Over the next few weeks, I am going to have several blog posts that highlight specific topics for the Navigating POTS appointments 📆 Since last week's Symptom of the Week was Decreased Appetite, and this week's Symptom of the Week is Nausea, I decided to focus on Digestive Symptoms in this post 🤢 First, I am going to explain how POTS affects digestion and then explain some of the specific challenges that come with these symptoms. Then I will give examples of how Navigating POTS appointments can help with these symptoms, I have included questions that have been really helpful for me, so I hope this is helpful 🩵
How does POTS affect digestion? POTS affects digestion because the sympathetic nervous system, or fight or flight response, is often activated whenever a person is standing up🧍🏽♀️ When your body is not in the Fight or Flight (sympathetic) response, it is in Rest & Digest or the Parasympathetic response. 🛌 So, when a person is in the fight or flight response, blood is moved away from your digestive tract and this can make digestion harder ⬇️🩸😬 POTS patients can then experience symptoms like nausea, decreased appetite, constipation, vomiting, fullness, bloating, abdominal pain and a lot more! 🤢🤮💩
How do my digestive symptoms affect me? I have personally found my digestive symptoms to be some of the most difficult to deal with 😬 Food is essential to health and takes up a lot of time every day 🕖 I have to plan what I eat, shop for ingredients, make the food, eat, clean up and then start all over again for the next meal! 😅 Then adding the mental and emotional burden of trying to figure out what I can eat or trying to think of something that I can tolerate when I feel nauseous and have no appetite is really hard 🤢 And since I often experience pain and other difficult symptoms after I eat, it can be difficult to want to eat 😕 But if I don't eat, I feel way worse! I get dizzy, my vision gets fuzzy, I get really tired and weak and my nausea gets way worse 🥴 It's a difficult and exhausting cycle 😓
What are the social implications of digestive symptoms? Our society is totally focused on food 🍽️ We go out to eat to celebrate accomplishments, we invite people over for dinner, a lot of our holidays include specific foods, and almost all of our interactions with other people includes food 👥 And there are a lot of cultural implications around food as well! It can be viewed as insensitive or offensive to refuse to eat food that has been prepared for you, to not finish your plate or to not request seconds or thirds 😬 When I was younger, I used to try any food that was offered to me, because even if it tasted bad, I was totally fine after I swallowed it! But now, even the "safest" foods cause a lot of symptoms! And often, those symptoms last for days! 😕 Even though it is important to prioritize your health and do what is best for you, it can still be really uncomfortable to go to a social event and not eat what everyone is eating, or only eat a few bites 😬Also, our society is completely obsessed with body image, diet culture and an unhealthy relationship with food 🙄 This can cause a lot of problems and lead to a lot of insensitive comments and can make me feel really alone in my struggles 😔
So how can these Navigating POTS Appointments help with the physical, emotional and social affects of digestive symptoms in POTS patients?
-What are some specific ways I can manage a digestive symptom? (Nausea, Constipation, fullness, no appetite, etc.)
*Just a reminder that your first appointment is 1/2 off, so $25 for a consultation and $50 for a coaching appointment! If you have any specific concerns about scheduling or prices please email navigatingpots@gmail.com
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