October 31, 2022 • 35 mins
Shelby was a freshman in college when she got mono - something that, though draining, is very common in school-age kids. But her mono wasn’t like anything her friends or family had ever seen before. As her condition turns life-threatening, stumped doctors search for answers before it is too late for her or her unborn child.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
He described it as I looked like I looked like
cookies and cream pudding, Like I was that shade of gray,
and he's like, I'm taking her straight to the emergency room.
A lot of doctors either they've never heard of it
or they don't believe it exists. These patients are just
ignored because it's very difficult to recognize that there's something
(00:22):
going on. I just remember praying in the room to
let me meet my daughter, my God's grace, to let
me get through this with my wife. I didn't want
it to all in before it even it all started.
(00:47):
How terrifying would it be to fight an unknown enemy,
one you didn't recognize and didn't see coming. What if
that enemy was coming from within a disease but even
doctor couldn't identify. Nearly half of all Americans suffer from
some chronic illness, and many struggle for an accurate diagnosis.
(01:10):
These are their stories. I'm Lauren Bright, the CHECKO, and
this is symptomatic. You're immediately hit with a feeling like
(01:33):
you're talking to a close friend when you meet Shelby Morrison.
She is very open and genuine, easily getting excited when
you start talking about cigars, stealer football or her dogs.
I'd like to tell my friends I have two cats,
two dogs, two kids in the t J that's my husband.
I have two little chewin eas. One is huge and
the other one is tiny, teeny tiny. Wait, you have
(01:55):
to tell me what is a chewini CHEWENI is a
Chihuahua and weener dog together. So it's safe to say
you're an animal lover. I will die petting something that
I shouldn't. I love all animals. If a brown bear
was in front of me and it looked like it
would let me pet it, I'd try. You might lose
a hand, might lose a hand, might lose an arm.
(02:17):
But you know what, I have made my peace with God.
If I am taken out by a giant ball of fluf,
that's how I go. There is an undeniable strength to
her positivity. You can sense her perseverance through a long
struggle just below the surface. I'm proud the most of
(02:37):
her heart. I think she gives more than anybody that
I know. She cares about people even when a lot
of people don't deserve it, and she's always willing to help.
That was Shelby's husband, T j who has been with
her for over a decade. Little did he know when
(02:59):
they first met that they would quickly be thrown into
a whirlwind journey, pushing Shelby to the brink of a
life or death situation. The symptoms that would start off
this roller coaster first started showing up in Shelby during puberty.
I got through high school pretty normal. I remember my
(03:19):
high school career just always being really tired all the time.
But I mean I was doing all the things, and
you know, I was seventeen years old. I mean I
never really had an inkling that I was sick. I
always kind of fell off. Go back, just for a second,
because you said you're tired, Explain that to me. It's
really hard to get up out of bed in the morning.
(03:41):
Like it's not I didn't sleep well kind of feeling.
It's that I can't move my body, kind of feeling
like it's almost a complete heaviness of your limbs. The
word fatigue, I feel like is not an accurate descriptor
of the tired. So I really didn't think anything about it, because,
like I said, I was I was an act teenager.
I was, you know, hanging out with my friends, you know,
(04:03):
staying up probably way too late. Um, and I didn't
think anything of it. Shelby always seemed to be tired
and lethargic. It was difficult for her to have the
energy she thought came naturally to most kids her age.
The doctors chalked it up to anemia, which runs in
her family. I had been told that I was anemic before,
(04:27):
but I mean it was just, oh, hey, your iron
slow like eats and broccoli, and that's that kind of
explained it away. Her symptoms became something easy for her
doctors and even her family to dismiss as just shall
be being dramatic, But there was a lot more going
on here than they initially assumed. Her mom even brushed
her complaints aside until one day in high school when
(04:50):
she got really sick in the car. I hit puberty
at a very young age, and I had very bad periods.
I would literally be to the point where I was
throwing up, couldn't be in class because I was in
the bathroom because I was like, my entire body would hurt.
And was there any attempt to figure out if that
was abnormal? No? Not really, I mean mom was like, yeah,
(05:14):
we all, we all have really bad periods, like it's
just it's a family thing. And I was angry at
the time with her because I felt like she was
dismissive until one day she picked me up from school
and she got me in the car and we were
driving home and I literally rolled down the window and
I puked all down the side of her car going
down the interstate. And I don't think she realized how
sick I was until that moment, and I think she
(05:35):
started to believe me a little bit. Shelby and her
mother started to realize that her symptoms couldn't just be
explained by her being anemic or a typically pubescent teenager.
But Shelby kept her internal battle quiet, fighting off the
tiredness by herself for years. That was until she landed
in the emergency room while she was away at college.
(05:59):
I feel like I am just death warmed over, like
I can't function. And so one morning I I called
my boyfriend, who I was dating at the time, not
my current husband. I was like, I can't breathe, like
i feel like I'm suffocating, like i've i feel like
I'm dying, Like I need can you please drive me home?
(06:23):
What was it about the way you were presenting physically
that he was like, we're going straight to the hospital.
His mom was a nurse um and so he looked
at me and he's like, you're gray, like he described
it as, I looked like cookies and cream pudding, like
I was that shade of gray. And he's like, I'm
taking her straight to the emergency room. And they're like,
(06:45):
something's all right. And so they admit me and they're like, hey,
did you know that you have mono? No, but that
tracks like I had no idea. I didn't know what
monto was. And they're like, yeah, you you've had mono.
And my mom's like, well, that explains why your throat
was really sore and why you felt like crap. But
this bout of mono wasn't one that she could easily
(07:07):
get over with some rest and fluids. Shelby was in
the hospital for nearly three weeks trying to kick this virus.
Even with her history of anemia, sickness during her periods,
and then this severe case of mono, there was no
digging further to see if they all tied together. Yeah,
it's so interesting how mono is downplayed as just like
(07:31):
a rite of passage. Yeah, but it sounds like you
were experiencing even at the time that you thought it
was just mono, very severe symptoms. Yeah. I mean that's
the turning point for me. That's when my life completely changed.
Other than the breathing issues, are there any other things
(07:53):
looking back that you were dealing with? Were you getting
lightheaded if you stood up too quickly? Yeah, so I
would get bouts of you know, lightheadedness infested up too quickly.
Nothing to alarming at that point. The fatigue was still there,
the heaviness and my joints and my limbs, and I
(08:15):
was always out of breath, but you know that brushed
it off, as you know, it's just complications of mono.
I mean, I always knew that something wasn't right because
I know my body. But you get to a point
where you have these feelings and then you second guess yourself.
