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Hello Debbie,

Would you believe it, I was going to ask you something and I’ve completely forgotten what it was. How embarrasing!

I was looking for info on outpatients at the Alfred yesterday. Are you a patient there? I was probably going to ask you if you saw Dr Esler or Dr Sata, and whether you were happy with the care there.

Anyway, sorry to have bothered you, and nice to meet you!

Sarah

Hi Sarah,

Yes, I saw Prof Esler at the Baker Institute many, many years ago (15 years?! This was back when Sue Corcoran and Gautam Vaddadi were also on his team).

Prof Esler performed a TTT on me and subsequently diagnosed me with POTS (or more specifically, Sympathetic Areflexia), which came as a huge relief, as up until then, I had been continously diagnosed with anxiety 😫 It was nice to finally get some answers and validation - I was begining to think I had early onset dementia (just brain fog!!).

He was very sympathetic and patient, however, he was no longer able to help me once we got through his list of treatment options - Salt, Water, Compression, Florinef, Dihydroergotamine.

Is he still practicing? He was no longer seeing patients and focusing more on research toward the end of my contact with him. By that stage Dr Corcoran and Dr Viddadi had left to other clinics, and I also saw both of them, but neither were able to help.

Does The Alfred offer any interesting programs or treatment options for POTS? 

Debbie.

Hello Debbie,

That’s very interesting. I did not know that Dr Vaddadi used to work at the Alfred xx oops I mean the Baker Institute.

I don’t know whether Dr Esler is still seeing patients at the Alfred (or anywhere). His name is listed on the webpage for this clinic, but of course the info could be out of date or he could have an overseeing role:

https://www.alfredhealth.org.au/services/hp/hypertension-clinic/

In your tilt table testing – do you remember having a carotid Doppler scan at the same time?

I am trying to get this scan and am finding it very hard. My current specialist doesn’t have much knowledge of what is available because he hasn’t worked in the public system, and he doesn’t seem inclined to investigate.

Did you move to another specialist after Dr Esler ran out of treatment options?