Anyone else can’t handle stress/confrontation?

[DizzyPopcorn]

4 minutes ago, Derek1987 said:

No. Our healthcare system is trash too. You have to check with a doctor if they accept your insurance. 

Pardon me, but what the ****. 

Im glad to live in quebec. 

[Derek1987]

51 minutes ago, DizzyPopcorn said:

Pardon me, but what the ****. 

Im glad to live in quebec. 

I bet. Yall have free healthcare correct? I have thousands of dollars of debt between my wife and i of medical bills. Need to move to canada lol. The cold would be too bad on her bones though. 

[KaciCrochets]

Insurance is the worst. The only affordable insurance we could get was for doctors in a county that's an hour and a half drive, so for me to see any doctor I spend three hours out of my day driving. My old doctor was 45 minutes away but would have cost an extra $1400 a month to see him this year compared to last year. Two years ago I had a great team of doctors for dysautonomia and EDS, but our old insurance was dropping that network and all the other insurance companies covering them were insanely unaffordable. The US health "care" system is a dumpster fire. Meanwhile, I was referred to neurology but after two weeks they are still triaging so I haven't even gotten scheduled for an appointment yet, and it will be at least three months to get in after they call to schedule. None of the doctors in my network even treat POTS, so this may all be for nothing anyway. 

[jklass44]

19 minutes ago, Derek1987 said:

I bet. Yall have free healthcare correct? I have thousands of dollars of debt between my wife and i of medical bills. Need to move to canada lol. The cold would be too bad on her bones though. 

I live on the west coast of Canada and we pay into a Medical Service Plan for our insurance, which is based on your annual income. So its not “free” per say but it’s definitely so so much cheaper than the states. The majority of meds I take for POTS are also not even covered under my plan so I pay straight out of pocket. Still, the things that are covered I am eternally grateful for because it’s better than nothing - I’m very sorry to hear about you and your wife’s struggles! It can’t be easy. 

Ps, not all of Canada is cold so she might actually enjoy it if you found the right place lol!

[DizzyPopcorn]

2 hours ago, Derek1987 said:

I bet. Yall have free healthcare correct? I have thousands of dollars of debt between my wife and i of medical bills. Need to move to canada lol. The cold would be too bad on her bones though. 

It depends on the province, but generally speaking, everyone has access to free healthcare across canada. Quebec is vastly superior in what they cover due to additional policies on top of what canada suggest/covers. 

I have private insurance on top of that, so my situation is different. 

My insurance work like this : They have no right to contest what i am being prescribed by my MD, be it medication or tests. They have categories that are covered by x %. For meds, its usually 100% for any generic and 70% for originals. No question asked, no co pay, and unlimited funds (no maximum ceiling). So even if im on a very expensive med, and even if its not approved for my condition, they will not contest it. My insurance company DO NOT have access to my medical records. 

For tests, its usually free with our public healthcare. But if i want to have the test done faster, i can pay out of pocket and they reimburse 75% (with my private insurance), no matter what kind of test is required. An MRI, for example, is around 600$ CAN when going private (1 week wait time for scheduling + results). My insurance pays 75%, so i end up paying 150$. Very reasonable. 

Now, its not all bells and whistles. Wait time in any emergency room on a normal day is 10-20 hours if you're not dying (read : if you dont piss blood you're fine, just wait). Public testing, for example, have enormus waiting times. MRI have wait times of 3 months up to 2 years depending on your region.

I pay 40% of my income in taxes, on top of having the highest sale taxes of any province in canada. 

So its give and take. Nothing is free. I still prefer my system to what you guys have in the states. 

[DizzyPopcorn]

2 hours ago, KaciCrochets said:

Insurance is the worst. The only affordable insurance we could get was for doctors in a county that's an hour and a half drive, so for me to see any doctor I spend three hours out of my day driving. My old doctor was 45 minutes away but would have cost an extra $1400 a month to see him this year compared to last year. Two years ago I had a great team of doctors for dysautonomia and EDS, but our old insurance was dropping that network and all the other insurance companies covering them were insanely unaffordable. The US health "care" system is a dumpster fire. Meanwhile, I was referred to neurology but after two weeks they are still triaging so I haven't even gotten scheduled for an appointment yet, and it will be at least three months to get in after they call to schedule. None of the doctors in my network even treat POTS, so this may all be for nothing anyway. 

