When 17-year-old Audrey Higgins first started feeling “off” in January of 2025, the room randomly spinning, unexplainable aches and raised heart rate. She brushed it off as random dizziness or stress. But by the spring, those mild symptoms had turned into something she couldn’t ignore anymore.

“I was hit with a ‘wow! something is wrong with me,’ around April and May,” she said.

She realized the way she was feeling wasn’t normal. What came next was months of confusion, fear, and a journey of doctor visits that was anything but simple.

Audrey’s first serious episode happened in the middle of a play she was performing in. One moment she was onstage under the lights, hearing the crowd laughing at a line she said, the next, everything went black. Whoosh. When she woke up she was on the floor of the stage with friends helping her get up.

“That was when my Mom talked to my Dad and was like, something’s wrong. We need to go to the doctor,” Audrey remembered.

Sounding rushed, her pediatrician brushed it off as no big deal.

“They told me I probably just had low iron,” she said. “They didn’t even take a blood test.”

The dismissal hurt, but it was only the beginning. Eventually a friend of a friend mentioned POTS, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, something Audrey had only vaguely heard about. A cardiologist confirmed it with little guidance.

“All he told us was, yeah, you probably have POTS,” she recalled with a dry laugh while shaking her head. “Then he gave us a pamphlet and sent us on our way. We just spent hundreds of dollars for a pamphlet. Perfect. Thank you,” she said sarcastically.

It wasn’t until she visited a wellness doctor, who specializes in functional medicine, that Audrey finally received an official diagnosis. For Audrey, finally having a name for what she was experiencing was both painful and comforting.

“Well, I’m not crazy,” she said. “Something is genuinely wrong, and other people struggle with this.”

But the relief came with heartbreak and the harder truth.

“As much as it was comforting, it was also like, okay, that sucks. I’m not ever going to be fully healed from this.”

POTS affects the autonomic nervous system and often causes dizziness, passing out, spiking heart rate, and trouble regulating temperatures. For a high school student, balancing rehearsals, homework, and friends, this changed everything.

Audrey’s experience reflects her personal journey with POTS and should not be considered medical advice.

“In the beginning, I had such anxiety about leaving the house,” Audrey said. “I knew I was going to get dizzy. Even picking clothes stressed me out, because I’d get too hot or too cold.”

Social situations became overwhelming with people lacking empathy. While performances became frightening, the thought of passing out of stage or being unable to perform terrified her.

“I couldn’t even perform without having an episode,” she said. “I’m still not able to do it to the capacity I once was.”

Although, the hardest part is something most people never see.

“There’s this constant state of discomfort in your body,” Audrey explained. “Especially in your legs and lower body, because your blood doesn’t circulate right…It’s just like this literal constant discomfort.”

The symptoms are exhausted but because Audrey is under 18, she isn’t eligible for the standard medications for POTS yet. Instead she’s managing it through supplements and lifestyle changes.

“If I know tomorrow is going to be a long day, I have to drink a lot of electrolytes, salt, and water today so I’m okay tomorrow,” she said.

It’s not a cure, but she’s learning and adapting how to handle it day by day.

One of Audrey’s biggest frustrations is the way people talk about chronic illnesses.

“I’m not limited from doing what I love. It’s just have to do it differently or in a different way,” Audrey explained. “I need support sometimes, but I don’t need to be babied through it.”

She doesn’t want pity, or for people to baby her. She just wants people to stop judging what they can’t see or feel.

“When I say I’m tired and someone goes, well you just moved a box,” she said. “Okay, but my body doesn’t work correctly. Just have grace.”

For anyone facing something similar, Audrey’s message is inspiring.

“You’re not alone,” she said. “There is somebody out there who understands, or who will be there for you. And even if people don’t have your condition, they love you.”

Then she smiles, offering one last reminder, one she often has to tell herself.

“Give yourself some grace. You have to learn to work with your body, and it will work with you.”