Who Is The Middle Aged Zebra?

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I’m LaDonna Burns, NP — a middle-aged woman who, for years, lived with a constellation of symptoms that didn’t make sense until someone finally gave them a name. If my story sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

As a child I wore glasses as thick as coke bottles and sat “like a frog.” I was clumsy, bruised easily, and always tired. At 12, when my menses began, so did debilitating migraines: three-day headaches with aura, nausea, and vomiting that left me curled on the floor of a dark room, unable to swallow pills. Growing up, Tylenol didn’t help and often made things worse.

I struggled with chronic GI problems — IBS-like symptoms — and learned to eat less because I never knew when a flare would hit. I napped a lot and assumed everyone was just this exhausted. In college I’d get dizzy standing in line for clinical check-offs, sometimes sliding down a wall until the world steadied. I thought it was panic; later I learned those episodes were dysautonomia, resolving when I sat or lay down.

My symptoms were “manageable” until my hysterectomy at 40. After surgery I developed heat intolerance, worsening joint pain, relentless fatigue, daily severe headaches, fibromyalgia-like and neuropathic pain, constant GI upset, and insomnia despite extreme exhaustion. My OB/GYN assumed menopause and started estradiol, which helped some, but I continued to get new and

more frequent flare-ups. Over time the good periods shortened and the symptoms became more constant.

At 51 I pushed for answers: I requested a tilt table test, was diagnosed with POTS, and connected with a dysautonomia specialist who diagnosed me with Ehlers–Danlos Syndrome (EDS). Suddenly, the pieces fit. I have the trifecta: hypermobile EDS (HEDS), POTS, and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS). Having names for these conditions changed everything — it guided treatment, connected me to specialists, and gave me clarity and community.

That clarity is why I created this website. If you read something here and it finally makes sense — if it helps you start a conversation with your doctor — then this work is a success. You don’t have to keep feeling dismissed or isolated. Learn, ask for the tests you need, and advocate for yourself.

— LaDonna Burns, NP