WHATÕS THE VERDICT?

GUILTY

tachycardia syndrome (PoTS),’ the doctor said.

It meant I suffered an abnormal increase in heart rate after sitting or standing up.

There was no cure.

All I could do was try to take it easy.

But by the time I was 16, I was having several seizures a week.

My muscles jerked and I lost control before blacking out.

At college, I’d run to the toilets before collapsing.

Hated the other students seeing me.

And at weekends,

I never left the house.

Doctors ran all sorts of neurological tests.

Told me I had epilepsy and tried anti-seizure medication...

But nothing worked. It made me miserable and angry.

‘I’d love to do my A levels,’ I cried to Mum.

‘It’s OK, love,’ she soothed. I dreamt of studying Psychology at university and becoming a counsellor.

But it seemed so farfetched when the seizures blighted my life.

My mum and my best friend Steviee-Liane, then 26, tried to keep my spirits up.

Don’t know what I’d have done without them.

But things kept getting worse. My joints began to dislocate more often.

I had pain in my neck and pins and needles in my face.

I was too weak to work, or even to leave the house.

Finally, in 2018, after countless tests, I was diagnosed with EhlersDanlos syndrome (EDS). It is a rare condition that affects the connective tissue.

It was a relief to have some answers.

It meant I could join online forums and ask advice from other sufferers.

Is there anything I can do about the head pain and pins and needles, I wrote on the forum.

Minutes later, a private message popped up.

It sounds like you could be suffering from

I barely leave my bed, sit supported by pillows