gotta work it this more now.
[00:02:11] Alisha: yes, yes. Initially I was like, happy go lucky, not a care in the world. And then I got it in high school and it was like, oh my goodness gracious. Like this is pretty difficult. But then I found joy in the smaller moments, so that helped me to be a lot more positive and I'm just grateful for life in general.
[00:02:29] Jill Brook: That sounds very mature and evolved. That's wonderful. Okay. A few more things just about you. What are some things you like spending your time on?
[00:02:39] Alisha: I love to garden. I absolutely love gardening. That is one of my calm areas. I call that my happy place. So I love to garden. I love to crochet. I like to read. I don't have a whole lot of time, all the time to read, but I do love to read. And I just really like spending time with my girls. I like doing crafts and such with them and taking them to like pumpkin patches and different things like that.
[00:03:04] Jill Brook: Oh, nice. Can I ask about gardening? What do you like to garden? Flowers, foods, herbs.
[00:03:10] Alisha: I love doing foods and herbs. I like peppers and tomatoes, and this year I did eggplant and peanuts and potatoes.
[00:03:19] Jill Brook: Can you do all that in Ohio?
[00:03:21] Alisha: I can, I have a little mini greenhouse in my backyard. And I've turned that into my little oasis. So I have all of that in there. And then around my patio, I have a lot of different types of plants, so yeah.
[00:03:34] Jill Brook: Wow, okay. Because I'm in California where like everything grows no matter what. Right? You would think that it would be very easy to garden here. And I have tried and I so admire people who are good at gardening and I think I try too hard. I think I like over parent the plants. Do you have any advice for someone like me who is constantly failing and getting frustrated and I am pretty sure it's cuz I'm doing too much not cuz I'm doing too little.
[00:04:04] Alisha: Don't over water because a lot of times plants they'll almost drown with the amount of water that you put in them. So sometimes I water maybe twice a week, and that's when I see that they flourish the most. Yep.
[00:04:18] Jill Brook: Okay. Wow. So it's neat that you have all of these talents and skills. Okay. If we were gonna make you absolutely brag about yourself, tell us what you're good at.
[00:04:29] Alisha: I am great at public speaking. I am a public speaker. I am pretty awesome at crocheting. I do it without looking, gracious. I would have to say that those are my two main things and just being a.
[00:04:43] Jill Brook: Do you feel like you had to work to become a good public speaker, or were you just born a good public speaker?
[00:04:48] Alisha: I wouldn't say completely born with it, but over time, throughout my younger years, I feel like I honed in on mentoring and public speaking because even at a young age, I was a mentor to younger children. So I feel like that helped me to become the public speaker that I am.
[00:05:06] Jill Brook: Very cool. So can you give us a snapshot of what your life looked like in the year leading up to your POTS? What were you up to? What were you doing?
[00:05:19] Alisha: the year leading up to my POTS. It's kind of strange, but I didn't know I had POTS, so for about eight years, but the year leading up to when the onset of my POTS started, I was in high school. I was a junior in high school and I played basketball. I was a majorette. I was doing a little bit of everything.
I was in the band. I had good grades. Everything was going lovely. things were going so great for me during that time. I was driving and things were great. I was in high school, just enjoying.
[00:05:53] Jill Brook: Oh, I almost hate to ask this next question. Okay. And then what happened?
[00:05:58] Alisha: Then oddly I was playing basketball, and I went up for a jump shot. Someone clipped me by the neck, so my head was the first thing to hit the floor. So I had a traumatic brain injury, and I didn't realize it was as bad as it was. I was knocked out for about a good 10 minutes. Came to, had no idea I was knocked out, wanted to still shoot my free throws, and they told me no.
And then I went to the hospital where while I was in the hospital, they thought that they had saw like a little bit of seepage through my skull because it had cracked a little bit. But then after about a good four hours of being there, they were like, oh, she's good to go home. On my way out of the door, my heart, and I completely collapsed on the ground.
No heartbeat, no color, no nothing. My mom was with me and it was a odd situation because I felt weird. I felt really odd. I tapped my mom on the shoulder and said, I'm, I'm not feeling so good. And that was the last thing I remember. She said, my whole body just kind of turned gray and I hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.
