Hi, my name is Kat, and I’ve been going through a really hard and scary time.

The short story is: I can’t take care of myself, and I’m running out of short term disability and soon I won’t have income or insurance. I’m working with a leave company for long term disability, but it’s not a fast process and there’s a lot of red tape we’re fighting. I haven’t even been able to speak to my lawyers yet.

Part of this problem is my illness is preventing me from doing anything physical at all. I usually have five days a month where I can walk more than 500 steps a day. Because of this, I can barely even make it to my doctors appointments, let alone do anything else.

My medical problems are still somewhat a mystery. Back in September I started noticing that a few things were wrong. Maybe a migraine every now and then, a dizzy spell, or a couple of blotches on my skin that weren’t even bothering me. I thought it must have been low iron or maybe my cycle being out of wack. It was more of a minor inconvenience than anything.

But as time progressed, it got much worse. I began having “episodes,” where I would collapse, get a migraine, and be unable to do anything except lay in bed. It got to the point I was completely unable to take care of myself. Sometimes I even needed help just making it the six steps from the bed to the bathroom. I’ve had to buy a wheelchair off of Facebook Marketplace to make it out of the house sometimes.

I’ve been going to my primary care physician, 3 different cardiologists, a neurologist, and the ER. I’ve had an ultrasound of my heart, an MRI, multiple CT scans, a heart monitor, tons of blood tests, and more. Our working theory is severe POTS, and we’re testing for EDS and MCAS, among other things.

Unfortunately, since we still don’t know for certain what’s wrong, I don’t have any diagnoses that qualify me for long term disability. Even with the medical records to prove that I’m very sick. I HAVE to have a diagnosis, which I can’t afford to get.

This fundraiser is to help me make it until I can finally get my disability payments and medicaid. Part of this money is support for everyday life, but the majority is going towards my diagnosis and treatments.

I’ve resorted to calling doctors across the east coast, trying to find anyone that will take me. Most cardiologists and neurologists won’t work with people who have suspected POTS. Here in NC, there’s only two specialists in the state that work with POTS patients. And one of them is retiring and no longer accepting new patients.

I’ve found one doctor that doesn’t take insurance, so my appointment would cost $800. I owe the hospital over $5,000, and I get calls from debt collectors about it everyday.

I’m in the process of getting into the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, so I have to find a way to pay to get there and stay for a while to get tests done. On top of that I’m still working with other doctors and specialists to get to the bottom of this debilitating illness.

It’s been so hard. The stress of affording bills, rent, food, doctors, tests, and travel expenses makes me feel completely hopeless. And on top of all of that, I’m always sick. I get migraines everyday now, I can’t eat very much and sometimes I just throw it up anyways. I’m hopelessly fatigued, and my brain fog is severe. I still have fainting episodes, and I’ve started getting painful bruises on my body that just show up on their own, even if I haven’t done anything. It’s truly an impossible situation that I’m in. As much as I hate asking for help, I’ve accepted that I just can’t do this without aid.

I am so grateful to everyone that has helped and supported me already. Your support has literally saved my life, and I don’t know how to even begin to thank everyone that is willing to help me.

Thank you for reading all of that! And if you have any suggestions for doctors, dysautonomia clinics, financial aid, or even a guess as to what my illness might be, please let me know. I’ll list all of my symptoms below for anyone that might have medical advice:

Dizziness, migraines, fainting, fatigue, brain fog, easy and unexplained bruising, blurry vision, static vision, nausea and vomiting, coat hanger pain, weakness in limbs, GI issues like constipation, bloating, and diarrhea, weak and unstable feeling joints, uncontrollable shaking, heart rate spiking when moving, light headedness, light sensitivity, extreme heat intolerance, shortness of breath, and trouble with sleep.