kmichaelson

Thanks so much! The book is called Hidden Rooms, and my name is Kate Michaelson. I was actually on the local news this morning talking about it, and the interviewers were pretty interested in the illness component: https://www.wtol.com/video/entertainment/television/good-day-on-wtol-11/local-author-pens-mystery-novel-talks-inspiration-good-day-on-wtol-11/512-8d52eae9-b804-4cdb-a747-9aaa3b565466 One of the reporters at the station told me he actually has a family member about to have a tilt table test for POTS--amazing how many people are affected by it!

I wanted to share a huge milestone with everyone on this forum. In 2009 I got sick with dizziness, light-headedness, fatigue, brain fog--you name it--and couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. After a few years, I began to suspect I had POTS and discovered this forum, which helped me eventually get a diagnosis. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that the information on this website practically saved my life. Aside from the advice about symptoms and treatments for this disease, people here reminded me that I wasn’t alone--even though I felt VERY alone in almost every other way. I’d had to quit my job and had gone from being very active to spending most of my time on the couch by myself. I did a lot of reading at this time--especially mysteries since they kept my attention despite my brain fog--and I realized that as a sick person with a poorly understood illness, I was like a detective every day. I was searching for answers (often on DINET) to my own medical mystery! That’s when the idea came to me for a mystery where someone is trying to find answers to their own illness while also solving a murder mystery. I don’t know how many years ago that thought occurred to me, but after many highs and lows with POTS and Lyme disease, I was actually able to write the book I’d been thinking about for years. Not only that, after a whole lot of revision, I found a publisher who was interested in it. Now, I can finally say that my book is coming out this week! As much as I read, I don’t often encounter main characters with illnesses, and when I do, they tend to jump out of their hospital bed to save the day and don’t really reflect my experience. My hope is that people with chronic illness will read it and see a bit of their own experiences reflected in my main character. When I was at my lowest--sick, isolated, doubting myself, and feeling worthless--this forum reminded me that I wasn’t alone and that there was hope to get better. I wanted to thank the awesome people here for that and share how you helped me find a path forward to some place better. P.S. I hope this post isn’t too self-promotional. I’m happy to edit if so. Or, if people are curious and I'm allowed to share the name of my book, I’m happy to do that.

Good job, Sarah, and I'm so happy for your good news.

What a great idea for a topic! It's so easy to devalue what I do all day because it's so much less than it used to be, yet it takes so much effort! My small achievement today was having a video call with two relatively new friends. I feel so socially isolated when I'm not feeling well, so it was nice to talk with someone other than my husband and my cat.

Thanks @Pistol. I looked into NCS long ago when I was first learning about dysautonomia, but it's been a very long time. I'll check out the information you mentioned since I know low BP would fit with that. Thanks again!

Thanks to all of you for this information! It's so helpful to get others' perspectives on this. @Pistol, thanks so much for the link to that article. I should have mentioned that I was diagnosed with POTS about twelve years ago, but I had low blood pressure on my tilt table rather than high blood pressure. However, since I passed out, the doctor I had at that time, said I had POTS. A subsequent doctor said it wasn't POTS, but some other kind of dysautonomia. Recently, I've been having daily POTS symptoms--shortness of breath, weakness, fatigue, blacking out when standing, exercise intolerance--all that good stuff. That's why I'm hoping IVs would help me, especially as I try to gradually increase the amount of exercise I do. @MikeO, I'm curious if you have figured out the type of dysautonomia you have since you have low blood pressure too?

Hi everyone, I passed out last week in a public place, and the business owner called 911. My blood pressure was 50-something over 30-something, and I guess my lips were blue, so the EMTs did an EKG on me. They told me that the EKG results showed my potassium was too high and my sodium too low, which they called hyperkalemia. I told my primary care doctor about this, and he didn't seem to take my word for it (which is a whole other story!) and ordered a blood test to check my electrolytes. The blood test showed my potassium and sodium are within normal ranges. I had the blood test more than a week after the EKG, so that could be the issue. However, I wonder if anyone else here has had a similar experience where your EKG shows one thing but your blood test doesn't back it up? I'm just not sure which test to believe. I'm also not sure if it's possible to get any documentation of my EKG to show my doctor. What's really frustrating is that I want my doctor to order saline IVs for my POTS, but he seems unwilling to do so without the blood test showing low sodium. I know there's documentation that shows saline IVs are helpful for people with POTS due to low blood volume, but I'm kind of tired of fighting him. It seems like every time I try to explain something to him, it just convinces him more that I'm a hypochondriac, especially when the tests don't back up what I'm telling him. I also tried to get a saline IV from a medispa, but the doctor who consults for them wouldn't sign off on it because I'd been passing out... that's why I ended up going to my PC doc for blood tests! Ugh.

