Katie Ledecky: the difficult path to success in swimming and the struggle with POTS disease
8 august 2024 в 00:37
Although Katie Ledecky may be the best swimmer in America at the moment, her Olympic journey behind the scenes has not been easy.
The 27-year-old Olympic champion revealed that she had faced numerous health issues throughout her career. Being a swimmer requires a lot of skills and training, and she began to notice during the World Aquatics Championships in Russia in 2015 that she was feeling «excessively hot and dizzy». During training, she noticed that she was becoming very tired, which is normal, but not to the extent that she was experiencing.
She then thought that this was a health issue worth bringing to light, so that it could possibly help others. She wrote her own book «Just Add Water: My Swimming Life». In her narrative, she revealed that she had been diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), which, according to New York-Presbyterian's Health Matters, means «a condition in which people experience a rapid pulse, dizziness, fatigue, or other symptoms when they move from a sitting or lying position to a standing one».
In her book, she continued to note: «Because of POTS, I accumulate blood in vessels below my heart when I stand up. My body then releases extra norepinephrine or epinephrine, which adds additional stress on my heart, causing it to beat faster. This, in turn, leads to dizziness, fainting, and exhaustion». Despite these symptoms, she openly discussed treatment methods such as increasing «sodium intake», increasing «hydration», and even «swimming» to help alleviate her symptoms.
Since 2015, she did not want to disclose her diagnosis because she felt it would lead to «distraction». In her book, she further explained: «I didn’t want anything 'wrong' with me to become the narrative of Rio or Team USA… I didn’t want to be a distraction or distract myself. I just wanted to treat my condition as best as possible and get back to hard training in the pool. Gradually, following the doctors' recommendations, I began to feel better».
Now that she has openly shared her journey to health, she told Self magazine that she «feels good»
The 27-year-old Olympic champion revealed that she had faced numerous health issues throughout her career. Being a swimmer requires a lot of skills and training, and she began to notice during the World Aquatics Championships in Russia in 2015 that she was feeling «excessively hot and dizzy». During training, she noticed that she was becoming very tired, which is normal, but not to the extent that she was experiencing.
She then thought that this was a health issue worth bringing to light, so that it could possibly help others. She wrote her own book «Just Add Water: My Swimming Life». In her narrative, she revealed that she had been diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), which, according to New York-Presbyterian's Health Matters, means «a condition in which people experience a rapid pulse, dizziness, fatigue, or other symptoms when they move from a sitting or lying position to a standing one».
In her book, she continued to note: «Because of POTS, I accumulate blood in vessels below my heart when I stand up. My body then releases extra norepinephrine or epinephrine, which adds additional stress on my heart, causing it to beat faster. This, in turn, leads to dizziness, fainting, and exhaustion». Despite these symptoms, she openly discussed treatment methods such as increasing «sodium intake», increasing «hydration», and even «swimming» to help alleviate her symptoms.
Since 2015, she did not want to disclose her diagnosis because she felt it would lead to «distraction». In her book, she further explained: «I didn’t want anything 'wrong' with me to become the narrative of Rio or Team USA… I didn’t want to be a distraction or distract myself. I just wanted to treat my condition as best as possible and get back to hard training in the pool. Gradually, following the doctors' recommendations, I began to feel better».
Now that she has openly shared her journey to health, she told Self magazine that she «feels good»
© Zhinobaeva Margarita
