Michelle Sawicki

Hi everyone, I may be having my first endoscopy soon and wanted to know how the rest of you faired with it in regards to POTS? Did the anesthesia affect your symptoms one way or the other? I've been put under completely and had bradycardia, but I know the twilight sleep they use for endoscopies is a bit different. Did you have to take any precautions? Thanks for any info, Michelle

I'm thinking of you too. You know I care about you and am aways just a phone call away if you need to talk. Michelle

I also believe our bodies go through phases and can react differently to medications depending on where we are at the time. I do worry about your going off your meds to treat bipolar disorder, though. I do hope you are doing this under the care of a psychiatrist. Michelle

Thanks, Briarrose. That is a really great article. I'm still working on adding some of the info in it to the website. Michelle

We have a Meet Others Program that you can sign up for at the main site, www.dinet.org. It is an email exchange program that will put you in touch with others in your area. Take care, Michelle

Thanks so much for the update, Ling. I've been wondering how things were going for you. I'm glad to hear everything seems to be going well. Michelle

I'm so happy for you!

Hi Heather, I would love to have your help with finding new links. I'll send you a PM with details. Take care, Michelle

Hi Alexia! I got it and sent you a return email. Thank you, Michelle

Thanks! Hope you had a great one too. Michelle

Thanks Brenda, I'll PM you. -Michelle

Happy Birthday Sue!

Hi guys, I just wanted to wish all of you happy holidays. My three year old niece is coming over tomorrow and we're going to color Easter eggs. I'm really looking forward to it. Kenny has grown up so fast...it's nice to still have young relatives to do that kind of stuff with. I hope you guys have a great weekend. Michelle

THANK YOU to all who offered to help! JaneEyre9 was the first to contact us regarding the editing position, and we are pleased to announce that she will be our new editor. Amber has volunteered to update the list of support groups. BuddyLeesWife, I would love to have your help with finding NCS articles. Thanks. I'll send you a PM. Gena may be taking the Link Checker position...I am waiting to hear back from her. Other than that, we can still use a lot of help. Please let me know if you are interested in any of the positions still available. THANK YOU!!! You guys are the greatest! Michelle PS...Thanks for those links, Julie. I'll check them out.

Thanks for posting this, Briarrose. That's a good article. I'm going to add it to the website. Michelle

Hi Ellen, I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand what you are explaining entirely. I usually just hit enter a time or two after each paragraph and that seems to split them up well enough. Are you trying to do something other than that? Feel free to PM me and I can walk you through it. Take care, Michelle

Thanks, Julie. Michelle

Great to hear! -Michelle

Hi guys! As we grow, so does our need for help. If you want to join the DINET team and lend a helping hand with any of the following volunteer positions, we'd love to hear from you. Please PM me through the forum, or write to: staff@dinet.org if you are interested. Thank you! Edit One of our editors has retired, and we are searching for a new editor to take her place. If you have editing experience we would love to hear from you. Find press releases If you like to research and know how to use the Internet this may be the position for you! Help us find recent, dysautonomia-related press releases to include in our quarterly newsletter. Help keep our links up-to-date DINET's website is chock full of links. You can help keep DINET's website up-to-date by checking the links on a monthly basis. There are online link checkers to assist you in this task. The person in this position will document broken links and then use a search engine to investigate whether websites with broken links have changed their urls or no longer exist. Find new links We need someone who enjoys researching on the computer to find dysautonomia-related websites to link to from our website. We prefer to link to websites that are written by doctors or published by organizations. Update DINET's list of support groups Help keep our list of support groups up to date by contacting support group leaders through email and updating their DINET listing. Fundraise Do you have ideas for fundraisers in 2006? Are you willing to do the work? If so, please contact DINET and share your ideas. Grant Searcher We could use help finding grants for which we may qualify. If you can help with this, please let us know. Help build our "Assistance" page Can you assist us in finding web resources that will help others for our "Assistance" page? If so, let us know! Resarch PubMed/Medline for the latest NCS findings Do you like to research and know how to use PubMed or a similar site? If the answer is yes, DINET could use your help in finding the latest publicatons on neurocardiogenic syncope! Email us for further information.

One of our medical advisors from Mayo passed this on to me the other day: Here is another opportunity to raise awareness about dysautonomia/POTS. This is through the Neurology Now magazine, which is published by the American Academy of Neurology and is dedicated to patients with neurological disorders and their caregivers. They have Speak Up publication category where patients submit their essays/accounts of living with a disease. Their website is http://www.neurologynow.com/pt/re/neuronow...#33;9001!-1 I receive these magazines monthly as part of the Academy of Neurology membership, but I think the magazine is actually free on line.

Thanks for your suggestion! I'll look into it. Michelle

I felt very happy on Florinef. Sometimes my son still jokingly asks me to go back on the medication so I will buy him whatever he wants. Michelle

Thanks Gena! That would be great! They did a really good job last time. Michelle

Thanks for your offer, Baby Boy. I'm hoping to get the brochures printed in the US to defer mailing costs, but may be in contact if we can't find discounted printing in the US. Take care, Michelle

Thanks, everyone, for voting and commenting on the polls. We are taking all comments into consideration. We appreciate your input! Michelle