janietrudell Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 Hi All,I am new to this forum. My teenage son was diagnosed with POTS 4 years ago and I was diagnosed shortly after. Now that my son is in college his symptoms seem to be lessening! I believe I have always had minor symptoms but as I get older they are increasing. My main symptoms are low bp, brachycardia, anxiety, and constipation. I have some other symptoms that I am wondering if they are POTS related. I anger Very easily and am impatient and moody and just recently several urinalysises showed my 'urine specific gravity' is very decreased. I have had urinary burning all of my life, but other than that no symptoms. I am trying not to freak out as the doctor said one cause is kidney failure. Anyone else have anything like this - the moodiness or urinary problems? I am working between 3 doctors all with different opinion (lol)Thanks in advance,Janeps - I just ordered the dvd and am excited to get it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firewatcher Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 Welcome to our autonomically dysfunctional family!I have low specific gravity to my urine and low osmolality. I have urinary frequency and my blood tests show stage 3 kidney disease (based on calculated GFR from elevated serum creatinine.) All this being said, I went to a Yale trained, former research nephrologist who gave me the workup: no kidney disease. He said that my blood volume was so "perturbed" that NO blood test would be accurate for me! So now, once a year, I get to collect every drop of urine for 24 hours and they run a creatinine clearance test to determine my kidney function (the only truly accurate way to measure, so I've been told.) I also have unmeasurable ADH/vasopressin levels, so I got saddled with a diagnosis of partial Cranial Diabetes Insipidus (your pituitary does not produce enough ADH to concentrate your urine {NOT common with POTS}.) Urinary issues are common with POTS and the reason is postulated in an article by Dr. Satish Raj called "The Renin-Aldosterone Paradox." It is common for us to have frequent urination, but I'd get it all checked out before I'd let a doctor chalk it up to POTS. There could be many, reversible reasons for your issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janietrudell Posted January 5, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 Thanks firewatcher! I did have a 24 hour creatinine and cortisol urine test and the creatinine came back normal. I will look up the article you mentioned and also follow up with my internist.I love the term 'autonmically dysfunctional family'!It's also very interesting and complicated I am sure that no blood test is accurate for you!Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flop Posted January 6, 2010 Report Share Posted January 6, 2010 Specific gravity is one measure of how much "bits" are in your urine (heavy particles). Because we all drink loads of fluids we would all probably have low specific gravity too. 24hr urine creatinine is the most reliable test so if that was normal I owuldn't worry too much.FlopPS - welcome to the forum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramakentesh Posted January 7, 2010 Report Share Posted January 7, 2010 The renin-aldosterone paradox was explained by Medows et al and results from elevated angiotensin II. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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