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Oregon/Washington area


briarrose

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Morgan and Steph -

I don't live in Oregon or Washington (I live in Florida), but my husband and I would like to move in two years when his son finishes high school here. We are seriously considering the Washington/Oregon area, because that's where his 14-yr old daughter lives.

My question is does the rainy weather and constant weather systems coming through the area affect your POTs more so than other climates might? - and are there any good physicians in those states?

Sorry to be off topic a little! Would appreciate your input though. :blink:

Gena

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Gena, I live in Spokane, so we don't get the rain and dampness like they do on the coast. Our winters are fairly temperate, it rarely gets in the single digits, especially the last few years. It's not humid like Florida. My brother lived down there for about 15 years, he missed it so much he came back home to Boise, Idaho just a few months before all the hurricanes hit. But my sis in law really misses Florida. So I'm not sure what to tell you. The closer you get to the coast, the damper it is, not like the warm humidity there, but a colder damper kind. I have not done well in places along the coast of Oregon or Washington. However, Portland seems to be pretty temperate and I don't believe they have inordinate amounts of rain and hardly ever have snow. My mother loved Portland. As far as doctors, I don't know of any autonomic doctors anywhere close, but then most people don't seem to have much luck anywhere as a rule. They do have some great university hospitals that are expanding their research stuff. I believe you live in Oregon right briar? I love the ocean, it's just always too cold for me. Well not so much cold as damp. The middle of Washington almost never has snow and tends to be much milder than here. So it just all depends on what type of climate you are looking for. I'm cold intolerant, so I like warm, but many are heat intolerant. If you have lived in Florida for a long time, it will be a shock, no matter where you go. Blah de blah, gees, sorry. Hope that helps a little. morgan

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Forgive my writing ability this month as I'm struggling to think. I can barely speak a sentence, let alone write it. So if something doesn't make sense, please feel free to ask me questions. Thx

I live in Portland, Oregon. The winters are mild, I miss snow. But Portland is half way between the Ocean and the Mountain, basically an hour either way to get to what you want; snow or sea water :angry:

The rain on the west coast is nothing like the rain on the East. We usually have these little drops of rain not the buckets of water that pour from the sky back there. We rarely have thunder and lightning which I love when I'm in Ohio and Florida. The weather is seasonally more mild here than anywhere. We rarely ever experience humidity so the weather is much more pleasant because it's dry. It is generally cooler so if you don't mind your mornings starting off in the 60 degree range than hey Portland is for you :P

Doctor's, that's a struggle. I fly to Ohio to see Dr. Grubb and he gives my doctor's a multi-plan strategy that can take a year + to work through. I call it my ABC plan. If A doesn't work than go to B, you get the idea.

We do have a great University hospital here in Portland but they aren't very helpful in the multi problem POTS area. I've called cardiology and neurology up there and, well you don't want to know. I did know someone who lived close to Portland that seemed to be fairly happy with her care up at the University.

Portland is home to one of the largest Veteran's Autonomic testing hospitals in the Nation but they don't take people from the outside, you have to be military. That is where they study the Gulf War syndrome.

The University of Washington has one of the best U hospitals in the country. They are commonly listed in every speciality area, top 20 when mentioned in the annual list. However I have contacted all there departments and they aren't familiar with POTS. Bill Gates has funded much at the U of Washington, including the Genome project. So hopefully in the near future they will be hopeful to us Autonomic patients.

It's been my experience that there isn't any doctor's that know much about POTS, this side of Missouri. In fact, I would say that if you live on the West coast and actually get a diagnosis of POTS then consider yourself very lucky. Because I'm sure that there are hundreds if not thousands of people out here that are lacking the diagnosis. Most doctors that I say POTS to say to me "What!" I'm constantly explaining it to nurses. I've gotten to the point that when I see a new sub-speciality doc, I have a pre-printed binder of information that I've collected over the past 3 1/2 years and I just give them that to read.

I would love to see the NDRF pamphlet handed out to every doctor on the West Coast. That's what my cardiologist handed me when I was diagnosed.

So I would say that thank goodness that we have a group of cardiologist here in Portland that are recognizing what POTS is, now we just need to get them up to speed on how many symptoms it causes and the effects on your life that it has. Dr. Grubb is the first and only doctor that truly understands the **** that it causes!

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I ADORE Portland ... the Columbia River gorge is one of the most wonderful places in this country. My brother & his family lived there for many years and I visted several times a year. (My bedroom rug comes from Kitchen Kaboodle...) I'd move there in a tachycardic heartbeat ... if it weren't so darn small! Wink, wink, Morgan. :angry: (I live in Chicago...)

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I too live in the Portland area, but on the Washington side! I love it! The rainy seasons don't seem to affect my symptoms at all and I love the beautiful green. Everywhere you look you see green. Yes, we do have a lot of rain, but it breeds beautiful roses and dogwood trees and green green green. OK I'm repeating myself. I guess you can see what I like about living here. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else! EXCEPT: As Briarrose said - the lack of POTS knowledgeable doctors!!!! :P

Roselover

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Okay, now everyone has convinced me what a beautiful place Oregon/Wash. is.

The problem is that i LOVE sunshine and sunny days, and I know those are really only plentiful in the summer out there. How is Beaverton - is that area nice? And can you see the mountains from Portland or surrounding areas?

Morgan - Spokane sounds lovely too, but it may get too cold and too much snow for my hubby. He's very cold intolerant.

P.S. Don't forget to answer Briarrose's original question about whether you all are interested in forming a local group! Maybe one day I'll join ya up there! :P

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Gena would love to have you here and you're welcome to come visit just to check it out.

Rose - I was going ot mention the GREEN as I love it too. I think about it all the time and when someone says it raining, I say isn't that great, means we'll have green and beautiful flowers. I love listening to the rain as it helps to put me to sleep when I'm tired.

Beaverton is very busy, too much traffic and overly populated. You can see the mountains from nearly everywhere. I can see Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens from my neighborhood. Mt. Hood is always beautiful near sunset because the sun shadow is coming over the top of it and it leaves a beautiful siloutte in the background.

Since I was 16 with my drivers license, I would often drive out to the gorge. Sometimes I just go out and sit at Multnomah falls and veg. I take my kids out to the gorge to watch the stars at night, we've taken our sleeping bags and fallen asleep just staring at them.

It doesn't matter if you're looking for Country or City, we have both. Seattle is a more diverse city but I like Portland so much better. We have grown and are still growing by leaps and bounds. Portland is only 30-45 minutes away from any country that you might be interested in. There are several cute small towns still around here.

I agree with Rose, just find us a good POTS doctor and it will be 100% perfect!

Steph

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