You're like, am I making it up? Am I crazy?
(08:37):
And it's insane? So, like I said, life went back
to normal for a couple of years. Not wanting to complain,
she internalized her health issues until she finally stumbled upon
someone who truly did hear her and take her symptoms seriously.
Her husband t J. They met well. T G was
(08:57):
speaking out of Future Farmers of America, of and where
Shelby was competing in the Talent pageant. Other than being
drop dead gorgeous, she has a voice that sounds a
lot like Martin McBride. And I thought somebody was playing
a recording of it, and I looked down and it
wasn't It was her. And it was kind of hard
(09:18):
to ignore somebody that pretty and and that talented, and
I was just kind of attracted to her from day one. So,
having spoken to your wife, I know that her health
issue started before you two even crossed paths. When was
the first time that it became apparent to you that
there was something ongoing. Well, she's always been somebody that
(09:43):
was always, for lack of a better term, she was
just always sick. There was always something, and when she
would get sick, it would it would take her down
a lot more than me. My husband A joke with
him all the time that he got the really short
end of the stick of that whole through sickness and
health thing, because I mean the entire time he's known me,
(10:05):
I mean, on our first date, I was sick, twenty
year old Shelby was still suffering from chronic fatigue and pain,
as well as lightheadedness when she would stand. But now
I had a partner by her side and so much
needed uplifting news a daughter on the way. At the
time when life should have been about celebration, Shelby and
t J were struggling to make ends meet, not knowing
(10:27):
the looming fight with this mysterious illness was about to
take a turn for the worse. It was terrifying because
we were so young and we were so poor, and
we were stretching ourselves then with her working and me
working and trying to finish my bachelor's degree. She was
(10:48):
here in Ashland and I was spending most of my
time in Lexington. It was really really tough. And then
when we got halfway through the pregnancy, things obviously started
to going wrong, very wrong. So I'm navigating my first
pregnancy and I feel like this was completely unrelated to
(11:12):
the condition that I had at the time. As she
was growing, she ended up actually pushing my appendix up
underneath my rib cage in my back, and so I
went to the hospital for two weeks. That pain must
have been excruciating, and the thing that came with it
was the nausea, the throwing up, like and I'm twenty
(11:34):
years old, I've never had a baby before. I don't
know what I'm doing. I thought I was dying. I
thought my baby was in trouble. We'll be right back
with Symptomatic A Medical Mystery Podcast. Now back to Symptomatic
(11:56):
A Medical Mystery Podcast. Shelby Morrison was in and out
of the hospital for two weeks trying to find out
what was causing her this constant, overwhelming back pain. With
no headway into finding out the source of the problem,
it worsened to the point where Shelby started vomiting uncontrollably
(12:17):
and the pain became unbearable. She rushed to the doctor.
I screamed, and he was like, I don't know what's
wrong with you, but we're getting you upstairs right now.
And by ten o'clock that night, they're like, oh, hey,
you're having surgery in the morning. I just remember praying
in the room, you know, to let me meet my daughter,
(12:39):
to let me get through this with my wife. I
didn't want it to all in before it even it
all started. They ended up taking my pandis out and
apparently if it would have twenty four more hours, it
would have burst, and it probably would have killed us both.
I mean, that's how close we were, and it was
all because of dismissal by medical staff. Then again, I'm
(13:02):
I don't understand a lot of things in the medical field,
but to me, it's pretty easy to get an ultrasound ordered,
the thing that ended up saving her life. We live
in an area of the country that sees a lot
of young pregnancies, a lot of unmarried pregnancies. Unfortunately, a
lot of people who do try to gain the system
(13:22):
for pain pills, and there's a lot of addiction in
our area. And I get it. But you know, we
weren't that, and we tried to convey that, and it
didn't seem to matter. We were just approached as if
we were a statistic. A seemingly unconnected emergency appendected me
that saved Shelby's life and her baby's life with just
(13:44):
hours to spare. And just as this young couple thought
things were calming down trying to navigate the usual excited
nerves of new parents, more complications show up for Shelby
and their child. I'm only like four weeks post up.
I started having to go back to the hospital again
because I just felt I felt like I was having
(14:05):
a heart attack. Turns out my blood pressure was at
stroke level and they couldn't figure out why I was
having preoclampsia, but I didn't look pre acclaimptic. Preclampsia is
a potentially dangerous complication of pregnancy. With preclampsia, you might
have high blood pressure, kidney damage, or other signs of
(14:25):
oregon damage. Left untreated, preclampsia can lead to serious, even
fatal complications for both mother and baby. I wasn't swollen,
I wasn't retaining fluid, but you hooked me up to
a machine and I was one six eight over one. Now,
explain to me what that feels like. I know what
(14:47):
that sounds like in terms of the numbers, but what
does that feel like? It feels like you're running a
marathon and you're sitting still shelby What is going on
psychologically at the point than I mean, I'm worried about
my daughter, Like I'm twenty years old. There's layers of
(15:08):
things going on right now at this point in my life,
and I'm just trying to navigate being a new mom
and trying to do what's best for my baby, and
trying to trust my doctor. It's rough, man, it may
have been rough on some levels, but they're beautiful. Baby
daughter was fully healthy and thriving. That's what mattered most
(15:29):
to Shelby and t J. She was perfectly healthy. She
was a great baby. And after I had her, the
dizziness and the fatigue and everything just kind of skyrocketed.
My body kind of freaked out after that. But I
just had a baby. I'm a new mom. I'm not
(15:50):
sleeping well, you know, I'm I'm trying to breastfeed, and
I'm trying to do all these things. Of these hormones
are just rushing through my body. Close to a year later,
they would welcome another child, a healthy baby boy. And
then after my son was born, I experienced my first migraine.
I'm not very sensitive to sound, but I am very,
(16:11):
very sensitive to light. And my migraines affect my whole body.
So when I say I have a migraine, my eyes
they throb and they hurt. It feels like there is
a headband going from one ear to the other of
just like ice picks jabbing into my brain. My migraines
(16:31):
go all the way down through my spine. It literally
hurts in my entire body to the point where I
get nauseous, I throw up, like it affects my gas system,
Like I can't hardly eat, I can't hardly drink, like
water will make me sick when I have a migraine.
Add debilitating migraines to the quickly growing list of symptoms,
(16:53):
all at a time when this young family should have
been focused on creating foundational memories together. This is that
should have been the happiest time of your life. In
some ways it was, but in a lot of ways
it wasn't. And looking back on it now, I wasn't
the mom that my kids needed, and I wasn't the
moment they deserved, and I will, I'll always beat myself
(17:16):
up for that. But you were sick. You were so sick.
