Update

[Lemons2lemonade]

Hello Everyone,

It has been very long since i have been on this site. But for those of you who do not know me, i was diagnosed with POTS in 2010. I spent the next 2 years in what i call **** and slowly worked my way out of it. I remember where i was then and how much hope it gave me to hear positive stories. I wanted everyone to know i am doing very well. Although, i am unable to jog or do strenuous exercise (next on the goal list) i am able to walk as far as i please without a fast heart rate or lightheadedness. Also, i have been working 40 hrs a week for almost 3 months now with very little symptom exacerbation. I also was able to stop my ssri and found that helped tremendously with fatigue. However, there isnt a doubt in my mind that i desperately needed it when it was originally prescribed. Now, i just take florinef and have been on that regimen going on 6 months. I cannot tell you why i am better now than i was. And it is very possible that it's a fluke, or a misnomer of why i am able to do what i do. However, i can tell you i would not be where i am today, i am certain of it without doing the following things: 1. Staying calm (easier said than done but this takes practice and for me, it was able to be achieved through patience and persistence. 2.Overcoming neurotic behaviors about what is wrong with me. For me, this was constantly having to use a bp cuff and pulse ox. ultimately, it led to be freaking out every time a number changed and rushing to the ER 3. Acceptance of my condition and recognizing that medicine had taken me as far as it could. The rest was between me and god. 4. Physical exercise in a extremely slowly progressive and strictly persistent pattern. This meant for me at times pushing through symptoms and at other times stopping if they became too intense. 5. Learning what caused exacerbation, for me it was: stress, panicking, overactivity,the weather, garlic,and my menstual cycle. 6. Continuing to have a positive attitude and hope even in the darkest of times. 7. Recognizing that feelings of overstimulation might actually BE overstimulation--we live in a world that is much more stimulating now then probably our bodies were designed to be in: eating out all the time, constant exposure to commercials and music, the internet, phones, noise from TV etc.. For me, this means I can go to restaurants and fairs etc. without being overstimulated (which is something I could not always say) but that I don't always have to have the TV blaring, or music going, or constantly on the internet or texting. These things are detailed further in a post I made in the past.

This plan will not work for all and many have underlying medical conditions that may be causing pots such as EDS, peripheral neuropathy, etc. And as a word of caution in the opposite direction, it is wise to be thorough--it is another thing to search for something that isn't there. In fact for me, reading some topics on this forum fueled my doubt that all i had was pots. It was always, what have they missed. Is it a brain tumor, is it neuropathy, is it eds, is it cancer? And even after being checked out for these things and being told i did not have them, I still did not believe them. But, the reality is for me, i don't have any of those things. And i am just as likely to get them as anyone else in the human population. This sense of worry for me, or quest for an answer prevented me from looking inside myself for answers and ultimately my path towards healing. And am I advocating to not get checked out? Absolutely not. We all know drs. are morons. Lol. But for me that quest was never ending and i had to put my foot down and say enough is enough. For me, that was when my healing began.

It is my belief and solely my belief that the body will try its best to function in the standards of the environment to which it is exposed. For me, that environment was having a quality of life where i would not be in misery every day and i would be able to walk, and drive and work. When i was at the state where i couldn't walk ten feet to go to the bathroom, i would've slapped the person who told me that in the face. That is how much it frustrated me. Because i was like, well that would be nice, but i can't! After suffering for almost 2 years,i realized whatever i was doing wasn't working. So i tried something different and here i am today. And sometimes, even if the glass seems half empty, it can be half full. We all live in a time where there is therapy for our conditions and research currently happening to search for cures. That is not something someone could say with our condition 200 or even 50 years ago. And I think with any illness (or adversity of any sort for that matter), people have a choice. They may not be able to control the symptoms, but they can control how they react and adapt to them.

[SarahA33]

Thank you for coming back to share your updates, it's encouraging for many of us to read how well you are doing despite all the struggles you previously have gone through! Congratulations to you for all the hard work that you have put in with both your physical and emotional healing, that's wonderful to hear that you are able to keep moving forward and feeling better!

Glad that you are back to work and feeling well these days!

[Katybug]

Lemons,

It's great to hear you are doing well!

Katie