This makes my blood boil. Without going into politics, why is healthcare not an important part of elections? Surely if its so trash and let Americans die due to lack of cares, its an emergency needing funds asap to correct the situation???? Is no one up in arms doing protests over this? 

[KaciCrochets]

1 hour ago, DizzyPopcorn said:

This makes my blood boil. Without going into politics, why is healthcare not an important part of elections? Surely if its so trash and let Americans die due to lack of cares, its an emergency needing funds asap to correct the situation???? Is no one up in arms doing protests over this? 

The short answer is that profit is more important than people here. All of our systems are very broken and getting worse, but our politicians work for their corporate donors and not their constituents so nothing gets fixed. 

[Tstotts]

Our system in the US is very complicated and the fault is not all the politicians although quite a bit. What happened is the Insurance companies lobbied for insurance to be deductable under if employers offered it as a benefit. This worked great. The insurers got paid by the employer to pool funds and they paid the mWe reedical bills. and the insured had a small percentage of the costs. In a nutshell, Doctors raised rates because their requirements were increased, patients used services without regard to cost because alot of time they didnt pay for the whole thing. Physicians began to pay more in malpractive so they began ordering more cover your *** tests that werent previously used. So really everyone is responable. I havent mentioned the hospitals and pharmacueticals as well. I can tell you that I prefer having commercia insurance that I used to have before I lost it as a result of Obamacare and had to get my care at the VA. The VA has nearly killed me on a couple of occasions and right now I get my care from someone 8 hours away who, despite multiple medical issues, is a Physicians Assistant instead of an internist. When I worked for Aetna US Healthcare in Physican Relations we had requirements for patient access and we incentivised physicians for quality healthcare.  We reviewed patient charts to make sure that physicians provided immunizations and diabetics had their A1c checked etc. 

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[Tstotts]

I have hypersensitive startle response and anxiety as well. 

[DizzyPopcorn]

Did anyone have those before having POTS? I had an easy startle response all my life to be honest

[p8d]

@Derek1987mitrazapine is in a different class of drugs from Benadryl. Benadryl is an antihistamine and mitrazapine is classed as an antidepressant with some antihistamine properties but it acts differently than tricyclic or SSRI/SRNI antidepressants.  It’s action on the alpha receptors is why I think it helps me sleep, I have hyper POTS.  I also take extended release guanfacine which is an alpha blocker and that helps with all the surges.

[DizzyPopcorn]

4 minutes ago, p8d said:

@Derek1987mitrazapine is in a different class of drugs from Benadryl. Benadryl is an antihistamine and mitrazapine is classed as an antidepressant with some antihistamine properties but it acts differently than tricyclic or SSRI/SRNI antidepressants.  It’s action on the alpha receptors is why I think it helps me sleep, I have hyper POTS.  I also take extended release guanfacine which is an alpha blocker and that helps with all the surges.

With all those meds, are you more "normal" these days? 

[p8d]

@DizzyPopcornmy list of meds is horrifying but yes, they help quite a bit.  It has taken 4.5 years to find a decent combination of meds that help but it’s always changing.  Seasons, allergies, life all contribute to flares and sometimes things just stop working.

[DizzyPopcorn]

44 minutes ago, p8d said:

@DizzyPopcornmy list of meds is horrifying but yes, they help quite a bit.  It has taken 4.5 years to find a decent combination of meds that help but it’s always changing.  Seasons, allergies, life all contribute to flares and sometimes things just stop working.

So frustrating. At least its not the 18th century anymore, so we have meds. I hope you get better. 

[toomanyproblems]

On 9/21/2019 at 10:02 AM, Derek1987 said:

Is this similar to benadryl? Seems like i cant tolerate benadryl anymore. My body goes haywire when i take benadryl now. Wake up to hot flashes, and adrenaline i guess. Benadryl helps me sleep well if i dont take it every day. Wish i could take it sometimes. Benadryl is actually more potent than my xanax unless i take benadryl everyday like i used to. 

It's an antihistamine and like Benadryl, Mirtazapine makes me jerk and sometimes have full body convulsions. I love the other effects but the jerking is too awful.

[p8d]

@DizzyPopcornyou too.