And she said, everybody came in and they rushed me. I stayed in the hospital for about a week after that. They thought that I would be what they called at the time a vegetable, but they didn't think I would have much brain functioning. Like I wasn't functioning very well the first few days. And then over time it got better, but
[00:07:18] Jill Brook: Whoa.
[00:07:19] Alisha: the onset of my POTS. They, but at the time they didn't know.
[00:07:23] Jill Brook: Well, I just wanna say, I hope that from that moment you have had so much credibility for not being a drama queen. So you're saying that your skull was cracked open, you used that word seepage. I don't know what was seeping like blood was seeping.
[00:07:37] Alisha: Yes. Like when they did the CT scan, they told my mom blood, but seeping through where the crack is at. And they eventually said that it was nothing. And they looked at the reading wrong. But it was essentially a little cracked in the front. Yeah.
[00:07:52] Jill Brook: so all of this, and you're just like I don't feel so well.
[00:07:55] Alisha: Yeah. Yeah. I didn't feel well at all. I didn't understand what was going on. It was like a weird stomach ache and after that I was gone. Yeah.
[00:08:03] Jill Brook: That's interesting. Because. when you say it was a weird stomach ache because it's, it is so interesting how sometimes the place where the injury happened isn't the place where you feel bad. And so I stomach ache is not what I would expect when your heart has stopped and your head is cracked open. But that's fascinating in its own. So, oh my gosh, I'm so glad you are not a vegetable. Okay, so then what happened?
[00:08:26] Alisha: After that I went back to school, which was kind of difficult. I, I suffered from ADHD very bad. Like I was the kid that you would see like in the movies. It's like, Ooh, butterflies outside the window. That was me. So the end of my junior year and the rest of my senior year was pretty difficult, but I was determined. So I went to college after I graduated and I
Can
[00:08:47] Jill Brook: I interrupt for a second?
[00:08:49] Alisha: yeah,
[00:08:49] Jill Brook: Was your personality any different? Did anything else change? Like, so you said you had ADHD, but like what else? It seems like other stuff must have changed. Yeah.
[00:08:58] Alisha: Yes. My personality was drastically different. My ability to make good choices was completely different. Like I knew sometimes that I was making the wrong choices, but still in my head it was like, Nope, we're going for it. I was a lot angrier. Even people that I went to high school with now, they were like, then you were like a shell of a person.
I wasn't as happy. I just was not there. I was angry a lot. I was frustrated a lot because people didn't understand. And then at the time, doctors didn't know as much as they know now about traumatic brain injuries, so they just threw medication at me. So at one point in time I was on like four different medications and two were antidepressants.
Which caused a lot more problems than it did helping. So I eventually got off of those, but it did alter my whole mental state for quite some time. Yeah.
[00:09:51] Jill Brook: Did you have any physical after effects of like having Your heart stop.
[00:09:56] Alisha: I didn't have many, I had headaches a lot. I still do. I get migraines almost daily. Oh my goodness. I was passing out. I couldn't stand for long periods of time. I was tired a lot. But those essentially were the main things that were going on at the time.
I didn't have a lot of physical things going on, like I didn't lose a lot of weight or anything like that. But I do know that I started passing out at that time.
[00:10:24] Jill Brook: did you stop all your activities or were you still trying to power through the sports and the extracurriculars and stuff?
[00:10:30] Alisha: I could not play basketball anymore. I was told by the doctor at the time that if I hit my head the way I did, again, I would possibly lose my life. So I was like let me put this on the back burner. So I did stop basketball, but I did continue to be a majorette, so I was still dancing and still in band, but everything else I stopped. Yeah.
[00:10:51] Jill Brook: And so it sounds like at that time you had POTS, but you didn't know it was POTS. Is that correct?
[00:10:56] Alisha: Correct, correct. I had it, but nobody had an idea. It was for a while. I would have doctors say Oh she's just making it up and she's just trying to get attention and so I dealt with that until about 2010. So from about 2003 to 2010, I got a lot of that.
[00:11:16] Jill Brook: So even though you had been through such a traumatic experience, they didn't attribute it to brain injury, they just said you were making it up.
[00:11:25] Alisha: Yes, yes. Unfortunately, a lot of it was, oh, she's making it up. She wants the attention or we just need to medicate her. She's going through depression, or she's just upset. So a lot of the times there wasn't the understanding of, oh, she has a brain injury and she's passing. There wasn't the connection between anything unfortunately.