And now now they're old enough to understand, and in
some ways, I still feel like I'm robbing them of
some experiences in their childhood because I physically can't do
(17:36):
some things that they want to do. But they're old
enough now to where they're they're able to understand a
little bit better. And the way that my kids show
me grace now it's just it's heartbreaking and it's so
(17:56):
moving all at the same time. Like I don't even
know how to explain it. Gosh, I'm sit over and
blubbert sorry. The psychological stress of her body breaking down
and not allowing her to be the kind of mom
she wanted to be was taking a major toll on
her mental health. Shelby's body seemed to be deteriorating at
a time when she needed it most, at a time
(18:17):
when her kids needed her most. As irrational as it sounds,
I was scared to death that it's really even sounds
stupid trying to say it out loud. I was so
scared that I was going to die and leave my
babies because I didn't know what was wrong, or that
(18:39):
my family was going to get tired of me being
sick or me not feeling good. And you know, postpartum
depression is a real thing, So I mean, I would
I would be lying to you if I didn't think
a couple of times that you know, my kids were
better off without me because I wasn't a good enough
mom for them. My O b g Y and at
(19:00):
the time he prescribed me my first round of antidepressants
that had ever taken, and I took them very begrudgingly,
but I knew I had to do something. Shelby and
t J were both determined to find a doctor who
listened to Shelby's symptoms and looked at her full medical
(19:21):
history to get to the bottom of what had been
plaguing her for over a decade. After bouncing between a
few different primary care doctors, they finally found one that
truly heard her story, her new family physician, Dr Tim Hart.
Right now, at this point in the story, I'm playing
a psychological game. I looked at Dr Hart and I said, listen,
(19:42):
I am either crazy or there's something wrong. And at
this point I don't care which one it is. I
just have to know. I told him. I's like, listen,
I get dizzy when I stand up, and I don't
even really pass out, and it's not even a real
dizzy feeling like it's it's almost like the room kind
of spinds a little bit, but it feels like my
(20:04):
legs are going to give out on me. I said, Like,
I'm literally tired all the time, Like I could sleep
for days and still wake up tired. My joints constantly hurt,
my body is constantly aching, my hair is falling out,
and a plethora of other things. Oh and that's what
(20:26):
I was like. I can't remember anything, like I feel
like my brain just doesn't work, not even percent of
the time. Doctor Hart talks to Shelby about all the
pieces of her medical past, her childhood riddled with chronic fatigue,
getting extremely sick and nearly passing out during her periods, PRECLAMPSI,
of the migraines, the brain fog, all of it. Doctor
(20:47):
Hart realizes it's not all into her head, It's all
very real. He first targets the brain fog symptoms with
some a d h D medication. Shelby sees a big
difference being able to keep up with her life mentally,
but her body is still stuck. What for you was
(21:07):
the moment where you are like, I'm not dealing with
this anymore. I need answers. Well. Actually, so fast forward
to and my husband and I were outside hanging Christmas
lights in November and it's like ten o'clock at night
and we are painstakingly hot gluing light clips onto the
(21:30):
brick veneer of our house. Because I'm married to Clark
Griswold and we're crazy Christmas people and that's just what
we do. So I'm coughing up along. I can't hardly stand.
I'm getting dizzy. When I stand up, it's freezing cold,
Like I'm so cold to the point where like my
joints hurt. And my husband's like, oh great, you've probably
(21:51):
got COVID again. He's like, you need to go get tested.
So I drive myself to the urgent care that's just
right next to our house almost. So they take me
ac and they hook up the machines and they're checking
my vitals and I'm sitting there and I'm out of breath.
I'm heavy breathing because I've walked from the waiting room
to the room and they're like, girl, you're in tachycardia.
(22:15):
Tachycardia is the medical term for a resting heart rate
over a hundred beats per minute. Something's wrong, some something
is is bad wrong, And honestly, at first, you know,
I was terrified there was an actual heart issue, that
something was going to happen, you know, like a heart
attack or an aneurysm, or there was a blockage, whatever
(22:39):
it was, and it was just terrifying. Shelby's body was
struggling to regulate her blood pressure and heart rate. Her
tachycardia quickly got worse right when t J had to
go out of town for work, so shall be called
two of her best friends who happened to be a
nurse and a doctor. I'm sitting on the edge of
(23:00):
the ottoman and he's trying to listen to my chest
and ever, you know, do the whole basic workup. And
the lights go out and I go to fall forward,
look up and he's got ahold of me, and he's like,
your heart rates out of control, you're hyperventilating. You can't
(23:21):
get out of what oxygen like shell. You've got to
go to the emergency room. I didn't know it then
at that moment, but the next three hours we're going
to be some of the most traumatic experiences of my life.
Shelby rushes to the e er with her heart racing
(23:42):
and her body freaking out, hoping to get her condition
under control before anything tragic happens. But the attempting doctor
isn't exactly concerned. I feel like my heart is going
to explode at this point, and he's like, well, you
look fine. He's like, you don't look like you're sick.
He's like, your vitals like normal. He's like, I'll take
(24:04):
you back and I'll do an ultrasound just to make
you feel better, Like he's doing me a favor, just
to make me feel better. The doctor just completely blew
her off as if it was stress or anxiety, and
it was just completely dismissive. And you know, it was
everything that I had not to to march into the
(24:25):
e er and give the guy a piece of my mind.
But I knew at the end of the day that
was only gonna hurt shelby situation more than anything, you know.
But it also helped the fact that we had one
of my best friends, Chris, who is an mp D
and is explaining that this isn't normal, this isn't anxiety,
this isn't you know. They're not running the panels they
(24:46):
need to run that kind of thing, which led us
into going to the right family care providers that did
listen to us and got her some testing and got
her to the right people. Doctor Hart was the health
provider who listened and did more testing. Shelby went to
him the next day, knowing anxiety didn't explain away her
heart issues and battle with tachycardia. Doctor Hart really looked
(25:10):
at Shelby's medical history, reconsidering her tough battle with Mono
in a different light. He had an idea of what
maybe going on and referred her to a specialist, Dr
Van Darren, who finally had the answer. I'll never forget
the day that I walked into Dr Van Darren's office.
It was one of the happiest days of my life.
(25:32):
Like I will put it up there with like my
wedding day in the birth of my children. And he's like, hey,
you know what, what are we seeing you for today?
And I'll tell him a little bit of what's going on.
And as I'm talking to him, it's almost like he's
not even listening to me. He's he's looking at my chart.
