lieze

Boy that was scary. I woke up with my chest hurting. It felt like my heart actually hurting and my pulse sped up. My heart felt like it was beating hard. I thought maybe I was having a heart attack or something. I got up out of the bed to try to go to the bathroom. After or while there the actual pain near the heart stopped and I noticed I had a huge amount of gas it's just moving around right now but not coming out. I took a simethicone capsule. I don't have anything that can work faster on hand and I'm drinking some 7 up. I know for me my heart does get triggered by indigestion and gas so I'm hoping that's all it is and as this gas dissipates I feel okay. For a while there I thought I was going to have to call the squad and I do have my phone right beside me. Anybody else get this I could use a little reassurance right now please. Hugs. I've said my prayers. Tears streaming down face. This is too much at times. The thoughts that today could be the day? I guess it's in God's hands. I have been in the care of a cardiologist last checkup was mid December and he reassures me I have a healthy heart, I am 43.

p.s. the 30 day test I had was a cardiac event monitor where you push the button when you have symptoms. the holter just records continuous and at that point I hadn't started the SVT's yet I was just getting tachy. Then I wore another 30 day event monitor post ablation and I showed some just sinus tachycardia-no arrythmia-so that was great!

Yes I have worn three and they were able to detect my tachycardia and my SVT's on it. You gave me a little hope because there are times at my peak where I can't feel my carotid and I fear that my heart has stopped beating, I have never lost consciousness when this has happened but it scares the pee out of me. I'm glad to hear you say it's still there just unpalpable. Glad to hear you are feeling better about things. I did have a cardiac ablation based on my results from my 30 day test. oh and since my ablation my resting and active heart rate have went back down to a more normal. I still do get acitivity intolerance and breathless but the heart since it's healed from the ablation is much better. lieze

Me too. I've just started experiencing this myself. One was weekend before last and I had to work the next day. Needless to say I crashed right at 10 am for trying to push it after the sleepless night. Then again Sunday night I was awake til probably 3 and then up at 6 when we load the kids on the bus. I did sleep last night but woke up in terror twice. Still felt the effects of the lack of sleep a bit today, hoping for a good nights sleep tonight. lieze

Yes our pet mouse died first. Just out of the blue found it on it's back dead. Then the cat within a couple months. And I was sick so we got out. We have field mice running through our heating vents now and even though to some people that's creepy I figure if the mouse is still alive we're probably okay. He's my little canary in the coalmine.

Do you think that it is possible that I get triggered that quickly going into my work environment where I believe mold is present? I barely work there at all now and feel good at home, although I do agree we should pressure that company to give us the results of those tests. It's not their fault if there is still mold here it could be behind walls and things. I get so sensitive talking about these things almost fearful and paranoid. I'm really trying to get past that. It has been a traumatizing experience. lieze

I am so thankful I can bathe now without too many symptoms. My biggest fear is getting out-climbing out. I work up my confidence to do this even though it has been some time that I do okay with it. Those nightmare symptoms lurk in the back of my mind and it's hard to get past them. I guess it just takes time to gain confidence? I got myself laughing today thinking all I need is an eject button. I am thankful that I can take baths-I know it's not something to be taken for granted and I do feel for those of you who are struggling with this. lieze

I had some intense dizziness with mine there for a while. I won't say that I never get dizzy but it certainly isn't as bad as it was there in the beginning. I would have it just come out of the blue though and it made me afraid to walk across a room. I literally felt as if I needed to hold onto something because as I moved I just didn't feel as if I had sure footing. I can say though that the dizziness passes, anything that does I try not to worry too much about, and I actually have clear headed days. I am not on any meds for POTS but have found that Xanax can clear my head up fairly quickly. I found it online as a treatment for vertigo migraines. This could be what is causing some of the dizziness. I try not to take the Xanax too often but it is amazing to me how it has some days eliminated what POTS symptoms I am feeling all together and actually made me feel good and I've even gotten an appetite which I don't always have. Paxil is supposed to work well for POTS too but I've been a bit chicken to take it since it can cause orthostatic hypotension and I already have a problem with low BP's. My doctor assured me that in POTS it does not do this-but I"m still too scared to try it. I agree that I can tell when I am active it is easy to stay active-with rest breaks. And when I am more sedentary I notice a little weakness when I get up to walk around. Just a little uneasy feeling. I do think when we can it's better to keep moving.