[00:11:45] Jill Brook: Wow, this really makes me wanna scream. I mean, so did you believe it? Did your family believe it or?
[00:11:52] Alisha: my family didn't believe it. I didn't talk much about it because for me at the time, it was really embarrassing to me because I didn't understand it. I didn't know anyone else with POTS. I didn't know anybody that would pass out all the time, and so for me it was very lonely. It was a lot of me talking to my mom, or sometimes I wouldn't, because I felt like even though she was there and wanted to help, I felt like she still didn't fully understand.
So a lot of times I would just kept to myself because I didn't think people understood, and a lot of my friends wanted to go places and I couldn't go because my mom and dad were worried about my safety , which made sense. But at the time when you're a teenager, like, I wanna go play. I wanna go hang out with my friends.
Passing out constantly didn't leave way for much activity outside of like school or band. So, yeah.
[00:12:47] Jill Brook: That sounds horrible. How did you cope with all that?
[00:12:49] Alisha: Oh man, it was rough. I had to go to therapy. That helped for a little while. The first therapist I had, it did not, but I did find a great therapist where I went to group therapy, which helped out a great deal, that did a phenomenal job on my mental state, my mental health and just overall wellbeing.
Coping for me in high school was a lot different than it is now. Then it was a lot of, let me just stay busy. if I stayed busy, I didn't have to think about it. I didn't have to worry about it. It's not a thing. But I also was frustrated because I didn't understand. I'm like, what's wrong with me? But then to have a doctor say, well, you're just making it up.
And I'm like, I swear I'm not making this up. Like, I know something's wrong, but it was rough. It was really rough and exhausting. Yeah.
[00:13:38] Jill Brook: And so yet at this time you mentioned, so you went to college and you then you're like, that's not enough. I'm gonna get a PhD. Yeah. Well, like what was that like?
[00:13:49] Alisha: That was interesting because I was told in high school I shouldn't go to college because of the head injury, but I was determined that I was going, I was told by a rehabilitation counselor, don't go to college. But I'm like, I'm going. So I went off to college and my first couple of years I registered with disability services to help out with the A D H D and getting my classes done, but then my condition got worse. I was passing out, falling downstairs. I was passing out multiple times a day. I would pass out while at my jobs and it became a liability. So I decided along with my parents to move back home.
But even in moving back home, I continued, I went back to a local college which made it easier for me to be able to still continue with school and graduate. And then I started a family not long after I graduated college. I got married, had the twins. And before I got pregnant with the twins, I decided to get my masters, and then I had to put that on hold and I had the twins.
Throughout that time is when things were pretty bad. Like I was passing out to the point where I would just crawl around the house because I was scared I would hit my head and it was pretty rough at that time. That was about 2008, 2009, and then as time progressed through 2010, 11, but I, early 2010, I passed out at home and my mom took me to the emergency room and just a random ER doctor just asked me, Hey, have you ever like been diagnosed with POTS?
And I was like, what is that like? I had no idea. I was like, what is POTS? And he's explaining it to me and I'm like, I've never heard of that. And he's like, you should get that checked out. And he wasn't even my doctor, he just popped in, said it and walked out like,
[00:15:39] Jill Brook: Whoa.
[00:15:41] Alisha: and I had never seen him again. Never seen him, never heard from him again.
But after that moment, my mom and I got online, looked up everything we could, and we found a doctor, which was about three hours away from me, who specialized in POTS. And literally about four months later I was diagnosed.
[00:16:01] Jill Brook: Oh man. Wow. Okay. Well, I feel like we could spend a whole hour talking about being pregnant with twins, crawling around the floor with POTS and what your spouse thought of that and all that. But that sounds really rough, I guess. Would you rather talk about that or would you rather talk about what happened once you had that diagnosis?
[00:16:21] Alisha: Either or, I'm fine with either. It was rough when I was pregnant. After having the girls, it seemed like my POTS was kind of in like remission because I was doing so well. I had about a year that I didn't pass out and I'm like, oh my gosh. So I was so excited.
But about a year and a half after I had them, I got divorced, so everything kind of started up all over again because of the stress and everything just kind of threw all of my POTS out of whack. but with the diagnosis, they were able to get me on medication and compression stockings.
