Teaching with chronic illness

I’m a first year teacher with a chronic illness (POTS). I’ve been lucky enough that I haven’t had a flare up since I started in November, but with the warmer weather, I’m starting to feel sick again.

Something that can trigger a flare up for me is heat. You would think since I’m inside a school all day that it wouldn’t be an issue because of the AC, but my school still hasn’t switched from heat to AC yet, meaning some days the thermostat in my classroom reaches 85 degrees. I told my school about my POTS and they got me a few fans for my classroom, but it doesn’t really help much.

Another trigger is stress and because of recent state testing and student behaviors, I’ve been stressed out of my mind.

I’ve been up since 4 this morning having an episode but I don’t have enough leave built up that I would feel okay with taking a sick day. I’ve only accrued 2 days so far, and I used one a few weeks ago for a mental health day.