Michelle Sawicki

Hi,

If you are outside the US, you need to send us an email that includes your city, state and zip code so we can figure out your shipping cost.

Thanks!

Michelle

Let's all hope this woman with POTS gets justice:

http://www.wvrecord.com/news/newsview.asp?c=187787

Michelle

Happy Birthday, Melissa! Hope you're back to join us soon!

Michelle

I talked to Melissa yesterday. She is slowly improving but still feeling weak. Please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Michelle

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to let everyone know that Melissa's mom called me this evening to let me know that Melissa, one of DINET's forum moderators, is in the hospital. She went in with a very high fever. The doctors haven't figured out the cause yet. She is on antibiotics.

Michelle

I'm going to get the article from one of our medical advisors. I'll be able to fill you in on the specifics after I read the entire article.

Michelle

Mine turn a blotchy purplish color.

Michelle

I think this will definitely lead to greater awareness. Let's hope that Greg will personally work to get more research underway and to spread awareness. He has the means to do so.

Michelle

Thought this article might be helpful to those of you who have been misdiagnosed with anxiety disorder:

J Appl Physiol. 2006 Nov 16;

Excessive Heart Rate Response to Orthostatic Stress in Postural Tachycardia Syndrome is Not Caused by Anxiety. Masuki S, Eisenach JH, Johnson C, Dietz NM, Benrud-Larson L, Schrage WG, Curry TB, Sandroni P, Low PA, Joyner MJ.

Sports Medical Sciences, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Shinshu, Minnesota, Japan; Anesthesiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States.

Postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is characterized by excessive increases in heart rate (HR) without hypotension during orthostasis. The relationship between the tachycardia and anxiety is uncertain. Therefore, we tested whether the HR response to orthostatic stress in POTS is primarily related to psychological factors. POTS patients (n=14) and healthy controls (n=10) underwent graded venous pooling with lower body negative pressure (LBNP) to -40 mmHg while wearing deflated antishock trousers. "Sham" venous pooling was performed by: 1) trouser inflation to 5 mmHg during LBNP and 2) vacuum pump activation without LBNP. HR responses to mental stress were also measured in both groups, and a questionnaire was used to measure psychological parameters. During LBNP, HR in POTS patients increased 39+/-5 beats/min vs. 19+/-3 beats/min in control subjects at -40 mmHg (P<0.01). LBNP with trouser inflation markedly blunted the HR responses in the patients (9+/-2 beats/min) and controls (2+/-1 beats/min), and there was no HR increase during vacuum application without LBNP in either group. HR responses during mental stress were not different in the patients and controls (18+/-2 vs 19+/-1 beats/min; P>0.6). Anxiety, somatic vigilance, and catastrophic cognitions were significantly higher in the patients (P<0.05), but not related to the HR responses during LBNP or mental stress (P>0.1). These results suggest that the HR response to orthostatic stress in POTS patients is not caused by anxiety, but is a physiological response that maintains arterial pressure during venous pooling.

Key words: Orthostatic intolerance, Venous pooling, Blood pressure, Sympathetic nervous system, Mental stress.

PMID: 17110507

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.f...l=pubmed_docsum

Hi guys,

I thought this young girl did a great job of spreading POTS awareness.

Michelle

Thanks for letting us know you liked the t-shirt, Carmen. And thank you to everyone who who posted their appreciation of our efforts.

Michelle

Ha! "Mr. Handsome" is my son. He just turned 18 and is up for bid too. LOL!

Michelle

Hi,

Please send me the contact information for this physician or add it to: http://www.dinet.org/physician_finder.htm

I would love to add her to our physician list if she is as good as you say she is.

Thanks!

Michelle

Hi,

I don't have any more of the old pamphlets....I just sent the last 50 to a doctor's office. However, if you send in a donation to cover the cost of printing and mailing, I can have some printed up for you at a local printer and mail them off your way. The printer charges $1. per brochure.

The old leaflet is not on the website because it does not look good printed on the average printer.

Michelle

No problem, Sarah.

Michelle

Hi everyone,

Please remember the following forum rule:

"You agree to refrain from flame wars, debates and the discussion of "hot topics," which are likely to provoke debates."

I think the pros and cons of cheating on ones spouse can definitely be classified as a hot topic and might lead to arguments, so I ask that you guys please take any further discussion on the pros and cons of cheating to private email.

Feel free to continue to provide support to Browneyedchica here.

Thanks!

Michelle

Hi everyone,

We are in need of a volunteer to check the links on our site once a month. There are online programs that can help you check the links, or you can manually go through them (which is more accurate then the link checking programs I have tried).

The person in this position will note broken links and then perform a google search to see if the page's url has changed or if the website is no longer available.

Please PM me through the forum if you are interested in this position....but please take some time to go through some of the links on our webpage to find out if this is something you really want to do. Link-checking can be monotonous and would best be suited for someone who has a lot of time on their hands.

Thanks,

Michelle

Hi,

I just wanted to let you know that I did check into the check website you posted here. It sounded like a great idea, and I appreciate your posting about this fundraising opportunity. Unfortunately we didn't meet their criteria of having more than 20,000 members. I guess that's a good thing when it comes down to it.

Thanks for thinking of us!

Michelle

The t-shirts are being printed right now and will be for sale soon.

Michelle

They're in the works! They will hopefully be available for sale within about a month or so if all goes well. Thanks for your interest.

Michelle

Thanks for letting us know the site has helped you. Letters like yours help keep us going!

Michelle

Hi everyone,

Please keep Melissa in your thoughts and prayers. Her central line is infected. Luckily, they caught the infection before it spread to her bloodstream. She's awaiting a meeting with the surgeon to see if they are going to take the central line out.

Michelle

Yep, the moderators were just doing their job when they deleted the post....things like that have to be cleared by DINET first or Lord knows what would end up on the forum. However, I do know Julie (who runs ADI) and I gave her a call earlier today to discuss her ideas.

Poohbear, since the original post was deleted, I am going to remove the information from your post regarding your willingness to disperse the original information, and I ask that you and all other members respectfully not post on how to obtain information that has been deleted from this forum in the future.

Thanks for your understanding,

Michelle

I just want to take this opportunity to welcome all of the new members to the forum as well! You'll find a great amount of support and knowledge here, as well as on the main DINET site, www.dinet.org, and in the information Melissa and Nina have so kindly compiled.

Happy posting!

Michelle

Hi Joe,

I take a beta blocker and I have POTS & EDS. Although it is a vasodilator and this would seem contradictory, the beta blocker helps my POTS symptoms tremendously.

As for beta blockers causing anxiety, I have not personally experienced this. Some actors actually take beta blockers before they perform to reduce anxiety.

Michelle