navyblue

Also, I live in Chicago too!

I actually felt about the best I've ever felt with POTS on a summer roadtrip all over the West Coast with my boyfriend. Maybe it was all the salty food. Maybe it was the happiness. But it went great! Roadtrips are awesome. I was sooo worried before it that I'd be dizzy and wouldn't feel good and would ruin it but aside from one dicey night at a campground it was amazing and healing.

I have Medicaid but they didn't cover the regular MRI I had (this was before the chiro) so I don't have much hope there

Hmmm, that is actually really good advice but I don't think I could ever scrape up the funds for an upright MRI...would the atlas adjustment theoretically free up the nerve or blood vessel impingement? I guess that is a question for someone with xray vision into my neck haha. I didn't feel dizzy directly after the adjustment, just pressurized and off...the dizziness that I often feel with POTS came on strongly a couple of weeks afterwards

Hello, So I had a bad experience with a chiropractic neck cracking manipulation - it has left me with increased head pressure, brain fog, and dizziness..however even though she seemed to have messed it up I do think she was onto something with saying my neck felt off...my POTS symptoms did, after all, begin a week after a whiplash/concussion-type skiing accident. So I've been doing a lot of research and found something called Atlas Orthogonal, which is a non-manipulative non-invasive technique that take xrays to see if your atlas is off and then a gentle machine pushes it back into place. I have heard really good things about this, but I am wary, especially as regular chiropractic usually doesn't make people feel terrible and it made me feel terrible, so I'm not sure if this would have a good effect or not. But I have to try something. I'm really suffering and I feel the key is the neck. I read a coupe positive things about Atlas Orthogonal on here, especially from @AShelton80, but I was wondering if anyone else has tried it or what you all think.

Weird, I was just thinking about posting a similar post. I'm also struggling with a setback and with what seems to me a lack of understanding on the part of those close to me. I did it. I finished my college classes and I have my degree in Biology. I even got all A's last quarter. And yet, I feel so mixed up because it's time to get that first job and it's just a lot to deal with, because I feel that no one understands the extent of how awful and dysfunctional I feel. No one understands how I feel like the lightheadedness, head pressure, and fogginess seem to increasing with no signs of leaving...I mentioned to my friend today about how my heart rate was around 130 just hanging around the house and she goes "from generalized anxiety?" I about slapped her (obviously I didn't haha but mentally). She knows about POTS, I've explained it to her in the past. I don't understand why people jump to these explanations..I heard her asking her boyfriend recently "Tourette's is from anxiety though, right?" because he was talking about tics. My boyfriend too recently revealed he STILL thinks my problem is mainly psychosomatic from "researching too much on the internet" even though I've shown him with my pulse reader what my heartrate does. That really hurts. When he had the flu I took such good care of him (even though I had it too, I'm just used to powering through feeling bad), but I just don't feel cared for or supported in this. My mom and dad also use language like "why are you doing this again" when things get worse. And I also don't think people realize my complaining and venting happen when I'm really at my breaking point with this stuff. I don't think they realize that I'm dealing with these feelings 24/7 and usually do a decent job acting normal. They think because I'm smiling in some pictures from a vacation that it means I felt good on that trip - when it fact, grateful as I am for still being able to take trips, I felt pretty awful through most of it. They think because I aced a final exam (again, very grateful) that I wasn't feeling like my head was floating in the clouds and like I was on a boat the whole time. I guess I just want some sort of acknowledgement of the fact that I overcome these feelings every single day because the first thing someone seems to say to me if I vent about feeling bad is that I need to do a better job ignoring things and controlling my reaction to symptoms. But then, I have to remind myself, nobody's out to get me. Nobody is intending to make me feel miserable or misunderstood. People normally want to "fix" things and when they can't, they seem to resort to telling you that it isn't that bad or something like that. It's only natural. I guess I don't have much else to say except that I really get it.

I'm so so so tired of this. And I'm not even sure if I can attribute my issues to the POTS anymore. I'm enraged that a chiropractic neck manipulation has set off such anxiety and head pressure and horrible feelings. I've read several accounts online of people whom post neck manipulation - felt woozy, head pressurized, how I do....- and it went on for years with no end in sight. Then there's the people for whom it only worsened things for awhile. And the vast majority of the population for whom it had no ill effects or even helped headaches, dizziness, etc. I'm so mad because I was doing pretty well before she did it. Now I'm in the throes of terrible head pressure (and intermittent numb left leg) and I don't know when this will end. I feel like I can't do my schoolwork. I'm not eating much. I don't want to listen to music or do anything enjoyable. I know I should just take my mind off it. I even felt pretty okay last night. But those accounts...they haunt me. Mostly I'm just so extremely sick of freaking out about my health and getting depressed from it and making myself worse and the unknown. Last winter I hit rock bottom when I couldn't figure out why I was dizzy. Eventually it started to get better and I started to calm down and live my life. I started to realize that the "me" was not gone, the me who could laugh or get an A on a final or enjoy a meal out or a road trip. I went through so many different things I thought it could be. Once I knew it was POTS (even though I don't know the cause), I was sad about it for a little bit but then mostly happy that I finally had my answer and that it was known to wax and wane, could get better, and wasn't known as progressive. I did a lot of research and felt more in control. I went through a lot of worry about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome about 2 months ago with increased tiredness but it didn't really get worse, if anything it got more manageable. But this feels different. I'm feeling utterly lost and I can't shake the fact that the chiro messed me up...and I wouldn't care so much if there weren't so many accounts of it being permanent I'm sorry for how gloomy I sound but I just need to feel like I can go on I always feel like such a wimp when I see the posts of people who've suffered much worse and longer but I just...I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well in school, to be fun to be around, to be liked, to enjoy life....and this just makes it really really hard. I feel like I'm a weak person. This vent I guess was more for me, but I really would appreciate any advice/support.

statesof, what kind of physical actions made you feel worse for a bit?

Thank you! The reason I worry is that a couple people have said in the past that the effect was quite long term....but for others it seemed to just cause a flare-up or even help. Everyone is different I guess

So aside from fatigue concerns I've been doing pretty well these past couple months - no dizziness. (I have POTS). Until...last Thursday I went to chiropractor because I had heard that she did Lyme testing...however she did exam me and said the top of my neck was very out of alignment and that she wanted to do some quick adjustments. She said they would be gentle so I said yes. She cracked my neck to both sides and then did something to my back. I think it's made me worse. Not dizzy exactly, but sore neck, woozy pressurized head...it was pretty bad earlier today...also numbness down my left leg. Is this worsening going to be temporary or did she really mess something up structurally? Does anyone have any experience?

Resurrecting this because I've having the exact same issue. Anyone else?

All I can say is you're not alone. Hang in there, hopefully things will improve.

sleepy_lady, that is exactly how I feel! My dizziness morphed into intense fatigue. How are you now?

Here's the post I wrote about it when it was happening. http://forums.dinet.org/index.php?/topic/27112-feeling-potsy-but-without-the-heart-rate-changes-anymore/#entry252071

This has happened to me before. Sometimes feeling worse does correlate with higher HR's and sometimes it doesn't. So strange! Currently I am experiencing barely any dizziness, but a ton of fatigue...I never know what to think.