Meet the ISU student with an almost dehabilitating disorder you’d never realize she has

How one ISU student is making a difference in not only her life, but the lives of others by spreading awareness of POTS

According to the dysautonomia site there is an estimated one to three million Americans that have some type of POTS. So what is it?

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome is the full name for POTS – a syndrome that can be classified as a cluster of different symptoms, some more common than others. It mainly affects the nervous system, and since it’s internal and not very recognizable from other things, can be hard to detect as well that can cause issues with something as simple as standing up. Two students at Iowa State have POTS, one being the president of the ADA (American Disability Association) on campus. The second student, Ingrid Lickiss, sat down with me and told me about how POTS has affected her life early on and as a college student.

Ingrid looks like most other students that attend ISU. You’d never guess that she has any sort of condition because it doesn’t affect how she looks on the outside. Her story begins in her early elementary years.

Early on

The symptoms started when Ingrid was in fourth grade, she began to have IBS episodes.

“One time when one of my friends was over I had an IBS episode and I passed out, my parents were terrified,” Ingrid said.

They called 911 and she was rushed to the ER, only to get the diagnosis that nothing was wrong with her. It wasn’t a wasted visit however because she first heard about POTS and the possibility that she could have it.

“They couldn’t find anything wrong with me so they basically told my parents I must have been faking it,” Ingrid said.

She responded by shutting herself away from society, afraid that something would happen if she left her home. She didn’t talk about it with her parents because there was nothing that could be done.

A few years later, in her junior year of high school, she began to lose consciousness several times a day. She knew something was wrong and she decided to get herself tested. That’s when she was diagnosed with POTS, which was a big relief.

Ingrid was very active in high school, participating in both swimming and singing. Her senior year she reached Nationals for singing, a huge accomplishment for her.

“I was hoping that I would be able to turn that page in my life,” she said. “Even then I ended up contracting scarlet fever, which told me maybe I wasn’t able to handle this type of competition.”

That door to her future closed for the most part, but she’s hoping she can open it a little more now.

College years

Currently Ingrid is a sophomore majoring in Biological/Pre-Medical Illustration. She has always been interested in art and loves to sketch in her free time. She also has a love for music, which has led her to writing songs based off of POTS and other disorders. Ingrid is hoping to take her two passions and combine them to create a graphic novel focusing on dysautonomia.

“There’s a lot of things I’ve read that make these autonomic disorders seem sad,” she said. “I’m hoping to portray more of a story dealing with perseverance and that there is hope for anyone out there dealing with these issues.”

To help herself get through the struggles that come with POTS, Ingrid tends to look at things from a more humorous viewpoint. Humor helps get through the pain and take the mind off of all the negative impacts that POTS has.

A hopeful future

Though there is no cure to combat POTS today there are steps to finding a solution. The Mayo Clinic has its own center devoted to POTS, where Ingrid herself was tested. They also offer group therapy and rehabilitation sessions for anyone that is dealing with POTS.

“Finding a well-educated doctor is very important to finding out if you have POTS or not,” she said.

Ingrid has done some research on the topic herself, not just for her benefit but so she can spread awareness and help others.

“There are many things that can lead to POTS, such as having a bad artery in the head, and breathing too much could cause you to pass out,” she said. “Another instance is being affected by extreme amounts of anxiety, which can essentially cause the body to reset itself.”

She takes her own small measures to help her body out all that she can. Taking the right medicine and getting the proper sleep for her immune system can go a long way.

Her ultimate goal is to travel and be part of the Peace Corps.

Though Ingrid doesn’t think of her disorder as being a blessing in her life, she knows that it’s made her who she is today.

“I think of myself as pretty unbreakable,” she said. “When you have the good days you don’t take them for granted.”

There has been more hope recently in her life. She shared that over this past summer she could go outside and not have to wear compression tights to control circulation, and she didn’t feel dizzy either. It’s times like those that keep her motivated and moving forward.

“I’m happy that I know what it feels like to feel good, but I also know what it’s like to feel pretty bad,” Ingrid said.

“Every day is a good day.”

Check out the full intereview below.

More
Iowa State University