And at first I thought that was the funniest thing. I'm like, I'm 20 with compression stockings. And they were like, no, no, it's okay. They have cute ones. I'm like, okay. So I got compression stockings and increased my salts. and the day that they told me, I sat in the doctor's office and just cried.
And the doctor just held me cuz she was like, I understand because I finally felt heard for the first time. I felt like someone listened to me. They understood. And I wasn't crazy like other doctors had tried to make me feel like I was in all that time. And it was like, finally you get me and I'm heard, so with the diagnosis, I had the medication, I increased the salts and I've been, for the most part, pretty stable. I've had times where I have passed out. There's certain things I can't do because of the connection with the brain injury. You know how when you're driving and you have to stop, all of a sudden I can't do that in a car because it'll mess with the brain injury and it'll cause me to pass out.
So I can't do sudden stops in a car or like trampolines. I can't do those because of the issues with the brain injury, and it'll mess with my POTS too. So there's things that, even though the brain injury triggered and it seems like a separate thing, it's still all kind of interconnected. But I do say that if it wasn't for being diagnosed, I feel like my life would be a lot different than what it is now because I didn't understand what I needed to do to help make myself better and how to change my lifestyle so that my life would be a lot easier. Yeah.
[00:18:38] Jill Brook: Wow, that just sounds like the hardest period of time that you got through and I'm still savoring that moment when you got to learn an answer and an explanation and that you weren't crazy. Can I just ask, it sounds like you were so strong, like you did so many impressive things during that time that you felt horrible.
You were passing out, you didn't have a lot of support. How did you stay so strong during that?
[00:19:04] Alisha: Before I had my daughters, I'm really close with my mom and my dad, and even though I knew that they would be okay. For me, with my heart stopping and I didn't know if it would cause it to stop again. I was determined to try to be positive and live for them even if I wasn't feeling it.
I wanted to be able to still live for them cuz having seen people bury their child, I didn't want them to have to bury me because they told me before I graduated from college that I wouldn't live to graduate. So I had to graduate early. because they didn't even know what was wrong and they were like, yeah, you might not live to graduate.
And I'm like, wait, what? What do you mean I'm not gonna live to graduate? So I graduated early in general studies just so I can get out and that if anything were to happen to me that they can say, okay, she was a college graduate.
[00:19:57] Jill Brook: Oh wow.
[00:19:59] Alisha: a lot of my drive was so that I can continue to be here for my parents.
Then after that it was like, okay, I'm still here. I'm still alive. I'm going to make the best of every moment that I can. And then I have my daughters, and it was like, okay, now I have even more to look forward to in life. Let me do everything I can for myself so that I continue to be here for them and help other people be there for themselves, even when they can't really fully be there for themselves.
[00:20:30] Jill Brook: That's beautiful. Have you told your parents this - living for them?
[00:20:35] Alisha: I don't think I've ever told them that.
[00:20:37] Jill Brook: Okay, well they can hear it here,
[00:20:39] Alisha: Yeah. The stress and strain of it all caused a lot more angst than I wanted to. Because a lot of times I did feel like a burden to them. They didn't wanna go places cuz they were worried about me or they wouldn't do things and I felt like I owed them a lot.
I still feel like I owed them a lot because if it wasn't for my mom taking me back and forth to doctor's appointments or their health insurance at the time, I wouldn't be where I'm at. And now as having my own kids and my own life, it. one of those things where I feel like I have to give back to them and the people that surrounded me and helped me throughout the entire process.
So it's like the people that loved me the most, I had to get through what I was going through and put on a positive face at the time, but now it's just positivity period for them.
[00:21:33] Jill Brook: So what you said just a second ago, at first you had to put on a positive face, but now it's just positivity. Do you mean that it has become genuine? Like at first you had to kinda like fake it till you make it. Is that what you're saying?
[00:21:46] Alisha: Yes, yes. Initially it was like, oh, I'm fine. I'm fine. I did a lot of I'm fines even when I wasn't fine, and I learned that a lot of times me saying I'm fine was not the best thing to do because no one really understood what I was going through. So I would try to hide when I wasn't feeling well or keep it to myself when I should have been expressing it.
