A Quick Note About Successes With POTS

One of the hard things about POTS is that the condition itself sometimes makes it impossible to enjoy successes. As an example, I’ve been in a bad POTS flare for a bit over a year now. At my worst I was bed bound and even at my best I have only able to stand for about 20 minutes at a time. Because of that I wasn’t able to do some of the things I really like doing. For instance, last year I didn’t bake any Christmas cookies but this year I’ve been able to bake some. I just have to spread it out and do things in smaller chunks of time.

Today I had one doctor's appointment and I managed to bake a batch of cookies throughout the day. Then I wanted to make some type of food for dinner that would have leftovers. Even a couple months ago there was no way I would have been able to bake, go to an appointment, and cook dinner but today was a pretty good day so I managed it. Dinner ended up taking me about an hour to cook with only a few short breaks. That’s got to be a record for this year as far as time standing up.

Objectively speaking, I succeeded today. I drove myself to my doctor’s appointment, made and gave away some cookies, fed myself and my husband nutritious and tasty food, and prepped food for tomorrow in the form of leftovers. But I have POTS which means all that upright time causes my body to struggle a lot. I am in fight or flight mode right now even though I did a really good job today and nothing has gone wrong. Because of my POTS I can’t enjoy my success. Instead I’m exhausted and hoping that my recovery is closer to a day than a week.

I think the solution to this problem is to remember my successes when I’m feeling better. My celebration of today’s successes might need to happen tomorrow or the next day. I need to look back on my successes today in the future in order to experience them in a positive way. In that way I can also encourage myself on the days I’m struggling.