I'm so sorry you're in the position of knowing more about this than your specialist. More importantly, I'm sorry that he seems so unwilling to listen and learn. I hope that talking about it helps ease the frustration. If only doctors knew how much harm they cause when they are so dismissive --and then we get a bill for it! I hope that you are feeling better about the situation after some time.

Edit: Oops, I posted this response in the wrong thread!

Thanks so much to all of you for your help! This is such a caring and knowledgeable community. 💖 I'm feeling more positive about things today, but I was just so shocked and discouraged by how completely unhelpful my doctor was yesterday. I appreciate all of the information about how you get IVs and am going to look into some of the options you all have mentioned. Great advice about a local Facebook group as well. You all are great and have made me feel more hopeful!

Thanks, Doug. I appreciate the well wishes and the advice on getting IV fluids. I'm sorry that you're having issues from scarring though. It sounds like you're coping with a lot.

Hi all, I am returning to this forum after a long time away. This forum was a lifesaver for me when I joined about ten years ago and had no idea what was wrong with me. Eventually, I was diagnosed with POTS--a diagnosis I probably never would have reached without DINET. I have been fortunate to be able to manage my POTS/dysautonomia symptoms fairly well over many years. I'm not saying they didn't interfere with my life, but I improved with the right medicine and many lifestyle adjustments. But suddenly, I feel like I'm back where I started ten years ago when I was first diagnosed. I have terrible shortness of breath with any exertion, exercise intolerance, adrenaline surges, racing heart, and near syncope nearly every time I stand. Plus there are a million other weird little symptoms that I know you are all likely familiar with. Unfortunately, I've had two wonderful specialists who treated me retire, so I made an appointment with my primary care doctor, and it was such a terrible experience. I told him how I've been feeling lately, asked if he could recommend a new specialist. He told me to get on a regular exercise program--which I have been for years--so I told him that I have tried, but now I feel much worse after exercise. He said something like, "well, that's not what we want," got up, and left the room! There were so many things I wanted to ask him about, but he was gone! Then his nurse came back in with my referral paperwork and to tell me the appointment was over. It sounds like it will likely be months before I can see the new specialist and I'm afraid I'll have to go through all the testing again. It's just such a scary feeling to be back where I started and not know how to get better. I'm sorry for the long complaining post. I just know that people here understand what this is like. On a side note, I have seen posts from people on this forum who do IV fluids on a regular basis. Could you tell me more about how you do that. Do you go into urgent care every time? Does a doctor order it? My insurance isn't great, so I'm worried about the expense of that, but I might need to try it just to see if it helps.

I'm so sorry you're having this @Derek1987 I've had POTS for about 10 years now and I think I just started having these adrenaline surges over the past year, and they are so awful! At first I thought I was having panic attacks, but they hit me around the same time every afternoon when I try to rest and I realized it must be related to POTS. I'll be trying to rest and suddenly I feel terrified, like someone just jumped out and scared me or I was nearly in a car accident. Is that what other people feel when they have this issue? Thanks to everyone for ideas on treating this. I feel like I do a good job of hydrating, but I don't do IVs. Maybe I need to start, but my insurance is terrible so I don't know if I can afford that on a regular basis.

I received a notification about a Midodrine study from my pharmacy and filled out the survey online and now I'm getting calls to participate, but I was hoping to find out more about it before actually signing up. It looks like it studies the effectiveness of midodrine, which has been almost literally a lifesaver for me. I'd think my participation would support midodrine use, but I know that it's been somewhat of a struggle to keep it on the market, so I don't want to participate in something that could contribute to it going off the market. Sorry if this has been discussed already, but I did a quick search and didn't see anything about it!

I'm on midodrine which has helped some, and then my POTS doctor prescribed 20 mg of prozac in addition, and I've definitely felt better since then. My normal BP used to range from 80/50 - 90/60 and now it's closer to 105/60-70. I've been on it for about 4 months now I think.