But I did a lot of faking it till I made it for a while because I didn't want to upset someone else or make them feel bad when I was feeling crappy on the inside and the outside. But over time I had to learn that as I expressed my feelings and expressed how I felt outwardly. I was able to feel better internally.
So it was like, okay, I'm not feeling well today. Okay, I understand. Like I would try to turn the world upside down, but my body couldn't handle it. And then I felt bad, but after saying, okay, I'm not feeling well today. Okay, I understand, just sit and rest. And it was like, what? I can rest, like you're not gonna be upset.
It took a lot of those moments for me to finally say. I'm not a burden. I'm okay. I can be happy. I can find every moment of life, even when I have those bad days that are good. Cuz sometimes even when I was feeling bad and had to just lay on a couch, my mom would sit and watch a movie with me.
So those moments were fun. Even when my body wasn't happy, I was happy.
[00:23:16] Jill Brook: Oh, yay. What a great way to describe that. Is there any lesson that you feel like this whole thing has taught you that's worth sharing? And it can be about the head injury or the POTS, or anything in between.
[00:23:30] Alisha: I'm stronger and most people are stronger than what they truly believe they are. Having gone through what I've gone through. Looking back on it, I'm like, man, I went through all that but now I'm like, wow, I did it. and people will say, well, how'd you, I don't know. Because when you have to be strong, sometimes you don't realize just how strong you are or how much you had to carry until you're done.
And then you're like, oh, well I carried that weight. I can do more. Even though, not necessarily negative weight, but you can say, okay, well during this time I went through a really tough time, but you're still here so you're stronger than what you may realize. Even though you don't wanna go through those negative times.
But it does make you stronger on the other end. And I truly believe that if it wasn't for the POTS, I would not be the person that I am. Like I wouldn't have the level of strength that I believe that I possess now. Or just drive and willingness to succeed despite the POTS, because a lot of times I was often told, well, you have POTS so you shouldn't do, or you have the head injury, so maybe you should ... no.
Just because I have it doesn't mean that I can't still be successful or I can't push forward despite what's going on. And yes, you still have the bad days. You'll still have days where you're like, I'm not doing anything. Even on those days, you are still a lot stronger than what you believe. Yeah.
[00:25:03] Jill Brook: That's excellent. I'm so glad that your kids get to see that modeled in you. That feels like such a great role model to see.
[00:25:13] Alisha: Oh, thank you.
[00:25:14] Jill Brook: Has anything at all positive come from your having POTS? Are there any silver linings you can point to.
[00:25:22] Alisha: I feel like I'm able to share a level of determination and perseverance that I maybe would not have had otherwise. Because I feel like it took me through a difficult period. It still continues to have difficult times, but it allows me to show not only my girls, but others in society that no matter what's going on or what takes place in their life, they can still persevere. They can still be successful despite things that are going on. So I do feel that POTS brought that silver lining to me, and it taught me how to be a better person overall and more empathetic.
[00:26:03] Jill Brook: Beautiful. Are you up for doing a speed round where we ask you to say the first thing that comes to your mind?
[00:26:11] Alisha: sure.
[00:26:12] Jill Brook: Okay. What is your favorite way to get salt?
[00:26:15] Alisha: Potato chips.
[00:26:17] Jill Brook: What is the drink you find the most hydrating?
[00:26:21] Alisha: Powerade.
[00:26:22] Jill Brook: What is your favorite time of the day and why?
[00:26:26] Alisha: Oh gracious morning. I feel like I have more energy in the mornings than I do in the afternoons or evenings.
[00:26:33] Jill Brook: Where is your favorite place to spend time and why?
[00:26:37] Alisha: My favorite place to spend time is in my garden. It brings me peace and it's often quiet, and it's something that I can do not only for myself, but for my girls as well.
[00:26:49] Jill Brook: how many doctors did you see in pursuit of a POTS diagnosis?
[00:26:54] Alisha: I would have to say about 12.
[00:26:58] Jill Brook: How many other POTS patients have you ever met in the flesh, face-to-face?
[00:27:03] Alisha: Two.
[00:27:04] Jill Brook: What is one word that describes what it's like living with a chronic illness?
[00:27:09] Alisha: Misunderstood.
[00:27:10] Jill Brook: What is some good advice anyone ever gave you about anything?
[00:27:15] Alisha: Never give up despite how difficult things may seem
[00:27:19] Jill Brook: What is something small or inexpensive that brings you comfort or joy?
