Zhiaea was 19 when sharp pain in her arm led her to urgent care. She never imagined that day would end with a heart diagnosis.
Doctors told her there was fluid around her heart. She was sent home with medication and a diagnosis of idiopathic pericarditis, inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart.
But weeks later, the pain came back, even stronger. During one episode, she couldn’t move or speak for hours because of intense chest and arm pain. That’s when her diagnosis changed to severe recurrent pericarditis.
Living with recurrent pericarditis meant learning new limits. “To be a teenage girl not able to work, or work out anymore, due to physical restrictions was hard,” she says. Things like laughing too hard, talking too much or sitting in a car too long would leave Zhiaea exhausted.
Today, she’s still healing, but she’s kinder to herself. “Knowing when to listen to my body has been very helpful. Some days my body insists on doing nothing, and I have to be fine with that. I’ve learned to remain patient.”