Introducing POTS: The Next Social Contagion to Grip Miserable Teenage Girls

This post, authored by Mary Gilleece, was republished with permission from The Daily Sceptic

Now that trans is on the way out and scepticism is being raised about the over-diagnosis of ADHD and autism, what are miserable teenage girls and their anxious mothers going to fixate on next? Nature abhors a vacuum and there may be a new condition in town to fill the void: POTS.

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.

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.

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.

Google trends analytics demonstrate a dramatic increase in searching for the term between 2022 and 2025, while the NHS doesn’t keep a track of the diagnosis rates, it may surprise non-POTS sufferers that over 77 million people have viewed posts on #potslife that share such details about how to use ice-packs and carry salt sachets. As well as POTS, social trends in relation to chronic illness include EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome) and MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome) which variously cause among other things joint pain, inflammation and brain fog. Annie explained to me that energy for all such chronic illnesses are measured in spoons #spoonenergy.

Our collective health could indeed be in an ever-increasing state of collapse, which would go some way to explaining the growing number of young women who have postural tachycardia syndrome – a condition that is diagnosed in the geriatric wing of hospitals. It could also be the case that the girls who are using walking sticks in schools or FE colleges and think they have POTS and other chronic illnesses are unhappy. Unhappy because they come from broken homes, their families are skint, elite advice about how to live well is at odds with biological realities, their social lives are threadbare, schools haven’t taught sufficiently useful skills or knowledge and they spend hours a day on their phones instead of socialising and working. When these girls assess their prospects and see them to be bleak, there is a perverse wisdom in finding a sense of belonging with a group of like-minded fellow sufferers online.

POTS or no POTS, it is this malaise that we as a society ought to be addressing. And fast, before we all go potty.

Mary Gilleece is an education support worker and her name is a pseudonym.

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