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  1. Sounds like you have some dysautonomia. What kind of doctor ordered the test? If it was your neurologist, then I would think he would go over the results with you and explain which parts of the test you failed. You might need a beta blocker and/or some florinef, depending on what showed up. There are a number of things that you can be treated with to help make your like a little more comfortable.
  2. @PistolA week?!!! That's fantastic! Learning something new every day!
  3. This subject interests me because my daughter has been getting saline over the past several months. One thing she's noticed, though, is that it doesn't last long. It helps for a few days and then she's back to where she started. @PistolI am so glad you mentioned the LR, as she is going in for more saline tomorrow and I think I'll ask for the LR instead!
  4. This isn't exactly what you're asking, but it may still apply. My daughter who is almost 25, was having some debilitating headaches recently. She gets migraines, too, but these were different. We finally figured out that it had to do with low blood pressure. She was anemic and getting iron infusions, but because iron tends to lower your blood pressure, she was having to get a couple of bags of fluids after because when she would stand up and start to move around, the headaches would get worse. We think that because she's been anemic for quite a while, that it was prompting these headaches and then the treatment causing low bp, as well. In a nut shell, you might want to make sure your blood levels are good, also your fluid levels. Things like anemia can really sneak up on you. My daughter drinks 2 liters of smartwater a day in addition to about 2 liters of regular water, orange juice, etc. So she shouldn't have needed fluids, but POTSies need sooooo much more than regular people. Hope this helps!
  5. The first time my daughter went to the ER for what we later learned was POTS was a real eye opener. My daughter was barely conscious, everything was blurry because she was very tachycardic and in a constant state of almost passing out. The only reason she didn't pass out was because she was laying down. The doctor she saw that night we found out from one of the young residents, that he literally wrote the book on emergency medicine. He was the author of their emergency medicine curriculum that they used in med school. So, we had a better start than most, but all he did was take her bp doing a poor man's tilt table test, gave her a bottle of water, and said, "go to a University hospital because no community hospital would ever have doctors that would understand, let alone know how to treat a complex condition."
  6. @CallieAndToby22- It's all so complicated, isn't it!? Both of my daughters were diagnosed with EDS and POTS by a neurologist at Stanford's Autonomic Clinic. He's sort of the EDS guru of the West. They did the whole tilt table thing and we got their diagnosis and testing done in one day. Upkeep is done by their local doctors. We were fortunate to have a POTS cardiologist among our local crew! He's a godsend! You don't have to go to a big University clinic, though, if you are lucky enough to have a doctor that is knowledgeable within your local area. (Neurologist, geneticist, or PCP (if you've got a good one!)). Have you tried midodrine? My daughter can't actually take that one, but some people can, and if you can't take the florinef, maybe this would help. My daughter has no veins either! She warns anyone who tries to take blood. She knows which vein actually does produce blood and how to get it, the fact that they pop and roll, and that it's always best to warm her veins before! She also tries to go well-hydrated, a huge help! We've had a couple of cocky ones try to get it their way, but never works. My daughter can't take salt tablets anymore. She just sticks to smartwater and variety of other things throughout the day. Usually she drinks around 3-1/2 to 4 liters a day.
  7. @Pistol- Oh, that's not good. I'm so sorry you are feeling so poorly! It's miserable! Yes, both of my girls get that way when they are worse. Weakness usually comes with a bad flare and typically it's in the wintertime. For my oldest, we just found out that she's low in ferritin and just started receiving iron infusions. So, hoping that is the culprit this time for her weakness and lightheadedness. Have you had your blood checked recently? This was a routine appointment for my daughter and definitely were surprised with her blood levels. I have to remind myself that everything isn't always POTS...usually, but not always. I hope you get to feeling better soon!!! @toomanyproblems- I couldn't help but think of my youngest daughter as you were describing how your legs and arms act, being heavy and it getting worse as the day goes on. My daughter had these exact symptoms (arms were always better than her legs, too), only they got severe and by the end of the day her legs would buckle and she would fall....sometimes 30 times from afternoon until she went to bed! Did quite a bit of research and discovered that she has Dopa Responsive Dystonia. It's rare (of course!) and is treated with Sinemet (carbidopa/levodopa) in very low doses. It's the same med that is used to treat Parkinson's but in huge doses (you don't want that!). We have a very receptive neurologist who, when I brought a medical journal article in by Dr. Claude Hamonet, he agreed that she should give the Sinemet a try. It was like night and day. By the second dose, she wasn't falling at all. He saw her in-office shortly after starting it and paraded her around to all of the nurses and doctors and showed them how well she walked, like a fashion runway model! It was just heartwarming!
