Dysautonomia Awareness Month 2016 Guest Posts. Alexandria: When Weight Can Become an Impediment to Diagnosis.

Today's guest post for Dysautonomia Awareness Month 2016, is fellow Australian, Alexandria. Read about her experiences trying find a diagnosis as an overweight patient and living in a rural area and send her some love. Alexandria is definitely not alone in this issue and I hear of many patients who find themselves in the same situation. It really is an issue that needs to be spoken about and addressed. Thank you Alexandria for sharing your story.

My name is Alexandria. I am 25 and from regional Victoria, Australia. I was diagnosed with Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia in April 2016 after suffering debilitating symptoms for the year previous. I cannot work currently, so I spend my time running a baby name website, which is a huge interest of mine, and keeps me occupied. I love spending time with my family and partner, as well as being kept company by my old dog and kitten. My hopes for the future are to find ways to spread awareness and hope for invisible illnesses.

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Finding a diagnosis for an invisible illness can be a tough journey. We each face the struggle of finding people to believe what we’re feeling, investigate those symptoms, and refer us on to specialists. This is especially hard when you’re not considered a standard patient for the type of disorder.

Within the dysautonomia community, it’s very common for people to be of an average or slightly-below average weight. But for me, I started this journey overweight. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of bias towards obese people within the medical field, and I often found that my problems would be pinned on my weight without any questions or investigation. Discussions of seeing a blood pressure specialist due to suspicions of a low blood pressure disorder were completely off the table, with one doctor even diagnosing me as having high blood pressure without putting a cuff to my arm.

Of course, being in a rural town did not help this journey either. In a city, you have choices. If your doctor isn’t any good, there’s hundreds more around you – there are even GPs that specialise in certain areas. However, in a small country town, you are very limited; once you’ve crossed one doctor off your list, you’ve eliminated 33% of your medical options.

When I did finally get a referral to a specialist, I was very nervous that I was going to hear that it’s my weight again; that my efforts to lose it aren’t enough, and there’s nothing wrong with me apart from the fat on my body. I was so relieved when this specialist finally looked at me, and saw me as a whole person. They listened, took into account my symptoms, and ran all the tests that were required. That week, I finally got my answer: I had Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia, a form of dysautonomia.

Although the trips to the city from my country town are long and draining, and the cost of travel and food is high, I did not regret seeing someone who would give me a chance, and see that not everyone fits the standard model of a dysautonomia patient.

I feel that it’s so important that doctors keep in mind that weight should not be the sole focus. Excess fat can certainly create a multitude of health issues, but there are also a multitude of health issues that exist that aren’t related to weight. By focusing on weight alone, my past doctors took away years of time that I could have been in treatment. Having a doctor that could see that made all the difference in my life, my treatment and even the way I saw myself. It made me feel like my symptoms were valid, and that I had a place within the dysautonomia community. I encourage all doctors to view patients as a whole, and take the time to investigate symptoms, so we can find our answers and learn to live our lives. 

Alexandria.

Dysautonomia Awareness Month 2016 Guest Posts. Sarah: Living with Dysautonomia in Rural Australia.

Today's guest post for Dysautonomia Awareness Month 2016, is fellow Australian Blogger, Sarah. Read about her experiences as a rural patient and send her some love. You can find more from Sarah over at her blog Reflections of a Bear.

Hi, I’m Sarah! Part girl, part bear. I’m 27, with a pacemaker, but still have to show ID to buy spray paint. I’ve been married to Mr Happy for nearly seven years *mushy sigh and starry eyes* I love crafty, creative, DIY stuff like cooking, sewing, painting, writing, sketching, woodworking and gardening. I love words (I even have a list of ones that I’m fond of). I play piano. I’m a Christian. I’m half Lebanese, half Australian (born in Australia). Oh…and I have dysautonomia (specifically NCS/NMH/VVS) among other illnesses.

I grew up (and still live) in a small country town in Australia. Beef farming is the main industry here: every year a whole week is set aside to celebrate it (with costumes, parades, markets, and lots of cows…and cow poo)! It’s a beautiful place: the scenery is gorgeous, the air is fresh and clean, op shops abound, and the CBD is just four blocks.

It’s the perfect place to live…unless you have dysautonomia, because a hub of medical facilities, this town is not.

I got sick with dysautonomia when I was 14. None of my local doctors had a clue what was going on with my body. So I spent my teens making more and more 6hr round trips to the city for tests and specialist visits.

What was that like? Well, imagine you’ve got the flu. You ache everywhere. You’re shivering. The light hurts your eyes. You’re nauseous. When you move, everything spins. Your heart thumps lamely. Your legs feel like concrete. A trip down the hallway to the toilet exhausts you.

Feel like going on a 6hr car trip? No? Tough. When you’re chronically ill, and live in a small town, you don’t have a choice.

Even with all those trips for testing and appointments, it still took six years before I was correctly diagnosed (and another year on top of that before we found someone who could start treating me). There’s a particular kind of despair reserved for when you’ve dragged your sick self 6hrs away for answers…but got none.

Living in a country town not only makes it harder to get diagnosed, it also restricts your access to treatments and therapies, sometimes even basic ones. Three weeks after pacemaker surgery, I ended up in my local ER with a tearing chest pain so strong that I could barely breathe. But there was only one doctor on duty, and he was busy performing emergency surgery on someone else. It took six hours for him to see me.

*squints and peers through screen*

I can see you shaking your head at me, saying, “Well, duh! Move to the city!”



I shake my head back at you, because it’s not that simple. When Mr Happy and I got married, we did discuss moving away. But here, in this small country town, we have wonderful family and Church family. The benefits gained by moving closer to specialists are easily outweighed by the loss of that support network. Plus, even if we wanted to live in the city (which we don’t!), there’s no way Mr Happy and I could afford to live there and pay for all the medications / testing / treatments we need.

Living with dysautonomia is hard, no matter where you live. But, in my experience, living in the country seems to add another layer of difficulty. I don’t have any solutions though. We’re happy here, surrounded by green paddocks. We’re part of a Church that really looks after each other. Our family is close by. Mr Happy loves his job. Those things matter too.

Sarah

Dysautonomia Australia: Get Excited People.

Exciting news here in Australia for all Dysautonomia patients.  There will soon be a website dedicated to raising awareness and providing local information on Dysautonomia.  Content will include information on everything from the latest research, to finding local doctors, and navigating our disability system.  The website will also provide content for our cousins across the pond in New Zealand.

I am proud to be part of a group of amazing women who are working together to build this website.

The website is currently under construction, but we are hoping to have a basic site up and running within the next month.  With the site continuing to develop over the next few months.

Stay tuned for more updates here on the blog, FB and Twitter.

In the meantime you can access our FB support group, POTS & Dysautonomia Australia (and surrounds) here.  Or read about our last get together here.

Time to raise the roof, or at least some awareness, locally.

Cheers
Michelle :)