The Tt Test

[Janey]

Can anyone who reads this give me a detailed description of your TTT and what happened in it? I've been reading the thread below about TT testing and feel like I didn't have the same sort of test as everyone else. For a start I was only upright for 10 minutes or so and had no meds. I have to have another one in a few months in a special autonomic testing centre and want to know what might be different about it.

Do you mind answering these questions:

Were you given meds before the TTT? What meds were they and what do they do?

How long were you upright and how long before you fainted?

What were your symptoms when you were first upright (aside from low BP and high HR?)

What were your symptoms when you had been upright for a while?

Did you vomit?

How long did it take you to recover from it?

[Detrick7]

I just had mine a few months ago, so most of this is fresh in my mind:

Were you given meds before the TTT? What meds were they and what do they do? I was not given meds initially. Laid on a hospital looking bed, blood pressure cuff on my arm, electrodes (or whatever they are called) on my upper chest, then strapped to the bed. Bed was put upright (all the way up, 90 degrees from floor) for about 20 minutes. I didn't faint, but almost fainted twice. My heart rate and blood pressure went all over the place, but don't remember exact numbers. Then I was given a medicine to increase my heart rate and put upright again for 15 minutes. I almost fainted once more and the test was over.

What were your symptoms when you were first upright (aside from low BP and high HR?)? Nothing at first, just weird to be standing and strapped to a table.

What were your symptoms when you had been upright for a while?I could feel myself starting to pass out, thought for sure I was, but then would come back to "normal".

Did you vomit? No, but almost passing out does make me nausea, so I imagine some people may pass out.

How long did it take you to recover from it? Similar to when I almost pass out on a daily basis, nausea and tired for little while. This was a little worse than normal, probably because of the meds to speed up my heart rate. Basically I was just tired for a good part of the day, but nothing horrible.

Hope that helps. Not every doctor agrees with using meds and not all will put you up all the way up at a 90 degree angle. Basically the test is standing still for 20+ minutes.

[Broken_Shell]

Hi,

I did not have any meds for my TTT. I was upright for about 10 minutes, experienced some wooziness and nausea, and was then put back down. It usually takes me 24 hours to recover from any sort of testing I have done. I have also wondered why many people on the forum describe a more in-depth test. I had the test done at both Froedtert in Milwaukee and Mayo Clinic in MN. I hope that helps... and good luck!

~ Broken_Shell

[juliegee]

My son had his at Johns Hopkins. No meds before. Baseline HR and BP were taken before he was tilted almost to a 90 angle, more like 80 degrees. He was upright for 30 mins before he lost a measurable BP. At that moment, he also vomited, and was immediately lowered to supine. They planned to keep him standing for 45 mins, before adding meds via IV. At that point, they would have started another 45 mins. looking for an "episode."

Hi HR and BP were taken every 2 mins. He was asked to report his symptoms every 5 mins. They complete the test at as soon as an episode occurs OR after both 45 minute tests if the patient is NOT symptomatic. Mack reported that the TTT simulated his everyday life- nothing awful. He was given 2 bags of IV fluids afterwards. He was a little weak, but basically his "normal" afterwards.

Best of luck with your test!

[Nikki]

I had a tilt table test done in October of last year. I wasn't given any medication beforehand..They just hooked me up to a blood pressure and heart monitor..Those little electrode things were placed on my chest and they started an IV. I was laying down for about 25 minutes. Then they tilted the table up and I thought I was going to pass out right away. I saw tons of dots and spots and felt that weird..disconnected feeling that you get when you're on the verge of being unconscious, but I didn't pass out or get sick. Once I was standing up that way for a few minutes, the worst of it passed. I know sometimes they will give you isoproterenol to speed up your heart if nothing happens but he said I basically have my own isoproterenol because my heart rate was 135 laying, and went up to 180 when they tilted me upright. They kept me tilted that way for about 20 minutes. The only thing that happened afterwards was that my legs felt numb for a bit but once they unstrapped me and I was able to move them, I was fine. I pretty much had my normal lightheadedness once it was over with and was just tired. Nothing too bad though!