[BeachLover]

It can be hard for me to figure out which issue causes which symptoms because I have POTS, I've had a lot of trauma (so I struggle with PTSD, anxiety, and depression), and my personality type (Highly Sensitive Person).  I definitely get sensory overload whether it's noises being too loud, smells making me feel nauseous, fluorescent lights, etc.  I avoid amusement parks, malls, etc. and dislike having to shopping.  Part of the issue with those places are the crowds, noise levels, smells, standing in long lines, etc.  Sometimes the mental health symptoms seem to be directly caused by the physical issues.  For instance, when my POTS is flared up and tachycardia is bad I feel much more anxious.  Antibiotics typically give me anxiety (probably because they  destroy healthy gut bacteria).  

[Pistol]

@BeachLover - I know what you mean. I get anxiety when I am overstimulated, also irritability and feeling hyper, to the point that I talk really fast and am restless. When I am in the fatigue phase of POTS I feel down, can’t get out of bed and have no energy. But I was evaluated by a neuropsychologist twice and do not have anxiety or depression other than what is related to my physical symptoms and what can be expected from dealing with a chronic illness. So I think it can be difficult determining what causes what when you have both POTS and anxiety/ depression. .... I am sorry you had to survive trauma and are dealing with the effects of it still. Be strong and keep going with a positive attitude! Best wishes!

[Friedbrain]

On 9/13/2019 at 7:13 AM, DizzyPopcorn said:

Undiagnosed but i can relate as well. For me, at least right now, passing a car and accelerating generate too much adrenaline and i feel short of breath for a few secs. I cannot play video games anymore unless they're tame and nothing exciting happens. Definitely sucks. 

My mom used to get mad at me because she's a sports fanatic and wanted me to watch games with her and I said I couldn't because they were bad for my health. She would insist it was all *good* fun so shouldn't be upsetting to me, not understanding that my body overreacted to any kind of physiological arousal. I understand the video games dilemma, too. My sons love video games and want to play with me but the games are designed to be physiologically arousing and I. Just. Can't.   

[Pistol]

16 hours ago, Friedbrain said:

My mom used to get mad at me because she's a sports fanatic and wanted me to watch games with her and I said I couldn't because they were bad for my health. She would insist it was all *good* fun so shouldn't be upsetting to me, not understanding that my body overreacted to any kind of physiological arousal. I understand the video games dilemma, too. My sons love video games and want to play with me but the games are designed to be physiologically arousing and I. Just. Can't.  

@Friedbrain - yes, unfortunately this is a POTS reality for most of us. I love to play Monopoly or Skippo with my family but after no more than 10 minutes I am wiped out and have to lie down.  Even reading or watching TV, prolonged computer time or ( sadly ) even listening to the radio or music turns into an stressful experience comparable to being exposed to nails on a chalkboard. I could sit quietly on my porch listening to the twitter of the birds in the trees and suddenly it feels like I am sitting in the middle of a construction site!!! 

[MTRJ75]

The odd thing about this is I can break out into drenching sweats just having simple conversations initiated on the phone or if someone comes to the door. Lots of seemingly simple stuff like that. 

However, in actual stress situations or emergencies...I'm generally fine, actually better than my usual physical state, at least temporarily. For example, almost being sideswiped by another car, having to rush my dog to the ER after a deep cut last year, a few days ago he charged out the door and scared the h*** out of the Amazon delivery guy who started screaming at the top of his lungs. 

All of those things, it seems I momentarily forget my condition and am able to get through. Having to talk to someone I don't know on the phone or a slight argument with a family member....catastrophic physical disaster. I have no idea why, but would dare suggest the anticipation of a disastrous event might be worse for our brains than an actual emergency itself. That's the only way I can comprehend it, but it's not like I've been able to do anything about it. 

[WanderWonder]

Bumping in case anyone has more insight on it. This is me most of my entire life! I can't stand loud noises, moving fast (like rollercoasters or sledding), or crowded places with lots going on because my heart painfully jolts and beats super hard, and I fit the criteria for "Highly Sensitive Person". I can't watch scary movies because I'll jump at the smallest thing.

Now that I think about it, there was a few years in my early 20s where I didn't feel overally stimulated - and I didn't have POTS or anxiety symptoms either! I want to go back to those years. I don't know what was different in those few years.

[Ian T]

Yes I can no longer handle even minimal stress.

[Ian T]

On 9/21/2019 at 2:10 PM, DizzyPopcorn said:

Pardon me, but what the ****. 

Im glad to live in quebec. 

U.S. healthcare is a mine field of legal risk management and medical protocols that yield more often than not improper care for dysautonomia patients.