Colonoscopy Cancelled Again! Very Low Catecholamines

[Maxine]

My ANS hasn't been stable, and I've been feeling so much worse then my usual. My catecholamines are very low----too low to get a total. I wonder if it's a mistake. They took them lying down. I'm told they are even too low for lying down anyway, but PCP doesn't think the test was done properly.

I faxed a copy to the Cleveland Clinic, and they can reschedule the colonoscopy, and we won't be able to use sedation drugs, or very little sedation. My PCP said my body can't handle it, and he's also worried about perforation, but I'm not too worried about that----more so about the drugs. I got the resultes faxed to me today, and my PCP had me come into his office today. He said this was a bigger worry then getting colonoscopy done, but I think the colonoscopy is more important. He said I got a low GI with double contrast whihc is acceptable for screening, and said it shouldn't make a difference to wait a little longer.

I'm just plain depressed. Why can't my body get stable?

Maxine :0)

[sue1234]

Sorry things get so whacky! Just when you were all set and ready to go!

Do you take anything, like an alpha blocker or whatever, that lowers the cats? If not, what does he think lowers the levels? I know high levels like from a pheo cause symptoms like high b/p, etc., but what is the significance of low to non-existant levels? Sorry for the questions, just always curious.

[Maxine]

Thanks sue1234----

I'm not sure what low levels mean. Especially that low. the only thing I can think of is to have them checked again. I know I feel much more wiped out then usual, and my mid thoracic spine pain is bad enough to make me want to cry. MY pain tolerance is high, so this means about a level 8 on the pain scale. It's also knocking the wind out of me literally.

It's the holiday weekend, so all docs were already gone at the Cleveland Clinic to discuss what to do about colonoscopy. I tried looking up information on low catecholamines levels, but I couldn't find much in the short amount of time I had. All my energy is used just taking the 15 minute drive to the nursing home my mother in law is in for rehab. Today I felt a blip of sorts with my heart----not sure what it was----skipped beats, extra beats. I found my BP was very low, so maybe that caused it. My husband said my spine just below my neck is sticking out to the left this time.....

This all can go away now so I can go out and slug down a couple of margaritas and go out on the dance floor and dance the way I used to dance. I was pretty good at it once. Now I can only show my granddaughters how for about a minute. Hopefully one day I'll dance again.

Next week I'll find out what the Cleveland Clinic can do about working around this, once I fax a copy of the report to them. Believe it or not, the Cleveland Clinic isn't very well versed on these kind of complications. when I voiced my concerns about the sedation drugs, they weren't at all concerned-------this is a red flag, because they should be.

Maxine :0)

[valliali]

Sorry if I missed this, but which of your catecholamines were low?

Thanks sue1234----

I'm not sure what low levels mean. Especially that low. the only thing I can think of is to have them checked again. I know I feel much more wiped out then usual, and my mid thoracic spine pain is bad enough to make me want to cry. MY pain tolerance is high, so this means about a level 8 on the pain scale. It's also knocking the wind out of me literally.

It's the holiday weekend, so all docs were already gone at the Cleveland Clinic to discuss what to do about colonoscopy. I tried looking up information on low catecholamines levels, but I couldn't find much in the short amount of time I had. All my energy is used just taking the 15 minute drive to the nursing home my mother in law is in for rehab. Today I felt a blip of sorts with my heart----not sure what it was----skipped beats, extra beats. I found my BP was very low, so maybe that caused it. My husband said my spine just below my neck is sticking out to the left this time.....

This all can go away now so I can go out and slug down a couple of margaritas and go out on the dance floor and dance the way I used to dance. I was pretty good at it once. Now I can only show my granddaughters how for about a minute. Hopefully one day I'll dance again.

Next week I'll find out what the Cleveland Clinic can do about working around this, once I fax a copy of the report to them. Believe it or not, the Cleveland Clinic isn't very well versed on these kind of complications. when I voiced my concerns about the sedation drugs, they weren't at all concerned-------this is a red flag, because they should be.

Maxine :0)

[Maxine]

Hi---

Epinephrine was < 10

Norepinephrine was 277

Dopamine was < 30

They said one or more components was below detection limit to accurately calculate.

I'll call my endocrinologist on Tuesday. Not that it will do any good, as he does very minimal testing.

Maxine :0)