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English schoolgirl suffers from rare fainting condition

A teenage girl from England is dealing with a rare condition that causes her to faint when standing for more than 30 minutes, the Daily Mail reported on Wednesday.

Paige Bartram, 17, has “Postural Tachycardia Syndrome” (PoTS). It is an abnormal response from the nervous system when standing up, and common symptoms include headache, stomachache, shortness of breath and chest pain.

The condition can cause the teenage girl to collapse to the floor when she stands for more than 30 minutes. However, since she is young, she said in public many assume she is drunk.

“I was once left on the street for about half an hour in the winter,” she was quoted as saying.

She said she most hates when people walk past her, assuming that she is a drunk teenage girl. “Even the paramedics said that people might think that I am drunk and lying on the floor because I am young,” she was further quoted as saying.

She has been suffering from the illness since she was 12. However, when she visited doctors, they could not find the cause of her condition. She was even advised to see a psychologist, because the doctor thought she might be pretending to faint to get attention from others. 

Instead, she decided to research her conditions on her own, and finally visited a professional clinic that specializes in PoTS. She was officially diagnosed with the syndrome last November.

Thanks to support from her boyfriend and family members, Paige is trying to remain positive.

“Instead of trying to dodge the illness, now I am accepting it and trying to overcome it,” she said. “Also, more attention and support is needed toward PoTS from the public and medical professions,” she added.

By Kim Min-jin, Intern Reporter (minjin103@heraldcorp.com)