UnTouchableConditions
A diagnosis can feel like it has only ever happened to you. It has not. Here is what each condition is, in plain English, and the people who have talked about living with it.
Circulatory system
The heart and blood vessels, which move blood around the body.
Brain aneurysm
A brain aneurysm is a swelling in a blood vessel in the brain. Most are small, cause nothing at all and are never noticed; some are found by chance during a scan for something else. A larger one can cause headaches, pain above or around an eye, changes to vision, numbness or weakness in the face, dizziness or problems with memory. The danger is that an aneurysm bursts. When one does it bleeds into the space around the brain — a subarachnoid haemorrhage, which is a type of stroke. The sign is a sudden, extremely painful headache that does not go away, sometimes with drooping on one side of the face, weakness or numbness down one side, slurred or confused speech, or loss of sight. The NHS says to call 999 for any of those. Smoking, high blood pressure, a family history and some inherited conditions all raise the risk of having one. An aneurysm that has not burst and is small may simply be watched with regular scans. Where treatment is needed there are two routes: endovascular surgery, where coils or a fine wire mesh are passed up through a blood vessel to block the flow into the aneurysm, or open surgery to place a small metal clip across it.
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Postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS)
Postural tachycardia syndrome, usually shortened to PoTS, is when your heart rate rises sharply after you stand up from sitting or lying down, and stays up. It often makes people dizzy or lightheaded. It can also cause palpitations, chest pain, breathlessness, sweating, fainting, headaches, stomach and bowel problems, changes in vision, and trouble concentrating that many people call brain fog. It is more common in people who have long COVID, chronic fatigue syndrome, or hypermobile joints. Heat, standing for a long time, dehydration, alcohol, large meals high in carbohydrate and periods can all make symptoms worse. A GP can begin by measuring your heart rate and blood pressure lying down and then standing up. Blood tests, an ECG and a referral for further heart and blood pressure monitoring may follow. There is no cure, but PoTS can be managed. The NHS describes drinking more fluid, eating smaller meals with less carbohydrate, and compression clothing, with medicines such as fludrocortisone or beta blockers for some people.
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Pre-eclampsia
Pre-eclampsia is a condition of pregnancy that causes high blood pressure. It usually starts from about 20 weeks, though it can begin earlier, or in the days and weeks after the birth. The first signs are usually high blood pressure and protein in your urine — things found at a routine antenatal appointment rather than things you notice yourself, which is much of why those appointments matter. Get medical advice straight away if you have a severe headache that painkillers do not touch, problems with your vision such as blurring or flashing lights, pain just below the ribs, sudden swelling of the face, hands or feet, persistent heartburn, vomiting, or you simply feel very unwell. Risk is higher in a first pregnancy, over 40, with diabetes, existing high blood pressure, kidney disease or an autoimmune condition, if you are Black or South Asian, if you are carrying more than one baby, if it runs in your family, if you have had pre-eclampsia before, or if there is a gap of ten years or more since your last pregnancy. There is no cure. Medicines can lower blood pressure and prevent seizures, and the condition usually settles after the birth, so delivering early is often recommended. Left untreated it can be serious for both mother and baby.
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Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT)
In supraventricular tachycardia the heart suddenly beats much faster than normal — over 100 beats a minute — because of a fault in its electrical system. The main symptom is that racing heartbeat; some people also feel chest discomfort, weakness, breathlessness, dizziness or tiredness. An episode usually lasts a few minutes, though it can go on for hours, and people differ enormously in how often they happen: several times a day for one person, once a year for another. Caffeine, alcohol or drugs can set one off, but often there is no trigger at all. Call 999 if an episode lasts longer than usual, or comes with breathlessness, chest pain or fainting. See a GP if your heart keeps racing like this. It is usually diagnosed with an ECG. Treatments include medicines, cardioversion — a controlled electric shock — and catheter ablation, where thin tubes are passed through a vein or artery to the part of the heart causing the problem and heat or freezing is used to correct it. Ablation permanently cures the problem for most people.
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