Seeing as September 10-16th is National Invisible chronic illness awareness week, I have decided to do a blog about my condition NCS and the effects it has on my everyday life. It's not a very well known condition and a lot of people think I'm lying when I tell them about it. When I was younger I would always move about when I would stand up so I wouldn't feel dizzy and faint, so I had always known I was little strange when it came to standing still but I never told anyone because I didn't think it was a big deal or anything. It wasn't until I was 13 (standing in the check out line at the airport) that I properly fainted, I fainted once and my sister helped me back up and fainted a second time. My parents thought it was because of all the police at the airport and because it was just 2 days after 9/11 happened, they really thought I was scared. I didn't tell them that I had been feeling dizzy most of that day and that I just couldn't stop myself from fainting in the line.
Anyways time passed and I had a very hard time queuing up in lines and school and doing P.E. That was the hardest thing I did in school. I use to have to sit out a lot and couldn't run around much. But as time went by my dizziness and fainting got worse I still didn't tell anyone because I felt it was just stupid and no one would believe me. But when we first moved to Cornwall I finally told my parents about how over the years I've had these dizzy fainting spells and that is has got worse. My stepdad booked me in for an appointment with the doctor and my doctor referred me to a heart consultant who told me that he would like to try me out on the tilt table test. For all you who don't know what one is I will explain:
A tilt table test is used to evaluate the cause of unexplained fainting (syncope). During a tilt table test, you lie on a table that moves from a horizontal to a vertical position. Your heart rate and blood pressure are monitored throughout the tilt table test. Your doctor may recommend a tilt table test if you've had repeated, unexplained episodes of fainting. A tilt table test may also be appropriate to investigate the cause of fainting if you've fainted only once, but another episode would put you at high risk of injury due to your work environment, medical history, age or other factors. Doctors use a tilt table test to help diagnose the cause of fainting. During the test, your blood pressure and heart rate are monitored. You begin by lying flat on a table. Straps are put around your body to hold you in place. Then, the table is tilted to raise your body to a head-up position — simulating a change in position from lying down to standing up. This test allows doctors to evaluate your body's cardiovascular response to the change in position.
Anyways time passed and I had a very hard time queuing up in lines and school and doing P.E. That was the hardest thing I did in school. I use to have to sit out a lot and couldn't run around much. But as time went by my dizziness and fainting got worse I still didn't tell anyone because I felt it was just stupid and no one would believe me. But when we first moved to Cornwall I finally told my parents about how over the years I've had these dizzy fainting spells and that is has got worse. My stepdad booked me in for an appointment with the doctor and my doctor referred me to a heart consultant who told me that he would like to try me out on the tilt table test. For all you who don't know what one is I will explain:
A tilt table test is used to evaluate the cause of unexplained fainting (syncope). During a tilt table test, you lie on a table that moves from a horizontal to a vertical position. Your heart rate and blood pressure are monitored throughout the tilt table test. Your doctor may recommend a tilt table test if you've had repeated, unexplained episodes of fainting. A tilt table test may also be appropriate to investigate the cause of fainting if you've fainted only once, but another episode would put you at high risk of injury due to your work environment, medical history, age or other factors. Doctors use a tilt table test to help diagnose the cause of fainting. During the test, your blood pressure and heart rate are monitored. You begin by lying flat on a table. Straps are put around your body to hold you in place. Then, the table is tilted to raise your body to a head-up position — simulating a change in position from lying down to standing up. This test allows doctors to evaluate your body's cardiovascular response to the change in position.