Hey looked at me. He goes, you know you have pots, right, huh.
(25:53):
He's like, yeah, your textbook pots? Well, um, I saw
something about that on the internet. He was like yeah.
He's like, because it's pretty much only it lives on
the internet. There's very few doctors that even know what
to look for and know what's going on. He explained
to me that, he said, we're seeing her eyes and
(26:13):
pots patients right now. Because, he said, of autoimmune or
autonomic nervous system disorders are triggered by virus, he said,
and you've had the Big two, he said. So I
don't know really what triggered yours, he said, because you've
had epstein Bar and you've had COVID nineteen. Shelby's battle
with COVID just intensified her POTS symptoms. The fatigue, the dizziness,
(26:35):
the migraines, the mono a ka epstein Bar, the proclampsia,
the brain fog, the blood pressure and heart rate troubles,
the tachycardia. All of these symptoms pointed to a mysterious
illness that had been plague in Shelby for thirteen years,
and now there was a name she could put to
what she'd been suffering from POTS. Dr Jeff Boris, pet
(27:00):
electric cardiologists specializing in autonomic disorders, explains more so, POTS,
or the pastoral orthostatic tychocardia syndrome, is a disautonomia in POTS.
What happens is patients have this malfunction of their autonomic
system and they get extremely debilitated due to lightheadedness, techocardia,
(27:25):
severe nausea, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction or brain fog as people
are recognizing this term, I think in the setting of
long COVID and many other symptoms that can come along
with US as well, Why do you think that it
is so difficult to diagnose POTS? So what happens is
(27:48):
a lot of doctors historically have not recognized that POTS exists.
Either they've never heard of it, or if they have
heard of it, they don't believe it or are just
not aware of it. So that's part of the problem.
And and in the Big POTS survey, half of patients
took at least seven providers before getting a diagnosis, and
(28:11):
about a quarter of patients saw over ten providers before
getting a diagnosis. I think the other issue though, that
plays into this is that there is anywhere from a
three point five to one to a five to one
ratio female to MAIL patients. So with that female predominance,
(28:31):
this is something that's been a problem in medicine for
decades and decades, is that female patients who have symptoms
that are quote invisible are shunted, aside dismissed. So a
lot of these patients are just ignored because it's very
difficult for people to recognize that there's something going on.
(28:58):
A journey to a POTS diagnosis is not short or
easy for many people. For Shelby, it was long, long overdue,
and that made hearing her proper diagnosis all that much better.
But what did that mean to you? Oh my gosh,
like it meant. It meant the world. It meant the world,
(29:19):
like I was able to put a name to what
was happening to me. It was a start, and it
finally put the chip on my shoulder to where like
I knew I wasn't crazy and I had been gas
lit for so many years, So some relief. It finally
(29:43):
has a name, but just having the name doesn't get
rid of the symptoms. Shelby and her doctors are still
working to find a treatment regimen that helps her manage
her symptoms and gives her back the lifestyle she deserves.
She's currently being treated with bi weekly IVY fluids because
dehydration is a implication of POTS that can make the
other symptoms worse. It's helped me to understand my body
(30:06):
a little bit better. I'm still on my POTS journey.
There have been highs and lows. It's been a definite
roller coaster, but we're still trying to figure out a
treatment plan that works for me because I'm kind of
like a gremlin. I can't get too hot, i can't
get too cold, don't get me wet, don't feed me
after midnight. Like it's hard to keep it imbalanced. I mean,
(30:28):
we're still pretty clueless as far as what's actually happening
to these patients. We suspect that a fair number of
them or having POTS due to an autoimmune phenomenon. Until
the medical community discovers more and has it integrated into
the widespread medical curriculum, there will be some ongoing misunderstanding
(30:51):
about this syndrome. Something Dr Boris is very familiar with.
What would you say are the most prevalent and fro
straighting misconceptions that people have about POTS. Patients are told
pretty frequently that it's just anxiety or they have an
(31:12):
eating disorder. That's that's one of the really bad ones.
So one of the problems that we can see in
these patients is what we call g I or gas
or intestinal dismotility, meaning their intestines just don't work right,
so they are nauseated frequently. So I think the two
biggest ones that I would say would would be being
(31:34):
accused of having a psychiatric disorder or being accused of
having an eating disorder, which certainly falls under the psychiatric
realm as well. Shelby spent thirteen years fighting these misconceptions
and defiance to embrace pots of something to consider when
diagnosing patients. She was pushed a multiple life threatening situations
(31:57):
second guest her own sanity, felt the guilt of not
being able to be the mother she wanted to be
to her children, but luckily she had t J there
to be her support network, a husband who knows she
has nothing to feel guilty about. The hardest part for
it is just trying to convey that I'm in it
for life. Whatever happens, however it works, we'll get through it.
(32:22):
And a lot of times, unfortunately in that I think
that Shelby thinks that there's expectations, or there's feelings that
I'm missing out or the kids are missing out, you know,
trying to calm her down and let her know that
we don't have a list of expectations. Shelby is still
(32:43):
fighting hard to find the right treatments to give her
back her sense of normalcy. But one thing she will
be doing as a mom is making sure her children
did not suffer from the same runaround she had to endure.
My daughter is having a barrage of unexplained symptoms that
and I've never had. She's got random hives breaking out
all over her body, She's having joint pain, her hair
(33:06):
is kind of falling out. All of the gas lighting
that I went through is not going to happen to
my daughter. I'm not going to be that passive mother
that sits on the sidelines. I'm trying to teach my
daughter that you have to advocate for yourself. And I
told her, I'm your mom, I'm always going to be
there for you. I will advocate for you. But you
(33:28):
have to trust your own body, and you have to
know your own body. So if there is something wrong,
speak up. Speak Up. To find out more information on POTS,
visit standing Up to pots dot org. My name is
Shelby and I struggled for thirteen years before I was
(33:49):
diagnosed with POTS. On the next symptomatic, Kyle seems not
to be able to go a couple of months without
a new break, sprain or dislocation, and worse, a tumor
was found on a spine. We knew there was a mass,
but we didn't know if it was benign as a cancer.
(34:09):
There was just so much we didn't know. I was done.
I was mentally that was it. I kind of, honestly
just like gave up. Kyle and his mother Laura battle
against a tumor that is taking far too long to
heal and pushing him to the brink of being bedridden
for the rest of his life or worse, symptomatic. A
(34:34):
medical Mystery podcast is an original podcast from my Heart Radio.
