The doctors told Minhas that they had begun to see other patients after COVID-19 who had developed similar symptoms. But for a subset of people with what's known as 'long COVID' - mostly women such as Minhas - a POTS diagnosis offers a road map to treatment options and relief from their often-debilitating symptoms.
'It was disconcerting,' Minhas says, and 'lingering way too long without a proper answer.' But she persevered, determined to 'dig in and look for answers.'Īnd months later, in late 2020, a breakthrough: A group of cardiologists at the University of California, San Diego helped lead her to a diagnosis of a mercurial and little-known condition: postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, a blood circulation disorder.Ī growing number of people are facing mountains of frustration over health problems that linger after COVID-19 with no clear path to improvement. At first, her primary care doctor thought it was anxiety. Yet doctors could not explain what was wrong. I used to play tennis and go to the gym,' she says. Her symptoms became so severe that she stopped working. Coronavirus Updates People With Severe COVID-19 Have Higher Risk Of Long-Term Effects, Study Finds