Daily Crash At Specific Time?

[mkoven]

So my new trend is to crash every day in the late afternoon-early evening. This seems unusual. Mornings aren't that bad for me. But it's driving me crazy that everyday, some time between 4 and 6, I have to drop to the floor to avoid falling, feel like I can't breathe, chest pain. And then I"m stuck there for several hours.

So anyone else have a harder time at night?

It's like some reflex gets triggered and I can't stop it. I've increased my midodrine, but nonetheless, when the bottom drops, it just drops. All I can do is wait it out. on the floor. and try not to get to spooked.

(BTW, it feels like midodrine isn't working so well anymore. I keep needing higher doses to get the same effect )

[firewatcher]

I don't know if it helps, but I used to have a crash. It started around 1pm and by 2pm it was all I could do to just put my head on the desk and sit there with the kids running wild. I could not think or carry on a conversation, it was like my body and mind just quit. If I could sleep it would help, but it lasted till around 5pm. Nothing helped. I have an afternoon slump now at the same time, but nothing as bad as it was. Hang in there, maybe your body will "reboot" soon.

Jennifer

[Ernie]

Hi,

Maybe it's related with your activity level of if you need to eat.

[lorrie]

On bad days, I can crash at any time...haven't seen a pattern. On good days, I usually crash between 5-8...I think it is because I do more on my "good" days and my body is trying to tell me something late in the day. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night having an episode...that is every other month or so. Seems to be after having an extremely stressful day.

I used to be upset because there was no way to tell when or where I would crash. Now, I just look at it as keeping things "interesting" and keeping me on my toes. What else can I do? I almost have to laugh sometimes...keeps me from crying.

[Gracefulprincess]

I crash around the same time every day..usually between 4-6. I get so weak and tired that i can't stand and it's hard to keep my eyes open. It really does feel like my body is trying to shut down. I usually end up staying on the couch or my bed..which ever is closer...till the feeling passes. Sometimes i can sleep for a few hours and i'll be alright when i wake up. And then there are evening when i have to go out somewhere so i don't have the option of sleeping...and i have to try hard to push myself and stay awake. It gets really frustrating.

[hollie]

I have a hard time later in the day also. I thought I was the only one! Everyone here has said that mornings are bad for them. That is my best time of the day! I have highs and lows in the morning, but then crash mid-afternoon.

Hollie

[Csmith3]

Normally mornings are my worst time of day, but I occasionally have patches where I'm also ill late afternoon. I end up hopping on and off my chair at work; I lie down for a bit, think I feel better so get up, but the feeling faint more or less immediately returns as I sit up so I repeat this cycle over again! The late afternoon problems seem to be due to low blood pressure and tend to happen in summer (my office is not air conditioned and tends to get very warm late afternoon).

Increasing florinef/midodrine is the answer for me (and I think you already suspected this) or just the weather turning cold helps!

[mkoven]

Thanks to everyone! I thought I was very strange that my worst times are later in the day. That's also the time I'm most likely to trigger a migraine. So something wacky goes on with my vessels around then-- or some funny chemical I produce. Who knows.

My best times seem to be late morning.

[Guest tearose]

Mornings are just hard in general. It takes me a bit to get my bp up but I don't consider this a crash. A crash comes to me after eating lunch if I eat slightly too much or if I have been very active in the morning. It is like my body suddenly gets overwhelmingly tired and it will just shut down! I would have to say my "slumps" are between 1-2 in the afternoon, 4pm ish and then after dinner.

[turtlefairy5]

I have crashes of fatigue/malaise throughout the day. I haven't noted that there is a patter; I can't say, "Oh no, it's mid-afternoon (or whatever), and I know that I always feel lousy around this time of day."

Generally, I crash after I have been trying to act normal for too long. In other words, when I try to push myself beyond my physical limitations, or put myself in situations that aggravate my condition, eventually my body lets me know it. For example, when I went camping, even though we didn't go hiking or really do anything other than float around in the water and eat hot dogs, the heat really wiped me out and I found myself in the hot, hot bathroom at the camp bath house (which is not exactly a lovely place to be) with my heart racing and feeling y - to - tha - uck. As another example, today I am feeling really sleepy, lethargic and brain foggish because yesterday I wiped down the inside of my car, took the dogs for a walk a couple times, and made some spaghetti for dinner. Though it really sounds ridiculous to the outsider, I did too much. It is a tricky, tricky thing trying to figure out what your limits are, to conserve your energy when you have it instead of using it all in one burst. The analogy I use is that most people are energizer bunny batteries, and I'm those really, really cheap ones that you find at the dollar store.

I feel really crappy first thing in the morning and have a hard time waking up. That's a given. So I guess I would have to identify waking up in the morning as the one sure-fire time that I know I'm going to feel bad. Other than that, I just feel bad when I try to exhert too much energy, regardless of what time it is.

I will say that sometimes I do seem to get a second wind at the end of the day, which is frustrating because I've spent the whole day feeling lousy and then feel like I have some energy just when I'm supposed to be slowing down and getting ready for bed. grrrrr. maybe we're just meant to be night owl vampires??

I was actually thinking of starting a thread asking whether or not POTS and CFS are directly related, or mutually exclusive. In other words, if you have fatigue from POTS, can you then say that you necessarily have CFS, or does POTS fatigue rule out CFS? They seem to over lap in so many ways. Before I found out that I had something as specific as POTS, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was wrong with me, why I was so tired all the time, and read a LOT about CFS. The CFS book mentions POTS, but I'm still confused. Is there a difference between POTS fatigue and CFS?