Are shows hosted by me Lauren Bright Pacheco. Executive producers
are Matt Romano and myself. Our EP of post production
is Matt Stillo. Our producers are Crra Kaiser and John Irwin.
He described it as I looked like I looked like
cookies and cream pudding, Like I was that shade of gray,
and he's like, I'm taking her straight to the emergency room.
A lot of doctors either they've never heard of it
or they don't believe it exists. These patients are just
ignored because it's very difficult to recognize that there's something
(00:22):
going on. I just remember praying in the room to
let me meet my daughter, my God's grace, to let
me get through this with my wife. I didn't want
it to all in before it even it all started.
(00:47):
How terrifying would it be to fight an unknown enemy,
one you didn't recognize and didn't see coming. What if
that enemy was coming from within a disease but even
doctor couldn't identify. Nearly half of all Americans suffer from
some chronic illness, and many struggle for an accurate diagnosis.
(01:10):
These are their stories. I'm Lauren Bright, the CHECKO, and
this is symptomatic. You're immediately hit with a feeling like
(01:33):
you're talking to a close friend when you meet Shelby Morrison.
She is very open and genuine, easily getting excited when
you start talking about cigars, stealer football or her dogs.
I'd like to tell my friends I have two cats,
two dogs, two kids in the t J that's my husband.
I have two little chewin eas. One is huge and
the other one is tiny, teeny tiny. Wait, you have
(01:55):
to tell me what is a chewini CHEWENI is a
Chihuahua and weener dog together. So it's safe to say
you're an animal lover. I will die petting something that
I shouldn't. I love all animals. If a brown bear
was in front of me and it looked like it
would let me pet it, I'd try. You might lose
a hand, might lose a hand, might lose an arm.
(02:17):
But you know what, I have made my peace with God.
If I am taken out by a giant ball of fluf,
that's how I go. There is an undeniable strength to
her positivity. You can sense her perseverance through a long
struggle just below the surface. I'm proud the most of
(02:37):
her heart. I think she gives more than anybody that
I know. She cares about people even when a lot
of people don't deserve it, and she's always willing to help.
That was Shelby's husband, T j who has been with
her for over a decade. Little did he know when
(02:59):
they first met that they would quickly be thrown into
a whirlwind journey, pushing Shelby to the brink of a
life or death situation. The symptoms that would start off
this roller coaster first started showing up in Shelby during puberty.
I got through high school pretty normal. I remember my
(03:19):
high school career just always being really tired all the time.
But I mean I was doing all the things, and
you know, I was seventeen years old. I mean I
never really had an inkling that I was sick. I
always kind of fell off. Go back, just for a second,
because you said you're tired, Explain that to me. It's
really hard to get up out of bed in the morning.
(03:41):
Like it's not I didn't sleep well kind of feeling.
It's that I can't move my body, kind of feeling
like it's almost a complete heaviness of your limbs. The
word fatigue, I feel like is not an accurate descriptor
of the tired. So I really didn't think anything about it, because,
like I said, I was I was an act teenager.
I was, you know, hanging out with my friends, you know,
(04:03):
staying up probably way too late. Um, and I didn't
think anything of it. Shelby always seemed to be tired
and lethargic. It was difficult for her to have the
energy she thought came naturally to most kids her age.
The doctors chalked it up to anemia, which runs in
her family. I had been told that I was anemic before,
(04:27):
but I mean it was just, oh, hey, your iron
slow like eats and broccoli, and that's that kind of
explained it away. Her symptoms became something easy for her
doctors and even her family to dismiss as just shall
be being dramatic, But there was a lot more going
on here than they initially assumed. Her mom even brushed
her complaints aside until one day in high school when
(04:50):
she got really sick in the car. I hit puberty
at a very young age, and I had very bad periods.
I would literally be to the point where I was
throwing up, couldn't be in class because I was in
the bathroom because I was like, my entire body would hurt.
And was there any attempt to figure out if that
was abnormal? No? Not really, I mean mom was like, yeah,
(05:14):
we all, we all have really bad periods, like it's
just it's a family thing. And I was angry at
the time with her because I felt like she was
dismissive until one day she picked me up from school
and she got me in the car and we were
driving home and I literally rolled down the window and
I puked all down the side of her car going
down the interstate. And I don't think she realized how
sick I was until that moment, and I think she
(05:35):
started to believe me a little bit. Shelby and her
mother started to realize that her symptoms couldn't just be
explained by her being anemic or a typically pubescent teenager.
But Shelby kept her internal battle quiet, fighting off the
tiredness by herself for years. That was until she landed
in the emergency room while she was away at college.
(05:59):
I feel like I am just death warmed over, like
I can't function. And so one morning I I called
my boyfriend, who I was dating at the time, not
my current husband. I was like, I can't breathe, like
i feel like I'm suffocating, like i've i feel like
I'm dying, Like I need can you please drive me home?
(06:23):
What was it about the way you were presenting physically
that he was like, we're going straight to the hospital.
His mom was a nurse um and so he looked
at me and he's like, you're gray, like he described
it as, I looked like cookies and cream pudding, like
I was that shade of gray. And he's like, I'm
taking her straight to the emergency room. And they're like,
(06:45):
something's all right. And so they admit me and they're like, hey,
did you know that you have mono? No, but that
tracks like I had no idea. I didn't know what
monto was. And they're like, yeah, you you've had mono.
And my mom's like, well, that explains why your throat
was really sore and why you felt like crap. But
this bout of mono wasn't one that she could easily
(07:07):
get over with some rest and fluids. Shelby was in
the hospital for nearly three weeks trying to kick this virus.
Even with her history of anemia, sickness during her periods,
and then this severe case of mono, there was no
digging further to see if they all tied together. Yeah,
it's so interesting how mono is downplayed as just like
(07:31):
a rite of passage. Yeah, but it sounds like you
were experiencing even at the time that you thought it
was just mono, very severe symptoms. Yeah. I mean that's
the turning point for me. That's when my life completely changed.
Other than the breathing issues, are there any other things
(07:53):
looking back that you were dealing with? Were you getting
lightheaded if you stood up too quickly? Yeah, so I
would get bouts of you know, lightheadedness infested up too quickly.
Nothing to alarming at that point. The fatigue was still there,
the heaviness and my joints and my limbs, and I
(08:15):
was always out of breath, but you know that brushed
it off, as you know, it's just complications of mono.
I mean, I always knew that something wasn't right because
I know my body. But you get to a point
where you have these feelings and then you second guess yourself.
You're like, am I making it up? Am I crazy?
