Day 31 of #DysautonomiaAwarenessMonth - Why awareness matters
It’s the end of October, and that means it's the end of Dysautonomia Awareness Month.
Every October, I see more and more people posting. So it's inspiring to see how much more awareness grows each year.
Why is it important to me to share awareness? It's simple.
The longer you have to wait for a diagnosis, the more you are unsure of what steps to take, or what’s really wrong.
Depending on who you see, the longer you might be medically gaslit.
That can result in, not only, trauma but also distrust in your body.
Not knowing how much or how little to push.
Once I had a diagnosis, there was a lot more clarity.
I knew that I didn't have a cardiac condition as I had been told before. So I knew I could push a bit more in that way.
But I also knew about PEM. So I was aware of the risks of pushing too much too soon.
That gave me knowledge, and knowledge helped me craft a path forward.
The second reason that I find it important to raise awareness is so that more of the lifestyle changes that have improved people's conditions get more funding to be studied.
Right now, it seems people are getting better in a vacuum. There are all kinds of things touted as potentially working, and everyone kind of goes in their own direction.
If the day-to-day lifestyle changes that many with POTS have made to improve were studied, it would show people even more that there is a way forward.
That you will not always be at the level that you are now.
That there is hope.
How about you? Why is it important to you to raise awareness?
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