[00:27:26] Alisha: Tea brings me a lot of comfort. , I love tea. Tea.
[00:27:30] Jill Brook: favorite kind of tea?
[00:27:32] Alisha: I like peppermint tea.
[00:27:34] Jill Brook: What is something that you're proud of?
[00:27:37] Alisha: My daughters, my twins.
[00:27:39] Jill Brook: Who is someone you admire?
[00:27:42] Alisha: My mom.
[00:27:43] Jill Brook: What is the toughest thing about POTS?
[00:27:46] Alisha: My internal battle.
[00:27:48] Jill Brook: What is an activity you can enjoy even when you're feeling really POTSie
[00:27:53] Alisha: crocheting,
[00:27:54] Jill Brook: What helps you fall asleep, if anything?
[00:27:58] Alisha: Camamile tea.
[00:27:59] Jill Brook: What gives you energy, if anything?
[00:28:02] Alisha: Vitamins.
[00:28:04] Jill Brook: What is a gift you would have sent to every POTS patient on earth if you had infinite funds?
[00:28:09] Alisha: Healing Powers.
[00:28:12] Jill Brook: Ooh, yes, please.
[00:28:14] Alisha: Right.
[00:28:16] Jill Brook: Can you finish these sentences? I love it when ...
[00:28:20] Alisha: the sun shines on my face.
[00:28:24] Jill Brook: I hate it when? Dot, dot, dot.
[00:28:26] Alisha: My body doesn't agree with me.
[00:28:28] Jill Brook: People might suspect I'm a POTSie when,
[00:28:32] Alisha: I am on the floor with my feet in the air.
[00:28:36] Jill Brook: ah, that brings me to my last speed question. Have you ever had to sit down or lie down in a weird place because of POTS? And if so, where was the weirdest place?
[00:28:46] Alisha: Yes. At the movie Theater
[00:28:48] Jill Brook: That sounds Sticky
[00:28:50] Alisha: it was Thank goodness. It was just the lobby, but it was still sticky.
[00:28:55] Jill Brook: on the floor.
[00:28:56] Alisha: Yes. Oh goodness. It was so gross.
[00:29:00] Jill Brook: Yes. I just have a couple more questions. What do you wish more people knew about POTS?
[00:29:07] Alisha: I wish more people knew that it's not limited to just one symptom. I've heard doctors even say, oh, well it's just this, or it's, no, it, it can be a lot of different things at one time versus just a high heart rate. It's a lot of different things.
[00:29:26] Jill Brook: Amen. Yeah. What do you wish more people knew about traumatic brain injury?
[00:29:32] Alisha: Oh, gracious. To be patient with people that have traumatic brain injuries it's often very difficult. Sometimes even speech is very difficult and the process of healing is not easy. So I wish more people were patient in understanding of people with traumatic brain injuries.
[00:29:50] Jill Brook: What do you wish more people knew about ADHD?
[00:29:54] Alisha: That it's very difficult for the person living through it because sometimes in your head, you know that you need to do something or you know that you have to focus, but is the hardest thing to do.
[00:30:08] Jill Brook: Is there anything you wanna say to your fellow POTS patients out there who might be listening?
[00:30:13] Alisha: Don't give up. Do not give up. Advocate for yourself at all times.
I know that at times it's difficult and you feel unheard. Please always advocate for yourself. You're not crazy. I promise you, you're not crazy. We all have our ups and downs. We all have our things that we're going through and we go through POTS differently. And what may work for me might not work for you, but please understand that you're special.
Your condition is real. What you're going through is real and you matter. Your, your feelings matter. Your body matters. Your advocacy matters. Going to the doctor matters. Don't let them try to gaslight you out of your condition or what you're going through. Your voice is important. Very much so.
[00:31:09] Jill Brook: I cannot imagine any better words than that, so I'm gonna let those be the final words. Dr. Alls, thank you for sharing your story and your insights with us. We really appreciate it and I know everybody listening just wishes you all the best going forward.
[00:31:26] Alisha: Thank you so much. I appreciate you all.
[00:31:29] Jill Brook: And hey listeners, I hope you enjoyed today's conversation. We'll be back again next week. Until then, thank you for listening. Remember, you're not alone, and please join us again soon.