(08:37):
And it's insane? So, like I said, life went back
to normal for a couple of years. Not wanting to complain,
she internalized her health issues until she finally stumbled upon
someone who truly did hear her and take her symptoms seriously.
Her husband t J. They met well. T G was
(08:57):
speaking out of Future Farmers of America, of and where
Shelby was competing in the Talent pageant. Other than being
drop dead gorgeous, she has a voice that sounds a
lot like Martin McBride. And I thought somebody was playing
a recording of it, and I looked down and it
wasn't It was her. And it was kind of hard
(09:18):
to ignore somebody that pretty and and that talented, and
I was just kind of attracted to her from day one. So,
having spoken to your wife, I know that her health
issue started before you two even crossed paths. When was
the first time that it became apparent to you that
there was something ongoing. Well, she's always been somebody that
(09:43):
was always, for lack of a better term, she was
just always sick. There was always something, and when she
would get sick, it would it would take her down
a lot more than me. My husband A joke with
him all the time that he got the really short
end of the stick of that whole through sickness and
health thing, because I mean the entire time he's known me,
(10:05):
I mean, on our first date, I was sick, twenty
year old Shelby was still suffering from chronic fatigue and pain,
as well as lightheadedness when she would stand. But now
I had a partner by her side and so much
needed uplifting news a daughter on the way. At the
time when life should have been about celebration, Shelby and
t J were struggling to make ends meet, not knowing
(10:27):
the looming fight with this mysterious illness was about to
take a turn for the worse. It was terrifying because
we were so young and we were so poor, and
we were stretching ourselves then with her working and me
working and trying to finish my bachelor's degree. She was
(10:48):
here in Ashland and I was spending most of my
time in Lexington. It was really really tough. And then
when we got halfway through the pregnancy, things obviously started
to going wrong, very wrong. So I'm navigating my first
pregnancy and I feel like this was completely unrelated to
(11:12):
the condition that I had at the time. As she
was growing, she ended up actually pushing my appendix up
underneath my rib cage in my back, and so I
went to the hospital for two weeks. That pain must
have been excruciating, and the thing that came with it
was the nausea, the throwing up, like and I'm twenty
(11:34):
years old, I've never had a baby before. I don't
know what I'm doing. I thought I was dying. I
thought my baby was in trouble. We'll be right back
with Symptomatic A Medical Mystery Podcast. Now back to Symptomatic
(11:56):
A Medical Mystery Podcast. Shelby Morrison was in and out
of the hospital for two weeks trying to find out
what was causing her this constant, overwhelming back pain. With
no headway into finding out the source of the problem,
it worsened to the point where Shelby started vomiting uncontrollably
(12:17):
and the pain became unbearable. She rushed to the doctor.
I screamed, and he was like, I don't know what's
wrong with you, but we're getting you upstairs right now.
And by ten o'clock that night, they're like, oh, hey,
you're having surgery in the morning. I just remember praying
in the room, you know, to let me meet my daughter,
(12:39):
to let me get through this with my wife. I
didn't want it to all in before it even it
all started. They ended up taking my pandis out and
apparently if it would have twenty four more hours, it
would have burst, and it probably would have killed us both.
I mean, that's how close we were, and it was
all because of dismissal by medical staff. Then again, I'm
(13:02):
I don't understand a lot of things in the medical field,
but to me, it's pretty easy to get an ultrasound ordered,
the thing that ended up saving her life. We live
in an area of the country that sees a lot
of young pregnancies, a lot of unmarried pregnancies. Unfortunately, a
lot of people who do try to gain the system
(13:22):
for pain pills, and there's a lot of addiction in
our area. And I get it. But you know, we
weren't that, and we tried to convey that, and it
didn't seem to matter. We were just approached as if
we were a statistic. A seemingly unconnected emergency appendected me
that saved Shelby's life and her baby's life with just
(13:44):
hours to spare. And just as this young couple thought
things were calming down trying to navigate the usual excited
nerves of new parents, more complications show up for Shelby
and their child. I'm only like four weeks post up.
I started having to go back to the hospital again
because I just felt I felt like I was having
(14:05):
a heart attack. Turns out my blood pressure was at
stroke level and they couldn't figure out why I was
having preoclampsia, but I didn't look pre acclaimptic. Preclampsia is
a potentially dangerous complication of pregnancy. With preclampsia, you might
have high blood pressure, kidney damage, or other signs of
(14:25):
oregon damage. Left untreated, preclampsia can lead to serious, even
fatal complications for both mother and baby. I wasn't swollen,
I wasn't retaining fluid, but you hooked me up to
a machine and I was one six eight over one. Now,
explain to me what that feels like. I know what
(14:47):
that sounds like in terms of the numbers, but what
does that feel like? It feels like you're running a
marathon and you're sitting still shelby What is going on
psychologically at the point than I mean, I'm worried about
my daughter, Like I'm twenty years old. There's layers of
(15:08):
things going on right now at this point in my life,
and I'm just trying to navigate being a new mom
and trying to do what's best for my baby, and
trying to trust my doctor. It's rough, man, it may
have been rough on some levels, but they're beautiful. Baby
daughter was fully healthy and thriving. That's what mattered most
(15:29):
to Shelby and t J. She was perfectly healthy. She
was a great baby. And after I had her, the
dizziness and the fatigue and everything just kind of skyrocketed.
My body kind of freaked out after that. But I
just had a baby. I'm a new mom. I'm not
(15:50):
sleeping well, you know, I'm I'm trying to breastfeed, and
I'm trying to do all these things. Of these hormones
are just rushing through my body. Close to a year later,
they would welcome another child, a healthy baby boy. And
then after my son was born, I experienced my first migraine.
I'm not very sensitive to sound, but I am very,
(16:11):
very sensitive to light. And my migraines affect my whole body.
So when I say I have a migraine, my eyes
they throb and they hurt. It feels like there is
a headband going from one ear to the other of
just like ice picks jabbing into my brain. My migraines
(16:31):
go all the way down through my spine. It literally
hurts in my entire body to the point where I
get nauseous, I throw up, like it affects my gas system,
Like I can't hardly eat, I can't hardly drink, like
water will make me sick when I have a migraine.
Add debilitating migraines to the quickly growing list of symptoms,
(16:53):
all at a time when this young family should have
been focused on creating foundational memories together. This is that
should have been the happiest time of your life. In
some ways it was, but in a lot of ways
it wasn't. And looking back on it now, I wasn't
the mom that my kids needed, and I wasn't the
moment they deserved, and I will, I'll always beat myself
(17:16):
up for that. But you were sick. You were so sick.
