Require Medical Schools to Teach ME and POTS Diagnosis and Care
The Issue
I was 15 when I developed ME, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome. This was pre-COVID, and no one believed me. I went undiagnosed for about three years. This matters because during those years I was told to push through something that absolutely should not be pushed through. What looked like me trying to get stronger, was actually me lowering my baseline and getting sicker.
I know I am not the only person this has happened to. I started out pretty mild. I was active, strong, and healthy, which is exactly why the myth that this is just deconditioning is so dangerous. I developed POTS around the same time, and later I dealt with post-exertional malaise that would hit after basic tasks or being in bright, noisy spaces. By the time I started college, I was failing classes and ended up in a dark room for weeks on end. This was consequential to the medical professionals around me who did not understand what was happening to my body. This in turn led to me being approached with CBT, (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), that frames its role as pushing patients to not view themselves as “sick” and “incapable.” CBT is used to motivate patients to push through their physical discomfort, which is detrimental for patients with ME/CFS.
That is why I am asking medical schools and physician training programs to require real education on ME and POTS: how to recognize post-exertional malaise, how these conditions can show up together, why telling patients to exercise through crashes can make them worse, and why early diagnosis matters. Future doctors should know that not every sick patient fits an easy lab result, and that dismissal has consequences. If providers had understood this earlier, I might not have lost so much ground.
People with ME and POTS deserve clinicians who can identify these conditions and respond with care instead of disbelief. We should not have to get dramatically worse before someone listens. Please sign if you believe medical education needs to catch up so patients like me are not pushed into preventable suffering.
344
The Issue
I was 15 when I developed ME, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome. This was pre-COVID, and no one believed me. I went undiagnosed for about three years. This matters because during those years I was told to push through something that absolutely should not be pushed through. What looked like me trying to get stronger, was actually me lowering my baseline and getting sicker.
I know I am not the only person this has happened to. I started out pretty mild. I was active, strong, and healthy, which is exactly why the myth that this is just deconditioning is so dangerous. I developed POTS around the same time, and later I dealt with post-exertional malaise that would hit after basic tasks or being in bright, noisy spaces. By the time I started college, I was failing classes and ended up in a dark room for weeks on end. This was consequential to the medical professionals around me who did not understand what was happening to my body. This in turn led to me being approached with CBT, (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), that frames its role as pushing patients to not view themselves as “sick” and “incapable.” CBT is used to motivate patients to push through their physical discomfort, which is detrimental for patients with ME/CFS.
That is why I am asking medical schools and physician training programs to require real education on ME and POTS: how to recognize post-exertional malaise, how these conditions can show up together, why telling patients to exercise through crashes can make them worse, and why early diagnosis matters. Future doctors should know that not every sick patient fits an easy lab result, and that dismissal has consequences. If providers had understood this earlier, I might not have lost so much ground.
People with ME and POTS deserve clinicians who can identify these conditions and respond with care instead of disbelief. We should not have to get dramatically worse before someone listens. Please sign if you believe medical education needs to catch up so patients like me are not pushed into preventable suffering.
The Decision Makers
Supporter Voices
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on October 25, 2026