#tdap

Vaccinate and wear masks, people.

Everyone check your Tdap vaccine (tetanus shot) status. Pertussis (whooping cough) is making a comeback and the symptoms last for weeks to months.

Pertussis can start as a mild intermittent cough and then it blossoms into the “whooping” and throwing up. (Which has been my last 5 days)

GET VACCINATED AND

WEAR

A

I missed the last 2 booster doses (13 and 15)

The vaccine is good for 10 years for people above the age of 18.

Idk I'm really fucking panicking.

I can ask my dad to get me the booster shot this sunday.

What are the signs of a tetanus infection?

1. Toetanus

2. Pertoessis

3. Toelio

Hmu if you know what else it might be

Finally fucking got enough courage actually post it.

...but was 100% worth it.

That’s me. And that’s my nephew.

He’s new. I’ll get to him in a second.

For the past 4 weeks, my POTS has been the worst it’s been in about 7 years. Which is amazingly troubling because I’m in the best shape I’ve been in since I was first diagnosed. I finally found the right balance between diet, exercise, and POTS and was convinced I could ride this out for the foreseeable future.

The future had other plans.

I crashed. Bad.

I couldn’t stand in the shower. I couldn’t walk over to set for work. I couldn’t cross the street to go to the gym without feeling like I’d pass out mid-crosswalk.

As with every significant POTS episode, I become Detective Joe - hot on the case of the syncope symptoms.

I mentally walked through everything I’ve been doing and haven’t been doing to see what could possibly lead to this downturn.

And I came up with nothing. Nada. Zip. Which is terrifying. Because then you spiral.

Am I just deteriorating? Is this it? Was I only meant to last a decade with this? Is it something more? Heart failure, blood clots, worse?

I wasn’t ER-bad, but I wasn’t great. I faked my way through work, and then came home and crashed. I increased my sodium ten-fold, but the benefits were minimal. This was bad, and the mental toll this turn took on me was challenging.

I’m stubborn. So I pushed through. I surrounded myself with data on my heartrate and blood pressure, trying to find when and where this went wrong. The data soothed me momentarily, but I couldn’t see the whole picture.

Until I randomly Googled “POTS and vaccines” on a whim late one night. A literal whim.

Bingo.

I read testimonials from fellow POTSIES on how vaccines have knocked some down and caused flare-ups, a possibility I hadn’t entertained before. They shared how flu vaccines or other shots sent them into a “POTS hole,” a term I hadn’t heard before but now love. Their stories helped me piece together the missing parts of my last month.

A month that started with a Tdap shot.

My nephew was born 7 weeks ago. 7 weeks ago, I booked a trip home to meet the little man. 4 weeks ago, I got the requisite “you’re about to meet a newborn” Tdap shot (in the glute, but that’s another story). And 4 weeks ago, I started this slow descent into my current POTS hole.

Knowing was half the battle. It gave me peace of mind and allowed me to give 100% to my recovery. And I rebounded enough to fly home and meet the new guy, right on schedule.

Am I back to fighting strength? No. But I’m getting there. I’m going to slowly reintroduce my POTS to the gym tonight, so tomorrow I may be posting that I’m dead or thriving, but more realistically I’ll just be OK. I’ll just be taking this one step at a time, again.

It’s National Immunization Awareness Month! 

Preteens and teens need four vaccines to prevent serious diseases.

HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccine to protect against cancers caused by HPV  

Meningococcal conjugate vaccine to protect against meningitis and blood infections (septicemia)

Tdap vaccine to protect against tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough (pertussis)