Project POTS · Apr 08, 2021

PROJECT POTS - Episode 2: College Life and POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome)

EPISODE 2

College Life and POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome)

Hey, NormaLyte Community its Valerie here!

As you can probably tell I am all moved into my normal year at Vanderbilt and I'm ready to start my sophomore year.

I know college is kind of a big question for a lot of people with POTS. Do you go? Are you able to go? How do you manage your symptoms and your class schedule at the same time? And for me, I at least now going into my sophomore year regardless of the bumps in the road from freshman year, regardless of the medical hiccups.

I know I have the capability to get through a year but I also know that I had all the tools in place to make that possible. So whatever that means for you - whether that looks like:

talking with dining about food accommodations
registering with housing for housing accommodations
even just making sure that your roommate is well informed about POTS
picking a school close by to some doctors that understand POTS.

There are lots of different things you can do to get yourself set up and ready for the most successful year possible as a a college student.

And even for those whom college isn't in their future or even questioning if college will ever be in their future, don't worry. You still have plenty of time in your life. I know I really stressed out about wanting to finish everything on time, you know. Always wanting to graduate with my class. Always wanting to be with my friends.

But, I realize also that going to college is a huge accomplishment and then on top of that going to college with any chronic illness is even bigger. So no matter what your goals are for school regardless of what you've got; regardless of how much you've completed - you are doing amazing!

So if anyone has any questions about having POTS in college I will be happy to answer. These vlogs are really for you guys to get kind of an understanding of what it's like to live with pots. But also see that you can live kind of an average life. So I hope everyone has a great weekend and I will see you next week.