And now now they're old enough to understand, and in
some ways, I still feel like I'm robbing them of
some experiences in their childhood because I physically can't do
(17:36):
some things that they want to do. But they're old
enough now to where they're they're able to understand a
little bit better. And the way that my kids show
me grace now it's just it's heartbreaking and it's so
(17:56):
moving all at the same time. Like I don't even
know how to explain it. Gosh, I'm sit over and
blubbert sorry. The psychological stress of her body breaking down
and not allowing her to be the kind of mom
she wanted to be was taking a major toll on
her mental health. Shelby's body seemed to be deteriorating at
a time when she needed it most, at a time
(18:17):
when her kids needed her most. As irrational as it sounds,
I was scared to death that it's really even sounds
stupid trying to say it out loud. I was so
scared that I was going to die and leave my
babies because I didn't know what was wrong, or that
(18:39):
my family was going to get tired of me being
sick or me not feeling good. And you know, postpartum
depression is a real thing, So I mean, I would
I would be lying to you if I didn't think
a couple of times that you know, my kids were
better off without me because I wasn't a good enough
mom for them. My O b g Y and at
(19:00):
the time he prescribed me my first round of antidepressants
that had ever taken, and I took them very begrudgingly,
but I knew I had to do something. Shelby and
t J were both determined to find a doctor who
listened to Shelby's symptoms and looked at her full medical
(19:21):
history to get to the bottom of what had been
plaguing her for over a decade. After bouncing between a
few different primary care doctors, they finally found one that
truly heard her story, her new family physician, Dr Tim Hart.
Right now, at this point in the story, I'm playing
a psychological game. I looked at Dr Hart and I said, listen,
(19:42):
I am either crazy or there's something wrong. And at
this point I don't care which one it is. I
just have to know. I told him. I's like, listen,
I get dizzy when I stand up, and I don't
even really pass out, and it's not even a real
dizzy feeling like it's it's almost like the room kind
of spinds a little bit, but it feels like my
(20:04):
legs are going to give out on me. I said, Like,
I'm literally tired all the time, Like I could sleep
for days and still wake up tired. My joints constantly hurt,
my body is constantly aching, my hair is falling out,
and a plethora of other things. Oh and that's what
(20:26):
I was like. I can't remember anything, like I feel
like my brain just doesn't work, not even percent of
the time. Doctor Hart talks to Shelby about all the
pieces of her medical past, her childhood riddled with chronic fatigue,
getting extremely sick and nearly passing out during her periods, PRECLAMPSI,
of the migraines, the brain fog, all of it. Doctor
(20:47):
Hart realizes it's not all into her head, It's all
very real. He first targets the brain fog symptoms with
some a d h D medication. Shelby sees a big
difference being able to keep up with her life mentally,
but her body is still stuck. What for you was
(21:07):
the moment where you are like, I'm not dealing with
this anymore. I need answers. Well. Actually, so fast forward
to and my husband and I were outside hanging Christmas
lights in November and it's like ten o'clock at night
and we are painstakingly hot gluing light clips onto the
(21:30):
brick veneer of our house. Because I'm married to Clark
Griswold and we're crazy Christmas people and that's just what
we do. So I'm coughing up along. I can't hardly stand.
I'm getting dizzy. When I stand up, it's freezing cold,
Like I'm so cold to the point where like my
joints hurt. And my husband's like, oh great, you've probably
(21:51):
got COVID again. He's like, you need to go get tested.
So I drive myself to the urgent care that's just
right next to our house almost. So they take me
ac and they hook up the machines and they're checking
my vitals and I'm sitting there and I'm out of breath.
I'm heavy breathing because I've walked from the waiting room
to the room and they're like, girl, you're in tachycardia.
(22:15):
Tachycardia is the medical term for a resting heart rate
over a hundred beats per minute. Something's wrong, some something
is is bad wrong, And honestly, at first, you know,
I was terrified there was an actual heart issue, that
something was going to happen, you know, like a heart
attack or an aneurysm, or there was a blockage, whatever
(22:39):
it was, and it was just terrifying. Shelby's body was
struggling to regulate her blood pressure and heart rate. Her
tachycardia quickly got worse right when t J had to
go out of town for work, so shall be called
two of her best friends who happened to be a
nurse and a doctor. I'm sitting on the edge of
(23:00):
the ottoman and he's trying to listen to my chest
and ever, you know, do the whole basic workup. And
the lights go out and I go to fall forward,
look up and he's got ahold of me, and he's like,
your heart rates out of control, you're hyperventilating. You can't
(23:21):
get out of what oxygen like shell. You've got to
go to the emergency room. I didn't know it then
at that moment, but the next three hours we're going
to be some of the most traumatic experiences of my life.
Shelby rushes to the e er with her heart racing
(23:42):
and her body freaking out, hoping to get her condition
under control before anything tragic happens. But the attempting doctor
isn't exactly concerned. I feel like my heart is going
to explode at this point, and he's like, well, you
look fine. He's like, you don't look like you're sick.
He's like, your vitals like normal. He's like, I'll take
(24:04):
you back and I'll do an ultrasound just to make
you feel better, Like he's doing me a favor, just
to make me feel better. The doctor just completely blew
her off as if it was stress or anxiety, and
it was just completely dismissive. And you know, it was
everything that I had not to to march into the
(24:25):
e er and give the guy a piece of my mind.
But I knew at the end of the day that
was only gonna hurt shelby situation more than anything, you know.
But it also helped the fact that we had one
of my best friends, Chris, who is an mp D
and is explaining that this isn't normal, this isn't anxiety,
this isn't you know. They're not running the panels they
(24:46):
need to run that kind of thing, which led us
into going to the right family care providers that did
listen to us and got her some testing and got
her to the right people. Doctor Hart was the health
provider who listened and did more testing. Shelby went to
him the next day, knowing anxiety didn't explain away her
heart issues and battle with tachycardia. Doctor Hart really looked
(25:10):
at Shelby's medical history, reconsidering her tough battle with Mono
in a different light. He had an idea of what
maybe going on and referred her to a specialist, Dr
Van Darren, who finally had the answer. I'll never forget
the day that I walked into Dr Van Darren's office.
It was one of the happiest days of my life.
(25:32):
Like I will put it up there with like my
wedding day in the birth of my children. And he's like, hey,
you know what, what are we seeing you for today?
And I'll tell him a little bit of what's going on.
And as I'm talking to him, it's almost like he's
not even listening to me. He's he's looking at my chart.
Hey looked at me. He goes, you know you have pots, right, huh.
