A life mostly spent lying down. Lyndsi Johnson, 28, a 28-year-old American, is struggling to live a “normal” life. According to Huffington Post, who saw this story, the latter suffers from a rare chronic disease called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (STOP) that prevents her from standing for long. An “allergy to gravity”, as she herself explains on her various social networks, which forces her to stay in bed 23 hours a day and prevents her from standing for more than ten minutes.
This chronic disease profoundly transformed the young woman’s life. As the Huffington Post explains, this young woman from Maine joined the Navy after her education. However, due to increasingly severe symptoms, she was forced to step down three years later. Doctors then ignore the reasons for her fainting until a cardiologist identifies this symptom.
Since then, the young woman lives on beta-blockers and counts on her husband James to support her. Despite her pain, she continues her studies in the music business, a new life that she shares daily on Instagram.
“Before I was very active and now I have to lie down all day, but I learned to accept it,” she admits on the social network.
500,000 cases in the United States
Several studies have made it possible to understand this disease. According to the National Library of Medicine, the disorder causes “tachycardia on standing without lowering blood pressure,” and within the first ten minutes of standing, the heart rate can increase by 30 beats per minute.
Symptoms can be numerous: dizziness, headache, palpitations, tremors, generalized weakness, blurred vision, and fatigue that can lead to syncope. 500,000 people would suffer from it on the other side of the Atlantic. In addition to pharmacological treatment, a diet rich in salt, plenty of water or the use of compression stockings can help patients.
According to a study carried out by the University of Newcastle, the results of which were shared by the Santelog site, the patients are in particular young women, 27% of whom do not receive treatment for this syndrome. In addition, 20% of the people studied also suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and the symptoms vary according to age, gender, occupation and working hours.
Source: BFM TV
