Feb 29, 2012

ABC World News story on POTS

Here's a link to the story by Diane Sawyer and ABC World News:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/02/29/what-astronauts-have-taught-doctors-about-fainting/

I am hearing from many POTS patients who are angry at Dr. Jaeger for making it seem like POTS is just about small hearts and deconditioning, and the fact that he used the word "cure."  I encourage all of you to post your thoughts on the ABC news page underneath the story.

While the story wasn't perfect, overall, I think this was a good thing.  The fact that POTS was mentioned on ABC World News at all is a big deal.  Millions of people just heard about POTS for the first time in their lives.  The reporter did clarify at the end of the story that this was not a cure for all patients.  Perhaps Dr. Jaeger discussed this in his interview and they didn't use all of the footage?

He is one of the doctors I saw at Cleveland Clinic, and he did not diagnose me with a small heart.  In fact, I have had a cardiac MRI, and it showed that I have an enlarged heart.

It will be interesting to see if this leads to any additional media coverage.


2 comments:

  1. Guy doesnt know what he's talking about. Im actually in awesome shape, and I bet my heart is bigger than his, and I can out perform him on any athletic test. I have a resting heart rate of 52BPM due to my exceptional conditioning. I use rowing machines so that I can exercise laying down and my race times are highly competitive.

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  2. Thanks for posting this. I am glad I did not know it was going to air and tell family and friends to watch. I struggle with any press is good press and no news is good news and I think I side with no news would have been better, because worse for POTSies is just plain ole unacceptable. This was more of disservice to POTS than a sevice in my opinion. This was more than 2 steps backwards. From 2006 until 2012 with no press POTS as come to the 21st ,again my opinion. I hope that one day POTSies will come together like Sjopgren's or Lupus and do more good than harm and with press like this that takes the wind right out of the sails. I am still in awe of this maybe tomorrw I will think different but for all I've been through and all I still need to endure I say no news would have been better. Hope all is getting better for you!

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