[Angelika_23]

I did not have any meds with my TTT. I was on a bed for 10 mins, then when they raised it to 70 degrees, it took less than 30 seconds for my HR to skyrocket. My BP did not/does not drop. I lasted about 7 mins before they had to bring me back down. I did not faint, but it was touch and go there for a minute.

I was terrified before the test, I was afraid they would give me Isuprel or something like it to raise the HR. They didn't do it, but I had heard so many stories I was worried about it.

After the test I couldn't walk, my husband had to push me around in a wheelchair for the rest of the day. It took several days to recover.

Angela

[Chele]

I had my TTT done in the fall of 2005 at Emory in Atl. I knew that my heart rate and blood pressure would be monitored at different angles. Upon hearing that explaination I thought well this will be another dead end test. When the technician came out to the waiting area to get me she told me her explaination adding, "Well if we can get you to pass out then we know something is wrong". I'm thinking to myself... pass out no one said anything about passing out. While she was getting the test started I was a real jabber box (that's how I am now when I get a chance to talk one on one with anybody these days). I wasn't given any meds before hand. She told me not to worry that if I do pass out she would just lay me back down and I'd come to again. I wasn't thrilled with the possibility of passing out, so I thought I'd come up with a pretty good strategy. I told myself to stay calm and keep blinking your eyes. The laying down part when smoothly enough. I was then raised to approx. 70 degree angle. There I was trying to stay calm and blinking my eyes, still jabbering away. Then it came time to put a nitro pill under my tongue. Right away I didn't feel good, the tech wanted to know what I was feeling. I felt my heart racing, nauseated,.... Next thing I know is I am lying down again, I'm thinking," ah man, I passed out. I felt like my worst day (like I have described to the doctors, but they'd never seen) times three. At first I could hardly move, when I started to talk my words were extremely slurred, I still couldn't sit up, I had extreme brain fog, etc. The tech said, " There is definitely something neurologically wrong with you for a passing out episode to cause your speech to become so slurred". My husband was able to come back, and I tried sitting up. John ( my husband) asked if we could use a wheel chair to get me back to the car. As we were leaving, John came up with a brilliant idea. On the way to the car we went by my neurologist's office to see if he had a minute to see my condition. Thankfully he was there and took the time to see me. So a test I thought that was going to be a dud turned out to be one that yielded the best look at what I was always trying to describe to my doctors. For the rest of the day I felt bad, and needed to stay in bed. Well sorry to just go on and on ... Hoping and praying your tilt table test goes well,

Dana

[ByteMe58]

I had the Tilt Table Test during a 22 day stay in the hospital. I was on a beta blocker (lopressor), Paxil and Midodrine. I was also wearing compression stockings. They said the test would run for 10 minutes and they were looking for an increase of 30 beats per minute or 120 bpm at any time during the test to confirm POTS.

They strapped me to the hospital bed, inserted an IV, hooked up 2 blood pressure monitors (1 runs automatic, the other whenever they wanted to check) and the cluster of stick on monitors on my chest.

Before the test my heart rate was about 62, which was low due to the meds. They put the table straight up to 90 degrees and the doctor stood right in front of me asking me to tell him how I felt.

Almost immediately, I saw black spots and blurry vision, then my hearing started to become affected. My head started to hurt after about 1 minute. I asked the doctor if my hands were turning red, and he said don't worry about your hands, tell me how you feel. By then my legs were shaking and I was sweating, he told me to stop my leg from shaking and I couldn't. I said "I..I..ca-ca-can't" I couldn't even talk without stuttering. I could feel my eyes closing and my head dropping as I was passing out, he kept saying, keep your eyes open and look at me. That happened 2 or 3 times. He asked about my headache which was worse but bearable. When I told him my head hurt a lot, he said, put him down, I said "NO, finish". He said put him down, he's done.

When I got back down and things started returning to normal, I said you should have finished the test, he said I didn't have to, your heart rate was over 180 bpm in 6 minutes. You have POTS.

[TypewriterGirl]

I just had mine yesterday- hope this helps!

Were you given meds before the TTT? What meds were they and what do they do?

