Got The Journals From Gp I Saw, Charted Bp And Feeling Bit Bad.

[pulp]

Ordered the charts home from the rude physician I saw couple of weeks ago, the journals he had written made me feel so sad and they were incorrect from the information I had given but I just put them away (basically non-stop psychiatric talk from his side). I got the numbers from the ambulatory blood pressure I had done and since they left out the chart I know is included I put the values into excel. Shame they didn't send my own notes with it (I was quite thorough writing them!) but I remember the day somewhat - I was at home all day when values were taken sitting/lying down except at one time when I was picking up my kid from school. I don't have the the education to interpret these numbers and apply them to anything but maybe someone here would be interested!

I've felt so bad lately, maybe it IS all in my head. I feel my heart pounding all the time, especially when I'm going to sleep and no matter how high the HR is, the propranolol made my tachy brady so I lowered the dosage a bit. Can't sleep due to the adrenaline rushes I get and I'm totally exhausted but I'm still somewhat managing my practice at the hospital, maybe I'm too functional to be suffering from dysautonomia? Since just about every doctor except one has said it's due to anxiety I feel so discouraged. Cause I do have anxiety, but it's like it comes from inside my body and not from anything mental. I'm doing something I think is actually fun but I can't wait to get off from work every day so I can just lie down cause I'm so tired. It's like I'm shoveling snow ahead of me and the more snow piles up the heavier the pile gets to shove ahead of me but I just have to keep going, there's no time to stop, rest and shove it aside. Wonder when it will stop..Feels as if I will go crazy. The anti-anxiety meds don't help. I contacted a doctor who specializes in dys. but now I'm actually afraid of that appointment, how crazy is that? I'm scared it will show it's just in my mind.

Love to you guys!

pulp

[potsgirl]

Hi Pulp,

I'm sorry you're having these troubles. I'm trying to interpret your graph, but I can't read the key on the side that lets me know what each color stands for. Could you please clarify?

[pulp]

Thanks! Green is heart rate blue systolic bp, red diastolic bp

[potsgirl]

Just looking at the graph, it looks like you might have POTS. I'm sure you've looked up the information on this site about what constitutes POTS or Orthostatic Hypotension, etc. If you go from a lying position to standing, your HR must go up at least 30 beats per minute, with your BP remaining basically stable. If your BP drops a lot, that's an indication of orthostatic hypotension (OI). Both are dysautonomia syndromes.

The best test would be a tilt table test. Has anyone had you do one of these yet? You could also do a "poor man's" tilt table test at home. You'll see people refer to it on the forum as a "TTT". You lay down for about 10 minutes, wearing a good BP/HR monitor, and then you stand up and record these numbers at 1, 3, 5, and 10 minutes. Could you do that and post those numbers on this thread?

Hope your weekend is starting off well.

Cheers!

[pulp]

Thanks for the feedback! I did do an orthostatic test at the hospital some weeks ago. Dont have the numbers with me but if I remember it correctly something like Resting 99 HR 97/75, upon standing 123 HR 102/75, 2 min 143 HR 95/72, 4 min 163 HR 102/72. Sat down then. 142 HR 130/75 after some minute sitting/lyinh down. This was on one of the bad days. I guess i wonder if anxiety can really make the body behave like this.. The GP wouldnt even look at this test but simply dismissed me cause he said the ambulatory was normal.

[derekliz]

what software did you use for that? I have a free app on my phone to keep track of my blood pressure and pulse and am able to export it......have not looked for a chart.......interesting. This is all new to me so I really can't give any advice as I am still learning so much

[potsgirl]

Those numbers would indicate that you probably do have POTS, but you need to find yourself a different doctor who is familiar with the symptoms...Classic POTS numbers when you stand up. I don't know where you're from, but look at the forum's list of doctors, and go see one of them~ you may be able to benefit from some meds like Florinef or Midodrine or other things (lots of salt, water, exercise) that would possibly be applicable to your specific symptoms. I'm not a doctor, of course, but your numbers certainly look like typical POTS numbers.

A GP might not have the knowledge that you need to be diagnosed correctly. Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Vanderbilt, and other doctors who are familiar with POTS and related illnesses are definitely your best bet.

[pulp]

Derekliz: The information is from the ambulatory 24 h bp measurement I had done through the primary care office, I ordered my journals sent home. I put the values into an excel sheet and made the linear graph from that.

potsgirl: thank you again for the reply. I really hope the appointment I'm waiting for will be a positive one, it's in a neighbouring country and I live in Sweden but that's just about the only doctor I found through searching on the net that has anything to do with dysautonomia in this area of the world. I think what really got me thinking that something might be wrong with my body is that during the summer I was on my feet each day for maybe 10 hours and don't even know how many thousands of steps it was per day but my fatigue just kept getting stronger and I just keep getting more and more out of breath and lightheaded. I can still work but it takes every inch of willpower to do it and it does feel as if it's just getting worse and worse. The propranolol has helped with the tachy but it does make me really cold and more weak, bp around 85/60 erect.