Chronic Illness and Mental Illness | By Sara Nutaitis
As someone who suffers from a chronic illness AND a mental illness, my daily struggle is extra complicated.
I have a chronic illness called POTS, I also have GAD and minor social anxiety.
Together, they make my life difficult to say the least. My body is constantly in “flight or fight” mode, and effects my nervous system while also effecting my anxiety. While there is no medicine for POTS, my anti-anxiety medicines calm everything down, including my overactive nervous system.
Having any mental illness is hard, having any illness that effects your body on top of that, can be very discouraging. I find that keeping one at bay helps keep the other under control. Because if I am not worrying about my POTS acting up, my anxiety is little more under control; which is hard to come by some days. I know my body and my mind, and am generally able to tell if I am going to have a bad day or good day when it comes to my illnesses.