I don't blame you for being discouraged based on his words but I think it's good to move past that. Some doctors just blow things off I guess. I reported to ER promptly when I realized I had chicken pox and was hoping for treatment with an antiviral. Guess what unfortunatly the doctor I got thought I didn't need one said I was half way through it so what, so what-a doctor I saw after said they are trying to kill people what are they doing? He thought it might have made a heck of a difference for me to receive antiviral treatment when I went. So you can see some of this is opinion and bad opinion at that. I was also put off when the endocrinologist flatly said-your serum norepinephrine is elevated-let's scan you for a tumor and almost directly sent me out of the office. I could hardly sleep that night all I could think of was how long do I have? I didn't know how I would hold up for the four day scan let alone if I had to have surgery to remove a tumor. I didn't exactly feel strong enough for that. I should let you know I did not have the scan and have not been back to that doctor. It took me weeks to get over that trauma-and I believe you can too. If you just focus on how good you feel on your good days, and imagine that you can feel that way tomorrow too, next thing you know one day leads to another. In the meanwhile you can try to get real help and look forward to that. I don't think any doctor has the right to be that discouraging. What is the point? The mind is a powerful thing and can even heal the body in some cases. Don't let what that jerk said cloud yours. You are better than the picture he painted and you know it. Hang in there!

Foggy I haven't been diagnosed yet either, are you feeling any better?

We had mold too and our whole evacuation took place this summer. I first stayed at my parents house and then my in laws. I have noticed symptoms wherever I am especially at work, I seem to flare there and I am almost certain there is mold in that building. Now I'm getting off on a tangent but several workers have had to have growths removed from their vocal chords. We have a couple that have had cancer, some with migraines you name it. And most of our residents (it is a nursing home) get post nasal drip that they never had before they came there. I was the only one symptomatic in our home. But our pet mouse had died and also our pet cat. She had respiratory symptoms and then I think died of kidney failure. We had flooding in the basement every time it rained so I believe it was the source. We had our house bombed, then everything taken out and bombed again. Anything with mold growing on it was removed, wood type structures in the basement. The attic was bombed too and then they sprayed the entire basement with a mold resistant paint. We had the testing and they were him hawy about the results. Said they lost them and came and took another sample. They still have not gotten back to us even though we are back in the house. I have not had any worsening of symptoms while here. In the end I couldn't even come into the house before it was treated without my throat practically closing up on me it had gotten so bad and there was a smell. I do think that we should follow up on those results. We are already needing to add on to this small home-if it's still a hazard after all that we would be better to just get out or tear it down and rebuild. Oh we did dispose of our mattresses, our couch, anything that mold could have seeped into and be lurking around in. It was an expensive process, I don't have an exact total. We also had to have a sump installed in our basement so that we didn't have any more flooding problems, so far we're dry. But yes we don't know what is lurking behind walls or even in duct systems. The way they blew that enzyme through the house I would have thought it would have run through our duct system too and killed any mold that might have been there but I don't know. My husband ended up in the hospital the following week with pancreatitis. He was helping with the process.

For whatever reason too I avoid pain medication and just live with the pain. When it cracks it's just like a crack crack pop. Kind of crunchy! And I was sorry I complained because I woke up well honestly it was the entire night that my spine just ached. I know my posture and positioning does not help matters. At the moment I feel as stiff as a board, maybe as I get up I'll loosen up a bit and get some relief.

This is probably classic. The right side of my neck hurts almost constant. I have a knot that I feel the size of an egg (muscle cramp) on my right shoulder blade. I also hear the vertebrae in my neck crack just from turning my head sometimes it relieves some of the discomfort. I am spending a lot more time in bed and don't always support my neck well so just this factor might be contributing. A heat pack seems to help but the pain is there almost constant. This is the one thing I notice even when I'm not feeling any other symptoms.

