Bethenny Frankel, successful beverage entrepreneur and former Real Housewives of New York City star, has taken to Instagram to reveal her struggle with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, otherwise known as POTS.
In a post on Thursday, Frankel said she wanted to address recent comments about her face looking “different.”
“I am messed up. I am not doing that great. I’m so dehydrated and riddled with aches and pains. I have had liters of Pedialite and water and kombucha and coconut water, and it just goes right through me,” a visibly emotional Frankel says in the video. In her caption, she elaborated, “I’m bloated, swollen and I’ve gained 4 lbs in 3 days because my body is desperately hanging on to any water it can.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, there’s no known cure for POTS, a “kind of orthostatic intolerance” that “causes your heart to beat faster than normal when you transition from sitting or lying down to standing up.”
Frankel said that her battle with the autoimmune disorder got worse after COVID; last November, she chastised followers who criticized her for questioning whether getting the COVID-19 vaccine had contributed to her ongoing health struggles.
“I suffer from chronic severe dehydration,” Frankel continued in her post. “I have always experienced extremely low blood pressure and dehydration, but it’s gotten exponentially worse. I make a tremendous effort to stay hydrated, get IVs, and I haven’t had liquor for 6 months. I’m basically on the case.”
Frankel concluded her post with a plea for empathy from her followers: “PS. When you comment on someone’s physical appearance, you may not know exactly what they’re enduring personally, physically and emotionally.”
