Does Anyone Have These Extreme Symptoms

[mae]

Hey all,

Whenever I leave the house during the day I feel immediately over stimulated, starting with the daylight( especially on a sunny day) I get overheated, anxious, like everything is Too Bright, Too loud, Too fast, a feeling of detachment like I'm in a movie but I'm slow motion. Not to be too descriptive or revealing . back in my teens I smoked POT, I feel high all the time and I don't wanna be no more thats exactly how I feel HIGH and I can't stand it . By time my body starts adjusting from the stimulation I'm exhausted from my racing heart when I stand and the constant flight or flight feeling FOR no reason!!!! Does anyone related to this ???? I stay in most of the time when my curtains drawn and no bright lights and as calm as can be this is the only thing that seems to help... I use to be a sunbather, party girl, and was never bothered by anything now I'm like a deer caught in the headlights FROM LIFE. One thing wearing sunglass help, and staying cool I always have the fan on in the house and crack the window in the car (even in the winter I'd take coat off in the car and my hands would be ice cold) I just need to know Does anyone feel this or is it just Me ???? And brain fog can someone please explain that cause I feel like I have altimsers I'm 30.

Mae thanks for listening sometimes I feel so scared cause I have no control on whats going on within my body

[ramakentesh]

What you describing sounds pretty familiar and its what most doctors would call the hyperadrenergic form of POTS - you are a POTS patient that presents with sympo-excitation. It sounds like you have it pretty bad.

When Im bad i am easily overstimulated by busy environments - restaurants and neon light-filled shopping centres are a bad trigger for me. Its annoying and for a while I used to drink a beer before going out as it helps this symptom but my doctor talked me out of it (and for the last four months ive been recovering from a nasty liver bug I caught on holiday so alcohol is very much OUT!)

According to research - patients that exhibit excessive sympo-excitation can often be overly reactive to medications, tend to suffer from excessive vasoconstriction, sweating and sometimes postural anxiety.

the cause of this symptom presentation is controversial. Most doctors believe that its a different form of POTS than the blood pooling variety - caused by faulty reuptake of a blood chemical that regulates venous constriction AND the fight/flight response. others believe that a POTS patient may present with excessive sympo excitation no matter the underlying cause.

Have you tried beta blockers for this symptom?

Interestingly, schizophrenics report that they suffer from a symptom where they cannot differentiate close by sounds from surrounding sounds and movements - their minds cannot concentrate on one specific stimuli because it cannoy switch off from the surrounding environmental stimuli. This is quite similar to what I experience in busy environments. On wikipedia it suggests and schizophrenics actually usually smoke nicotine because it helps this symptom. But Im not suggesting you go out and start smoking!! Just thought it might be of interest.

As for your references to marijuana. Ive only ever tried it once or twice in my younger years but from memory the experience was pleasurable. I dont find POTS symptoms pleasurable EVER A friend who is a medical researcher gave me a joint once to see if it helped my POTS symptoms and it made them far worse! So beware.

Your feeling stoned/mentally confused either because excessive blood is pooling in your lower body (stomach, pelvis, possibily lower limbs) and this is reducing blood flow to your brain. You may also be suffering from an excessive response to standing where too much norepinephrine is available basically constricting your carotid arteries to the point where you are being choked by your own body. Weird eh?

its an unpleasant feeling, but one that nearly all pots patients experience for varying reasons.

[bizbiz]

I am fine at home.

When I leave the house I start feeling REALLY, REALLY tired (like I could literally drop on the floor and sleep), start feeling weak, and find it hard to concentrate.

Withing half an hour of arriving home, I am usually fine again.

My blood pressure doesnt seem to drop much on standing, I have never fainted, and I dont get any discolouration in my legs to suggest blood pooling, so I assume that I have the problem of 'over-constriction' when I am upright / over stimulated.

[carinara]

I can totally relate to what you are saying. I had 3 bad POTS episodes in the past 10 years. During these times i had no controll over my body, i felt exactly how you described it in your post, everything set my ANS off, i couldnt tolerate noises, smells, lights, my HR doubled up as soon as i tried to stand up all the time, i was so sick, just crawled to the toilet not knowing how to manage to use it. I couldnt stand up at all. Back then no doctor found out what was wrong with me and they ended up telling me that i must be toooooooo sensitive. After a while i started to believe my doctors a little and tried to put my mind over my symtoms but that wasnt possible. My instinct kept telling me to get up and walk and thats what i did every single day. I always waitet until it was dark outside because in the evenings i always felt (and feel) a little better, i craweld in the back yard and walked a few steps and craweld again. For me its sooo important to have the feeling that i do something about it, train a little every day. I asked my family if they would take me out for a little car trip every day and they did. Sometimes it took me ages to get to the car wich was right in front of the house. I always had my hand fan with me in case i got to hot. If i felt ok, we would stop at a shady place and i would try again to walk for a little while. Sometimes it was possible but sometimes not. This little routine made me feel more normal in during those weeks and months, my daughter was only a baby then and i wanted to be the mother i always dreamed of. After a while my body got more in balance again so that i could return to my job. I have POTS symptoms on a daily bases but these extreme symptoms are gone for now (again). these episodes happened to me in 2000, 2004 and 2007 and even when i had to sit in a wheelchair because i couldnt stand up without very bad symptoms (in during the day), i would find a few minutes in the evening (when i felt a little better) to go out the house and walk or crawl and to go on a little car trip with somebody from my family. This helped me a lot mentally. On each of them episodes i missed about 4 months of work, but after a while my body seems to get back into a better balance wich allows me to do more things again. Even tough i cant stand longer then a few minutes now, the extreme sensitivitys are gone for the moment and that makes a great difference. Right now it seems that i can controll my triggers much better but i know that if i get one of them episodes again that once again i have to wait it out and walk again. The only difference now is, that i got diagnosed with pots in 2007 and i finally know whats wrong with me, were before i didnt. Maybe it would help you as well to set tiny goals every day. All the best carinara

[ramakentesh]

yeah I can totally relate and agree. Those periods seem to happen when POTS is at its very worst. At other times its still present for me but much more managable. As an example even driving the car and the concentration and lights at night can be a bad idea for me still.

Building up slowly is the key! Dont do what i did on friday and go for a swim and push it too far - im right back at square 1 and it took me three months to get this far!