Fox 2 Detroit (WJBK-TV) morning news anchor Amy Andrews took to social media on Thursday, Feb. 26, to share with viewers why she has been off the air again.
Andrews posted on Instagram that she is on a “physician-directed medical leave” as she continues treatment for dysautonomia, which she described as “a disorder of the autonomic nervous system that affects things like heart rate, blood pressure, and circulation.”
Wrote Andrews, “For me, it can cause significant dizziness, vision changes, brain fog, and sudden drops in blood pressure, making live television unsafe until it’s properly stabilized.”
According to the Dysautonomia Project, a nonprofit collaborative effort to provide education on the condition, an estimated 70 million people across the globe have some form of dysfunction to the autonomic system that regulates “functions that are automatic in nature such as heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, excretion, perspiration, temperature regulation, pupil dilation, circulation, and respiration” and more.
“Often dysautonomias are invisible illnesses. Patients may not look sick, and yet they have symptoms that make it difficult to work, go to school, and perform activities of daily living,” the collaborative effort says.
Andrews explained on her post that she doesn’t take her decision to step back from work lightly “I love what I do, and I love serving this community. Right now, my focus is following my doctors’ guidance so that I can return safely and consistently.”
She added, “I miss our mornings together more than I can say. Please know I am working hard, I am not giving up, and my goal is to return as soon as I am medically able. Thank you for the incredible support so many of you have shown me over the years. It means everything.”
Andrews received several supportive comments to her posting, including from Local 4 News (WDIV-TV) anchors Rhonda Walker, Karen Drew and Jason Colthorp.
“From your friends and competitors across town: Get well soon. Hope to look up and see your face soon,,” wrote Colthorp.
Andrews, who is an anchor of “Fox 2 News Mornings,” returned to work in September 2025 after an extended absence for what she said at the time on social media were health issues, describing symptoms like “extreme dizziness, balance issues, brain fog and blurred vision.”
Before that, in July 2025, she wrote online to thank staffers at the Michigan Institute for Neurological Disorders (which has several locations in metro Detroit) for taking “amazing” care of her and wrote shortly afterward in August 2025: “My neurologist was able to rule out what would’ve been a devastating diagnosis! … However, that means I move on to different specialists and different tests until we figure this out.”
Andrews has been open about her medical challenges in the past and is also an advocate for mental health awareness. Through social media, she revealed in 2022 and 2024 that she had taken medical leaves to deal with depression and anxiety.In 2021, she underwent back surgery to remove herniated disc fragments in her lower back after an injury suffered during a vacation in Florida.Andrews is an alum of Indiana University, Oakland University and the Specs Howard School of Media Arts. She worked at TV stations in Colorado, Nevada, California and the Flint and Saginaw market before joining Fox 2 Detroit in 2011.
She is involved with many community causes including Gleaners Community Food Bank, C.A.T.C.H Children’s Charity, the Crohn’s Colitis Foundation of America, Habitat for Humanity, the American Heart Association and Angels of Hope, according to her Fox 2 Detroit biography.Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Fox 2 Detroit anchor Amy Andrews updates viewers on her medical leave
Reporting by Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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