Well actually I was having a problem with this if I ate too close to bedtime and also if I slept on my left side I would wake up in sheer terror with my heart racing. I noticed that when this happened I was often laying flat and most often on the left side. By correcting those and also trying not to eat within a couple hours of bed I actually was able to eliminate the panic attacks all together. So yes even though I had no prior history of acid reflux it seemed that for a while it was an issue for me and it was causing panic.

How wonderful to finally have an answer to what you are dealing with. And I feel you too on not undergoing any unnecessary tests at this point. Who has the energy for it or the $$$. And you ladies are so in tune. I need to just write down my symptoms when I get a chance and let you diagnose me. I have no official diagnosis as of yet but I feel ya on the germ thing. I am a nurse and have become a germaphobe-not a good combination. I realized too that I really put myself in jeopardy with my line of work. Let us know if your treatment plan helps!

I would also be very scared to try it. I took something for energy once that had Ginseng in it and my heart really sped up and everything looked strange. I felt like a rocket getting ready to blast off. That was pre POTS. Now I'm afraid of what the results would be. If you feel the need to try it just do a sip and increase from there based on positive effects? Maybe ask your doctor first?

I really do hope it goes well for her this time. Tell her to make sure she takes some time out for her. As caregivers we're always taking care of everyone else. I wish her the best!

I had to google that one and it said 55% to 75% is normal. That above 75 could indicate a heart problem. I was nieve about this and when I had an echo and I saw the 60% which I was huffing and puffing all the way up to the department to have the test taken, I thought that my heart was damaged or something. I was under the impression that the goal was 100%. I really wish they would explain more of these test results. I was terrified in the first place because a nurse told me my heart was enlarged and I had high lung pressure. When I went to my internist and told him I'd found out my heart was enlarged he got the records and reviewed them and said, "This is a normal echo." I for an entire 24 hours thought I was doomed basically and since then (last spring) have thought I was on my way to heart failure and that everyone was just not telling me. I'm glad that this is within norm and that hopefully since I'm feeling a bit better and a little more active it has improved a bit since my initial echo.

I lost my third pregnancy but it was very early on. What I found with my fourth was I was a nervous wreck! Whenever I felt bad I thought oh no, here we go again because the day I miscarried I started to feel sick went into the bathroom and realized what was happening. My fourth pregnancy was a girl, my only girl and so it increased my fear even more that something would happen. I started cramping at about four or five months with contractions that would come everyday. I called the ambulance the first time it happened because they were increasing and felt real and scared me. By the time I got to the hospital they had pretty much slowed down but there was a nurse in the squad who felt by pregnant belly and told me that I was indeed having contractions she could feel them with her hand. This pregnancy was a tough one too because I started having a lot of PAC's that scared me but obviously it was nothing compared to what I experienced this past summer with the POTS. I did get through that pregnancy okay but I was so anxious because I had lost the previous, so I understand how that factors in. I did have contractions every day from that first point on until a week before I delivered and then everything got very quiet. I ended up having her 10 days late after not knowing if I would carry her full term. The doctor said they don't know what makes some women have contractions like that, that there seems to be nothing they can do about it and could have a subconscious source. She didn't like the stress tests either that band around my belly would set her off or me off one or the other everytime. I just hope things go very well for your sister. One day at a time and it is so nice to know the gender so you can start getting to know that precious baby before it is even born. Come to think of it one of my friend's at work had these type of contractions her last pregnancy-she had an incompetent cervix and they gave her pills to take whenever they started. She said the pills gave her an awful headache but she took them anyway. Any way I wish the best for your sister and this little precious gift from heaven. Please keep us posted as to how she is doing.

I think she is so brave to take all of this on and be working full time too, talk about coping. I've had five pregnancies without POTS to deal with and they were challenging enough. Please remember to tell her what a trooper she is, will this be her first child?