Amber

[firewatcher]

Amber, you talk about feeling horrid first thing in the morning and getting a second wind at night? Sounds like DSPS (Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome) to me. Some of us (me included) are genetically hard-wired to be night owls...no kidding. This is what started me on this horrible path of self discovery. I have a circadian rhythm disruption, DSPS, that is extremely common in heart conditions and asthma (though I have neither.) We all work on an internal body clock, and some of us are set on the wrong time zone and it is almost impossible to reset it. I am willing to bet that many of our "crashes" are circadian. Of course the heart is going to work harder and the whole body will resist if everything internal is telling us that we should be asleep! But the clock and society tell us that we should be up and eating and going to work. Some things are voluntary (just like our nervous systems,) some are not. Mornings HURT, physically for me. My heart rate jumps from the 40s-50s to over 100 bpm when I get up and I am betting that some of that is because my brain is telling the rest of me that it is SLEEPING time! I have not seen any studies yet as to the circadian factor in POTS or ANS dysfunction, but it has to be there.

Jennifer

[Radha]

i feel more than terrible all day but the first 2-3 hours in the morning are the worst and the best time for me is 3AM in the morning!

crazy!

Radha

[jump]

Mornings are rough for me in the sense that I'm very tachycardic and dizzy and all that. But in the afternoons, I often "crash" too and it's a very different thing - I usually feel sick and need to lie down. I'm usually bradycardic in the afternoons (around 5 for me). I'm not sure why this happens.

For me, because I go brady, I usually sit down and have some coffee and it passes in an hour or so. Have you found anything that helps you get through it?

good luck,

jump

[mkoven]

The only thing that helps me is lying on the floor with my legs on a chair and waiting till my next dose of midodrine, and then waiting for it to kick in. Often I am brady, but i can just feel fluid and air leaving my torso and head.i've noticed that if I tense my abs several times that might help for a couple moments. But basically I have to ride it out, and remind myself I"m not actually dying. i try to have the phone by me, just in case I might have to call for help.

These crashes are usually late afternoon. But then I have other unpredictable crashes, which is making it really hard to leave the house. Basically, if I'm somewhere where I can't lie down, I get in trouble. I'm better off responding to the first warning signs and getting horizontal. If I ignore the symptoms, I feel worse for much longer and have a rough time getting back to baseline. I'm not really functional at this point. I really hope my appointment at Cleveland will offer some new ideas to get me out of my hole. Last week I had a crash waiting in the waiting room to see a local doctor. I asked the receptionist if I could lie down. No. I told her I would end up on the floor. She then sprung into action and got me a place to recline. So just sitting upright is often too much for me now.

[MNsue]

I also crash around 3 to 5pm. I was told that our cortisol levels are low at that time of day. I think my adrenal gland has a hard time keeping up and needs a break around that time of day. Making dinner is very difficult if not impossible some days. I have a new plan to cook in the morning and warm up leftovers when they come home in the evening.

Rhonda

[turtlefairy5]

firewatcher,

Thanks so much for that info. I've always been an insomniac. If left to my own devices, I would stay up all night and sleep most of the day. I thought it was just part of my depressive/nutty/creative/tortured genius persona. har har. sounds like many others here have lousy mornings as well.

by the way, cool name!

[delphicdragon]

I have trouble in the mornings. I'm a royal pain to wake up and if I am forced to wake up early, I will crash around 2PM or 3PM - BAD.

But, I am functional between 11PM and about 5AM. It's very strange. Worked in college for a while when I was doing set painting after my afternoon classes. Worked until about 3AM (with the help of a large pizza), then slept until noon, got up, went to class and started the cycle again. It helped so many of my symptoms. I even trusted myself on a ladder.

I write fiction (in my spare time) and I find that I am most creative around 10PM and I can work until 3 or 4 in the morning without a problem (very few POTS symptoms). The next morning hurts though, especially if I have to be up for work, but if I can sleep in, I'm much better the next day.

Firewatcher, I need to check into this DSPS. I have Asthma and a heart murmur, so I'm wondering if that's part of my problem. Had a sleep study done a while back but couldn't fall asleep (at all). They sent me home at 4am AND told the doctor I had a normal reading!!!

I will sometimes crash after supper, around 7, but only if I eat a really large meal and try to be active right after. I need to give my body a rest after I eat or my digestive system will rebel, big time.

Sara

[firewatcher]

Yeah, it is crazy what is genetic and what is not. Some of us are genetically programmed to stay up and watch the fire so that the wolves don't eat the children...you get the source of the name "firewatcher" now. I have been wallowing in my geekiness and many disorders that screw up the ANS also mess with the circadian clock. I wonder though, I have always been this way (phase delayed) does it predispose me to ANS dysfunction or have I always had an ANS dysfunction? Morning is just horrid for me, the juices just are not flowing the right direction yet. Unfortunately the only way that I do sleep well is to KEEP a strict schedule and get up every day at the same time, no naps, no sleeping in. I guess the constant state of semi-exhaustion maintains the clock.

[Guest tearose]

Gosh, these days, this humidity and heat makes for an entire day of crashing! I am so wiped out!

hydrated, rag doll,

tearose

[turtlefairy5]

Amen, tearose.

This heat is oppressive. The tachycardia is happening even when I'm sitting.

Today, actually the past few days, have been yuck for me.

Where is Autumn?

Amber

[morgan617]

WEll, we've had about 3 hot days, so no problem there.

Between 3 and 7 every day is just awful for me, I have no idea why. I can't stay awake, I feel like total crappola during those hours and then I get this second wind about 7-10 pm. Go figure....

[ajw4790]

Hi,

My crashes vary... but I tend to be more awake and able to do things approx. 8pm to 6am. I have less issues with heat and humidity at these times etc.