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Blood Volume Testing?


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I had this done at Mayo and it showed severe hypovolemia. It is a nuclear medicine test. It is not done everywhere. I knew I had hypovolemia because my weight would drop quickly, eg 7 pounds in five days...too fast to be anything but fluid and my clothes fit the same. Also very high salt diet and Florinef helped me a lot.

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When i relapse I can literally lose 6-8 kgs in a day! So yes hypovolumia definately plays a role in my case. Intravenous saline profoundly improves all of my symptoms other than tachycardia. Similarly licorice and florinef have been very helpful medications for me!!!

ive reported this fluid loss to some doctors with varying levels of interest and some scepticism.

A paper from vanderbilt suggested up to 70% of POTS patients have chronic hypovolumia. For me correcting the hypovolumia has resulted in improved dizziness and much less wired/tired feelings.

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I had blood volume testing done at Cleveland Clinic in OH with Dr. Jaeger. My results showed normal volume levels but severe blood pooling. Dr. Jaeger thought the Fludrocortisone still in my system impacted the result. I am quite confident despite the result that I am chronically hypovolemic because dehydration is a huge trigger for me and saline via IV helps me through rough patches. I've used it as a "bail out" now on several occasions.

I'm not sure what is required for ordering the test but I would suspect anyone with syncope related issues might benefit. When I called up there to set up the appt for "autonomic testing" this was one of several tests they scheduled for me. The others were: lots of blood work, QSART, TTT (wCatecholamine serum draw on request), Hemodynamic lab(this was the most helpful for me), HR Variability. I was supposed to have the Thermoregulatory Sweat Test but couldn't get in due to scheduling.

I'm not sure which facilities have that test but here are a few that might:

- Mayo, MN

- Vanderbilt, TN

- NY Univ Med Center Langone, NY

- UT Southwestern, TX

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