Shopping & Triggers

[miranda]

Hi everyone ,

I woke this morning and my blood pressure was good 109/78

then when I stood up it was 114/82

I was so shocked because I have orthostatic hypotention and this never happens.

I felt good and walked the dog and did ok.

Then I went shopping , stood in a long line to pay for my goods

and suddenly had a episode , my heart raced , my body shook, I was sweating , and dizzy and nearly passed out - somehow I stayed upright and squeezed my leg muscles very hard.

what do people do to stop this?

[Simmy]

There is nothing to be gained by fighting it and staying upright. Squat. That'll give you a few more minutes.

[miranda]

so is squating better than standing and squeezing leg muscles ?

I find when it happens I am almost paralised with symptoms and can not think (is this normal?) ,

I just about managed to squeeze my leg muscles.

It was triggered by stress and standing for ages in line ,

The elderly man in front of me, emptied his pockets and had lots of small change

to pay for his shopping and the check out girl took ages counting it.

I remember thinking OH NO !!! then it happened.

[Simmy]

I also have hypo-pots with blood pooling and know what you mean. You can walk through the store with only minor head pressure, the heart rate is not too extreme and you almost feel normal, then you stand and in less than a minute everything changes, your brain lacks for blood and you can't think properly, followed by 'oh no'.

After many trials and many errors I've found that squatting is THE very best method (next to lying down) to instantly lower heart rate and lessen headache and dizziness. I believe it's called a 'frog pose', with knees bent all the way, calves touching thighs, and balancing yourself on your toes (not flat-footed). This physically compresses the leg blood vessels and shoots the blood upward.

At first I was too embarrassed to squat in public, so like you I tried squeezing the leg muscles, or leaning over the shopping cart, but nothing worked as well as squatting. I finally came to realize that I was limiting my relief because of what I thought people would think of me, which is when I decided my physical well-being is more important. Now I squat in public, anywhere, anytime I need to and that allows me to extend my outside time.

A word of caution though, getting up from a long squat needs to be done slowly and gradually to avoid an immediate heart rate spike.

[miranda]

Thank you Simmy , I will try it on my next episode and will let you know how I get on.

Usually when it happens It takes me hours to feel better in myself ,

but today I recovered very quickly and thought this was probally

due to the extra salt and fluid I am taking.

Will this ever go away ? Ive been having these episodes 7 years now .

[Noreen]

After many trials and many errors I've found that squatting is THE very best method (next to lying down) to instantly lower heart rate and lessen headache and dizziness. I believe it's called a 'frog pose', with knees bent all the way, calves touching thighs, and balancing yourself on your toes (not flat-footed). This physically compresses the leg blood vessels and shoots the blood upward.

A word of caution though, getting up from a long squat needs to be done slowly and gradually to avoid an immediate heart rate spike.

Excellent description. I would drop my purse and squat to get it knocking it over to give me more time. It has just seemed easier to laugh off being a klutz than explaining this.

I hadn't realized the physiology of why sometimes I felt horrible when getting up so I appreciate your explanation in a word of caution. More reason to stay conditioned, too, as it takes stronger thigh muscles to rise slowly.

[Guest tearose]

This is one of my issues too!

The energy it takes to shop and then the stopping triggers my near-faint episodes. First I will try to do the squeeze of my calf muscles, and I too then resort to a squat. It is frustrating that sometimes we can manage and other times we don't. If I notice I am having more frequent problems I start bringing along my seat cane again and will sit down on that in a line. It really helps maintain good oxygen to the brain and bring the heart back to a good rate and rhythm.

I wear compression and this helps too. There are times even in compression after extended walking I will need to be careful and sit.

[lieze]

I think I sometimes do this to myself and it makes me soooo mad.

I get anxious and automatically I feel symptomatic.

My boss just called and as soon as I started the conversation I got breathless I hope she didn't notice! But I wish I had more control. Ha maybe I need to just squat while talking on the phone.

I had to get up and leave the room and try to escape where I could hear because the kids were talking loud right into the phone I was embarrassed.

lieze

I love my kids but these toddler years are frustrating enough without being potsy.

[miranda]

I wonder if this symptom will ever go away , Is it possible ?

Suddenly I wish I could do russian dancing

thats a severe squat , imagine the blood flow to the brain ! lol

[brownsea]

ive been experiencing this way before i knew i had pots. my body knew what to do.

once when i was fifteen i spent the day in venice, after tolerating the august heat, and crowds quite well i had to ride back to the car on the vaparetto (water bus). it was quite crowded, i came over funny, which i was used to, so i just sat on the floor. i got some odd looks, but i just knew i had to do it.

its not until last year that i was diagnosed with pots, that i realised what was wrong, and what my body had been telling me all these years.

[Simmy]

Sorry Mirry, I thought that was a rhetorical question. Will your symptoms ever go away? I don't know, it depends on many factors. Statistically, the younger you are the better your chances of recovery, or in some cases, remission. In some ways my meds are effective in lowering my overall heart rate and boosting blood pressure, but now I have to deal with nocturnal bradycardia and an overall all-day dizziness. Unfortunately, since we're in the early stages of awareness and there is yet no known cure, most will have this for life and must learn to manage their symptoms and live with it. After all, the only other alternative is to go on the Dr Kevorkian diet plan and I'm not quite there yet. How's the squatting working for you?

Reen - Dropping your purse is a good idea, like my checking the lower shelf in the checkout line, but that doesn't last long. How about accidentally knocking over a display case and squatting to pick everything up? I recently posted about people constantly asking me if I'm OK and others giving me funny looks when I squat, so I came up with a design on a T-shirt that should help alleviate that problem. Here's the link:

dinet.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=15006

Tearose - If only they had chairs at checkout lines we'd be OK. My doctor also recommended the compression hose, I think 30-40, and I tried them, but just putting them on exhausted me too much to make them worth it for me and they were also painful on my bloated belly.

Lieze - Doesn't matter what I'm doing - shopping, walking the dogs, laundry, house work, or just talking, if I get the nasties and can't lie down there's always squatting. It works great for me.

Emma - Me too. When I first became ill two years ago and had no idea what was going on, although I hadn't yet discovered squatting, I knew I felt better when my head was lower to the ground so my wife purchased a rolling walker for me to kind of lay down on for trips to the bathroom. Whatever works.

[Noreen]

Simmy-

I like the stop light design the best.

As long as your knees and ankles hold out, that's great.