  8. Just wondering about Resonance Frequency Breathing..... My daughter's therapist has her doing this 11-second resonance frequency breathing to help with her dysautonomia and anxiety. It's making her anxiety worse, not better....... anybody have that happen?
  9. I'm sorry I'm a little slow at responding to everyone's helpful suggestions!! My daughter had her first iron infusion this past Friday, so she's even worse than when I wrote this post! Definitely think she needs a couple of bags of saline at her next infusion. That's a must! Anyway, she drinks about 12-16 oz of smartwater before she even attempts to get out of bed and I have switched to giving her Florinef early with her dose of meds that she takes before she gets out of bed. This has been helping some. I remember now, that when she tried taking iron before that it really gave her an extreme POTS reaction. She does eat very small meals and actually had to go Paleo because her body is missing the enzymes that it takes to digest anything that is a carb or has sucrose in it (she does have enzyme supplements to enable to eat limited amounts). Oddly enough, she does well with high fructose corn syrup because it's a single chain sugar, sucrose being a polysaccharide. That's another story, tho! She's also got gastroparesis that we are always working around, as it seems to kind of come and go. Basically, she is a mess, but hoping once she gets her ferritin leveled out maybe she'll do better. EDS and Dysautonomia.....the gift that keeps on giving! Thanks all for your help!!!
  10. My daughter was diagnosed with chilblains when she was about 12. At the time, she was dealing with viral onset gastroparesis and we think that her malnutrition was the cause. She was diagnosed by a dermatologist who found it odd that she would have a condition such as this living at sea level in California! However, EDS, Dysautonomia, etc. is not a chooser of your region. The oddest of things happen with these conditions! She didn't do anything for hers. She had a feeding tube for about 3 months, got her nutrition levels back up and the whole chilblains thing with the bumps, etc. just went away. You should, however, see a dermatologist for them, just to make sure that you are correct. There are bumps called "Gottran's Papules" and they are usually associated with more serious conditions. That's what my daughter's PCP thought the bumps were, but the dermatologist he sent her to biopsied one and said it wasn't, which was good.
  11. @CallieAndToby22I'm sorry that you are going through this, too! In between when I posted this and now, my daughter had an appt with her hematologist. It was just a 6 month check-in, but I'm so glad she went! It turns out that her ferritin level is low and most likely explains why she's been passing out so much! It's really hard with POTS to determine what is a POTS thing and what might actually be something else. I always remind myself, this is why we keep a hematologist in our back pocket! She's a super doctor and it's been great to keep her on with our "doctor crew"! Have you had any labs to check your blood levels recently? Our situation was a reminder that it's good to keep up on labs. You never know what's going to tank!
  12. My daughter has been passing out after she eats breakfast. This is a new thing, but, by no means the only thing she's got going on (does anyone ever have just one thing at a time???!). That being said, I'm sure this happens to many of you! So, what do you do when this happens to you? My guess is most likely post prandial (sp?) hypotension, but would be interested if anyone else has a different diagnosis for theirs! Thanks all!
  13. Wow! This is so interesting and fits right in with my oldest. Ever since she had to stop taking Motrin, her pain has been off the charts. Had an ultrasound show some mild distention and swelling of her left kidney (so far no Nutcracker syndrome). I think her issues are inflammatory. She's been on Plaquenil off and on for the past few years, but only at 200 mg a day. Wonder if that's a high enough dose to do anything? Just a thought.... My mom has EDS, Lupus, Dermatomyositis, and Sjogren's, so AI runs in the family and my daughter is a carbon copy of her. Would love to hear updates on this @Pistol!
  14. @adejuliannie- So both girls (24 and 22) take Nadolol. It's one that doesn't mess with their bp too much, but still lowers their heart rates. I'm having a real brain fade at the moment, but there is a type of syncope where, during the passing out process, tremors and seizure-like symptoms occur, which is what I figured out my oldest was doing. When her bp gets too low, she starts tremoring. Sometimes she'll stay in that phase, but sometimes she'll pass out. I tilt her back, lift her legs, and she comes back. When this happens, she takes a Florinef. That boosts her bp and makes her not so lightheaded. Metoprolol was a good drug for my girls, but it did nothing for their tremoring. Sounds like you need a good cardiologist who's familiar with POTS. Feel free to message me if you need more details. I hope you feel better soon!
  15. @Viktor- My daughter takes Nadolol. @Delta - Rain and hail do the same thing to my daughter! It just about sends her through the roof. She is significantly better than a few weeks ago. It's finally starting to calm down, but she still does have to take precautions so as not to trigger it again. Always something, isnt' it!?
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