(25:53):
He's like, yeah, your textbook pots? Well, um, I saw
something about that on the internet. He was like yeah.
He's like, because it's pretty much only it lives on
the internet. There's very few doctors that even know what
to look for and know what's going on. He explained
to me that, he said, we're seeing her eyes and
(26:13):
pots patients right now. Because, he said, of autoimmune or
autonomic nervous system disorders are triggered by virus, he said,
and you've had the Big two, he said. So I
don't know really what triggered yours, he said, because you've
had epstein Bar and you've had COVID nineteen. Shelby's battle
with COVID just intensified her POTS symptoms. The fatigue, the dizziness,
(26:35):
the migraines, the mono a ka epstein Bar, the proclampsia,
the brain fog, the blood pressure and heart rate troubles,
the tachycardia. All of these symptoms pointed to a mysterious
illness that had been plague in Shelby for thirteen years,
and now there was a name she could put to
what she'd been suffering from POTS. Dr Jeff Boris, pet
(27:00):
electric cardiologists specializing in autonomic disorders, explains more so, POTS,
or the pastoral orthostatic tychocardia syndrome, is a disautonomia in POTS.
What happens is patients have this malfunction of their autonomic
system and they get extremely debilitated due to lightheadedness, techocardia,
(27:25):
severe nausea, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction or brain fog as people
are recognizing this term, I think in the setting of
long COVID and many other symptoms that can come along
with US as well, Why do you think that it
is so difficult to diagnose POTS? So what happens is
(27:48):
a lot of doctors historically have not recognized that POTS exists.
Either they've never heard of it, or if they have
heard of it, they don't believe it or are just
not aware of it. So that's part of the problem.
And and in the Big POTS survey, half of patients
took at least seven providers before getting a diagnosis, and
(28:11):
about a quarter of patients saw over ten providers before
getting a diagnosis. I think the other issue though, that
plays into this is that there is anywhere from a
three point five to one to a five to one
ratio female to MAIL patients. So with that female predominance,
(28:31):
this is something that's been a problem in medicine for
decades and decades, is that female patients who have symptoms
that are quote invisible are shunted, aside dismissed. So a
lot of these patients are just ignored because it's very
difficult for people to recognize that there's something going on.
(28:58):
A journey to a POTS diagnosis is not short or
easy for many people. For Shelby, it was long, long overdue,
and that made hearing her proper diagnosis all that much better.
But what did that mean to you? Oh my gosh,
like it meant. It meant the world. It meant the world,
(29:19):
like I was able to put a name to what
was happening to me. It was a start, and it
finally put the chip on my shoulder to where like
I knew I wasn't crazy and I had been gas
lit for so many years, So some relief. It finally
(29:43):
has a name, but just having the name doesn't get
rid of the symptoms. Shelby and her doctors are still
working to find a treatment regimen that helps her manage
her symptoms and gives her back the lifestyle she deserves.
She's currently being treated with bi weekly IVY fluids because
dehydration is a implication of POTS that can make the
other symptoms worse. It's helped me to understand my body
(30:06):
a little bit better. I'm still on my POTS journey.
There have been highs and lows. It's been a definite
roller coaster, but we're still trying to figure out a
treatment plan that works for me because I'm kind of
like a gremlin. I can't get too hot, i can't
get too cold, don't get me wet, don't feed me
after midnight. Like it's hard to keep it imbalanced. I mean,
(30:28):
we're still pretty clueless as far as what's actually happening
to these patients. We suspect that a fair number of
them or having POTS due to an autoimmune phenomenon. Until
the medical community discovers more and has it integrated into
the widespread medical curriculum, there will be some ongoing misunderstanding
(30:51):
about this syndrome. Something Dr Boris is very familiar with.
What would you say are the most prevalent and fro
straighting misconceptions that people have about POTS. Patients are told
pretty frequently that it's just anxiety or they have an
(31:12):
eating disorder. That's that's one of the really bad ones.
So one of the problems that we can see in
these patients is what we call g I or gas
or intestinal dismotility, meaning their intestines just don't work right,
so they are nauseated frequently. So I think the two
biggest ones that I would say would would be being
(31:34):
accused of having a psychiatric disorder or being accused of
having an eating disorder, which certainly falls under the psychiatric
realm as well. Shelby spent thirteen years fighting these misconceptions
and defiance to embrace pots of something to consider when
diagnosing patients. She was pushed a multiple life threatening situations
(31:57):
second guest her own sanity, felt the guilt of not
being able to be the mother she wanted to be
to her children, but luckily she had t J there
to be her support network, a husband who knows she
has nothing to feel guilty about. The hardest part for
it is just trying to convey that I'm in it
for life. Whatever happens, however it works, we'll get through it.
(32:22):
And a lot of times, unfortunately in that I think
that Shelby thinks that there's expectations, or there's feelings that
I'm missing out or the kids are missing out, you know,
trying to calm her down and let her know that
we don't have a list of expectations. Shelby is still
(32:43):
fighting hard to find the right treatments to give her
back her sense of normalcy. But one thing she will
be doing as a mom is making sure her children
did not suffer from the same runaround she had to endure.
My daughter is having a barrage of unexplained symptoms that
and I've never had. She's got random hives breaking out
all over her body, She's having joint pain, her hair
(33:06):
is kind of falling out. All of the gas lighting
that I went through is not going to happen to
my daughter. I'm not going to be that passive mother
that sits on the sidelines. I'm trying to teach my
daughter that you have to advocate for yourself. And I
told her, I'm your mom, I'm always going to be
there for you. I will advocate for you. But you
(33:28):
have to trust your own body, and you have to
know your own body. So if there is something wrong,
speak up. Speak Up. To find out more information on POTS,
visit standing Up to pots dot org. My name is
Shelby and I struggled for thirteen years before I was
(33:49):
diagnosed with POTS. On the next symptomatic, Kyle seems not
to be able to go a couple of months without
a new break, sprain or dislocation, and worse, a tumor
was found on a spine. We knew there was a mass,
but we didn't know if it was benign as a cancer.
(34:09):
There was just so much we didn't know. I was done.
I was mentally that was it. I kind of, honestly
just like gave up. Kyle and his mother Laura battle
against a tumor that is taking far too long to
heal and pushing him to the brink of being bedridden
for the rest of his life or worse, symptomatic. A
(34:34):
medical Mystery podcast is an original podcast from my Heart Radio.
Are shows hosted by me Lauren Bright Pacheco. Executive producers
are Matt Romano and myself. Our EP of post production
is Matt Stillo. Our producers are Crra Kaiser and John Irwin.
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