My Story

My name is Amy Swearer. I grew up with two older brothers who taught me to play catch before they taught me how to walk, and I’ve been addicted to athletics ever since. I was always “that kid,” you know the one – the kid who was always doing everything and part of every team. I was a three sport athlete, won academic awards, participated in student government, and did, well, everything else. What I didn’t know was that all through high school I was struggling with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. I assumed I was always tired because I did too much. I was wrong. I thought my teammates all felt as miserable as I did when I ran. They didn’t. I listened to my doctors when they said my constant head pressure and terrible migraines were stress-induced. That’s not what caused them. But for three years, I was relatively “normal” because I happened to do the right things to take care of it, just by my very nature. I was always in great physical shape because of sports, I was basically addicted to the salt shaker, and when I didn’t feel well the athlete in me made my body push through it anyway.

Then came the perfect storm. Three years ago, during my senior year of high school, I went through a really bad illness which left me down for the count for a good week, which was followed by the removal of my wisdom teeth. Because of this I went a few weeks without any real physical activity. When I next went to do a sprint sessions with some friends, I lasted about 2 sprints before my chest ached with a peculiar heaviness, my left side started tingling, and I was hit by a wave of lightheadedness. The next thing I knew I was waking up on the ground with my friends standing over me thinking I was having a stroke. These “episodes” kept happening whenever I exercised and I could hardly even walk sometimes without getting dizzy. I was unbearably fatigued most days and all I wanted to do was sleep, even though sleeping never made me less tired. I spent three months getting passed around from specialist to specialist, with the cardiologist saying it was probably neurological, the neurologist saying I should see the endocrinologist, etc.

Finally, I reported to soccer training camp at the University of Nebraska (obviously in no shape to train) and somehow, through googling, calling everyone he knew, and digging through medical records, our athletic department doctor figured out it was POTS. I was eventually short-listed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, where Dr. Phil Fischer, one of the leading specialists in POTS, “officially” diagnosed me and helped me set up a treatment plan. I guess technically I’m under the “supervision” of Nebraska Athletic Medicine at the moment, and they’ve been fantastic with working with me. Over the last three years, my symptoms have decreased dramatically through proper nutrition, medication, and straight up hard work (and a good helping of God’s grace). I still deal with the occasional bout of dizziness, tachycardia, or a migraine, and fatigue can still get to me at times, but overall I’m not even the same person I was a year ago, much less when I was first diagnosed. And more importantly, it’s getting better all the time. I live the fully independent  life of a collegiate athlete. I've traveled all over the country and to other parts of the world. I'm on the Big 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll. Whatever you've heard about POTS holding you back and ruining your life, I'm living proof that it's not true.