I was only given a saline IV - they told me if I didn't pass out after 45 minutes they would give me medication that I would try to fight off and could make me pass out. Didn't make it that far.

How long were you upright and how long before you fainted?

I lasted a whole 2 minutes standing.

What were your symptoms when you were first upright (aside from low BP and high HR?)

It was probably the worst I've ever felt. I was shaking, sweating, had numbness in my fingers, and was hypervenilating. My heart rate was up past 195 and my BP dropped below 50. I was really anxious before starting, but I had been stabilized for about 15 min. before so I wasn't super anxious when I went up.

What were your symptoms when you had been upright for a while?

I didn't last long enough to find out.

Did you vomit?

No, but I was pretty nauseous. And I felt so bad that I really just wanted to throw up on everyone, just so they'd never do it again.

How long did it take you to recover from it?

I got more saline IV afterwards, and stayed on the table for about 25 minutes resting. I didn't leave the hospital for about another hour or so. I'm still recovering, but it was pretty harsh on my system.

[Detrick7]

When I first found out I would have a TTT I thought for sure nothing would happen. Since I just almost faint, I thought I can stand for 20 minutes and not faint no problem. I teach night classes at a local university and stand for a couple hours sometimes, this test is a waste of time.

Then I read an article about how you find ways to compensate for your dysautonmia; fidgeting, rarely standing still, flexing your leg muscles, etc. etc. These are all things to help keep your blood moving. That described me to a "T". I never stand still, even when talking to people at work, if I am standing for more than a minute I start moving around without even thinking about it. When I teach I pace around the front of the room. Before I got diagnosed with NCS I was aware I was always doing this and always thought to myself "this is probably distracting, just stand still", but would still do it anyway. I flex my legal muscles all the time and never really understood why I did it. Also, before I was diagnosed (and I still do now) I would always drink water/G2 before going to bed and first thing when I woke up in the morning. Whenever I would drink alochol, I would drink 3 glasses of water before going to bed.

I have had NCS for about 15 years before being diagnosed a few months ago. The fact that I was doing these things, really without ever thinking about it started to make sense. Anybody else do things like that to help compensate, without really knowing you are doing it?

[Chaos]

I have had NCS for about 15 years before being diagnosed a few months ago. The fact that I was doing these things, really without ever thinking about it started to make sense. Anybody else do things like that to help compensate, without really knowing you are doing it?

I started having symptoms after surgery 2 years ago. My dr. started me on Inderol just to help treat symptoms without knowing anything about POTS. I was able to go back to work but never felt like I did before surgery. Whenever I'd have to stand for any length of time I'd get light headed and would instinctively start doing little leg exercises to try to help it, or sit down, or squat down or do a forward bend to try to get blood to my head. My family always told me I had a "hummingbird gene" because I could never stay still for any length of time. Once I started learning about POTS, all these behaviors started making perfect sense to me.

On another thread there were several of us who discovered that we'd always been very fast walkers when we were in a healthier state. That makes sense too... more muscles pump action getting blood back out of the legs.

[janiedelite]

Were you given meds before the TTT? What meds were they and what do they do?

I had my TTT done at Mayo in MN and they didn't give me meds or an IV.

How long were you upright and how long before you fainted?

I was tilted to 70 degrees I believe, and was upright for 10 minutes but never fainted. Just felt horrible.

What were your symptoms when you were first upright (aside from low BP and high HR?)

chest pain, palpitations, nausea, air hunger, blurry vision/black spots, headache

What were your symptoms when you had been upright for a while?

Same as the above

Did you vomit?

No

How long did it take you to recover from it?

Hard to say as I'd had the sweat test the day after which I vomitted all night long so I was already feeling pretty badly. But as soon as I was flat again, I could breathe normally and the worst of the chest pain was gone. My HR went from 70 to 109 and BP went from 130/80 to 140/96 sustained, although it went as high as 160's/110's. I take nitro tablets for my chest pain and have had worse OI while they're active, but that's a normal side effect of that medication.

[Janey]

Thanks guys, REALLY helpful replies! Will let you know how my second TT goes..

Janey