My name is Kirsten, I’m 36 years old, and I’m a wife, and mother to two amazing daughters. Our family loves to hunt, hike, fish, or just about anything outdoors!
In August 2016, I started having high fevers and shaking chills about once a week. I had been to the ER, and my family doctor had run test after test, with everything coming back normal. I had been having lots of palpitations also, but that had been pretty normal for me.
Just before opening day of archery season, I asked my doctor if it was okay for me to go 6+ miles into the backcountry. She told me yes, since everything was coming back normal that I should be fine, and if anything else came up, my husband and I were smart enough to get me out of there. So we went!
On opening morning I missed a shot at a huge bull elk! And then was hit with a fever and chills again. So I went and laid down for a bit. The fever broke, and we left for the evening hunt. My husband had told me all along that if I ever felt it was time to go, to just say something. Sitting on the edge of the meadow, I realized something didn’t feel right, so I told him I was ready to go. I stood up to grab my pack and was hit with the worst headache behind my left eye. It only lasted for a few minutes, and then we hiked to camp, grabbed some things, and started heading out of camp. It took us 4 hours to get home. I was horribly dizzy and nauseous, and soon realized that I couldn’t say the correct things, and couldn’t see well. I spent the next 12 days in the hospital due to a subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by endocarditis, that I had gotten from a tooth that I had pulled 9 months prior.
Afterwards, I started having these “episodes”, where my heart would race or palpitate, I would get dizzy, have horrible muscle aches and joint pain. They’d last for a couple weeks, and then I’d feel better for a week or two. I was diagnosed with anxiety, silent migraines, possible panic disorder and PTSD.
The beginning of 2019, I got a stomach bug, and these “episodes” were now my whole life. They never went away. Soon I realized my heart rate was doubling just when I stood up, and tripling when I did basic things like moving laundry or picking up my room. I went from hiking 15 miles a day, up and down mountains, to barely being able to stand long enough to make dinner.
I finally did the research and googled everything, and realized that the answer was POTS. I went to my family doctor and told her, she did a poor mans tilt table test, and agreed that I might be on to something. I then went on to see cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology, and had a tilt table test done, and was diagnosed with POTS!
I’m now learning to live with POTS, doing cardiac rehab to get my life back, and on some meds that help. I’ve been able to backpack shorter distances, and look forward to hunting season again this year, even if I can’t do quite as much as I used to. I’ll keep fighting. I may not live the life I used to, but I will live my best life!
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