I remember when my father, beset with the occasional dizzy spell when standing or turning suddenly, went to his doctor. The doc diagnosed Dad with something called "positional vertigo," which means, basically, that when he moved suddenly, the semicircular canals in his ears had some trouble keeping up. This has an adverse effect on your body knowing precisely where it is, thus, the vertigo.
Here's the thing: Dad was approaching 90 when he got that diagnosis. For the vast majority of his 94 years, the Old Man was as solid on his feet as a pile-driver.
Now, I told you that so I could tell you this. Around the world, young women have found a new social contagion to perhaps replace the now (hopefully) fading transgender fad. Like positional vertigo, it can affect balance. This is also a thing that, like gender dysphoria, really exists, but now it's being seized on by the perpetual victim class as the next big thing. The Daily Sceptic's Mary Gilleece has details.
In the past couple of terms visiting schools and further education colleges I have noticed an increasing number of teenage girls using walking sticks. It is not unusual to see disabled children in mainstream schools, generally one or two in wheelchairs, also a handful of students with temporary breaks on crutches or wearing a plastic boot. But it’s a new sight, for me at least, to see teenage girls using walking sticks. Especially two girls in one group with walking sticks decorated with stickers.
When three separate girls over the past month told me that they have suspected or finally diagnosed POTS I remembered the old fashion adage: ‘Two’s a coincidence, three’s a trend.’ I have learned that POTS, as well as being a lively TikTok and Insta hashtags is short for Postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and involves feeling dizzy when standing up – hence the need for walking sticks. There is no cure and, according to the NHS, POTS “affects everyone differently”, with severe symptoms such as light-headedness or weakness or extreme tiredness. #didyouyawn is a popular hashtag for the growing community of POTS sufferers.
So, another fad, another social contagion, another vague syndrome that doesn't have a cure and seems to lack a cause - and it seems to disproportionately affect young women.
Here's the onion:
Annie (not her real name), a 17 year-old recently-diagnosed POTS sufferer, was able to explain things for me. “I’ve always been very tired and I feel funny every time I stand up. I printed out the POTS description for my GP who sent me to a consultant. I had to lie on a wobbly table and then get up. I said I felt dizzy so I’ve got my diagnosis which is great.” Her plan is to do a three-month nail technician course at the local college in September – but she adds sadly: “Now I have POTS, I don’t know if I’m going to manage the bus journey. It’s 80 minutes each way.” She’s been advised to stay hydrated and make sure she takes in sufficient salt but she is returning to her GP to find out if there are any pharmaceutical options. She already receives PIP payments for her anxiety and wonders what her new diagnosis will mean when she has her benefits review next month.
The first layer of this stinker lies in this admission: "I printed out the POTS description for my GP, who sent me to a consultant." In other words, this "Annie" (not her real name) did not go to her doctor and describe symptoms, allowing her doctor to make the diagnosis. She went on the internet, found what she thought she had, and went to her doctor with her diagnosis already pre-decided. One wonders how many doctors she went to before finding one who found TURFing her to a consultant was the easiest way to get this annoying young person out of the way.
But it's the second layer, this being in the United Kingdom, that really smells:
She already receives PIP payments for her anxiety and wonders what her new diagnosis will mean when she has her benefits review next month.
Ah ha! A benefits review. I think I see what's going on here. There's a financial incentive in claiming to have this disorder - and in convincing a doctor to go along with it.
See Also: Finally: Supreme Court to Hear Cases on Transgender Athletes
'Transgender' Teen Accused of Torching Teslas Faces Long Prison Term
Still, though, some will ask: Could there be an environmental or dietary cause for this sudden uptick? Is there something in the water? Why this sudden spike in POTS diagnoses? Well, one career educator in the UK has some thoughts:
A teacher with 30 years experience told me:
There have always been a group of girls, usually beginning in Year 9 who are unhappy. Their unhappiness manifests differently depending on what’s current. In the 1980s it was poetry of all things, then the Goths had a good run, ME was popular until eating disorders and self-harm wreaked havoc, lesbianism was a much gentler option until that became passé and trans, ADHD and autism took a hold.
A quick look at the videos about POTS on TikTok and Insta seems to bear this observation out – the girls with the condition are of a type: there is a splatter of pink or blue hair and a bracing selection of piercings, as well as a sufficiency of pretty girls to add a level of appeal. A number of celebrities have been diagnosed including Solange Knowles and Jameela Jamil.
Now, some will wonder if this spike in POTS diagnoses may be due to some other factor. Could this be an after-effect of COVID-19 or the COVID-19 vaccine? As I noted above, is there some environmental factor? (Cue the climate scolds claiming this is due to climate change in 3... 2... 1...) That's certainly possible. We're still learning about all the after-effects of COVID and the mRNA vaccines, after all.
But here's why I am skeptical of anything like that: There's a commonality among the people claiming this new fad syndrome: They are all young women in their teens and early 20s, with a high proportion of weird hair colors and TikTok accounts.
Our oldest daughter, a nurse-practitioner who has worked in emergency medicine for over 20 years and who now runs her own clinic, calls these people "Reddit patients." These are, she notes, predominantly young women who feel out of sorts, look up a syndrome on Reddit or some other internet forum, and then present themselves at the clinic demanding to be diagnosed. That's not how medicine works, or at least, that's not how it's supposed to work.
But it is how social contagions work. The proper response from health-care providers isn't to appease these people, but to tell them flat out what really is, or isn't, wrong with them, and if the problem lies between their ears, they should be unambiguously told so.
