Hi all, I've only posted a couple of times and though I poured over this site when first diagnosed with POTS last Spring, I haven't been on as much lately as I tried for awhile to forget all about POTS. I've always wanted to "introduce" myself, but never really took the time, so often felt that perhaps I should wait and not post until I had. Well, that will probably never happen, so I'm just going to jump right in and start commenting. I had a strange weekend. I have often had dizziness and spinning when sitting or standing and occasionally a small bit when lying down, but this weekend was very different and unnerving. I really wanted to die!! Saturday morning I got up and went to the bathroom. I immediately knew something wasn't right, so went back to lie down. I seemed to be very dizzy upon lying down (the lights weren't on yet). I decided I could sleep a little longer and get up when my husband did. When he turned on the lights and I rolled over, the whole room began to spin and the lights went side to side. I tried to focus on the light and get it to stop, but it just kept going. I tried to close my eyes but I felt like I was spinning and about to fall. I sat up and immediately broke into a cold sweat and got nauseous. I thought I would vomit, but only kept burping like I would (nothing sour). Since I wasn't vomiting, I laid back down and then felt like I was falling head first and backwards. This whole scenario was repeated several times since I also had my normal morning routine of diarrhea. I realized that every time I moved my head (while lying down), it would start the spinning and free falling all over again, so I stopped moving my head until my body would ache from being in the same position or I had to get up to use bathroom. At one point, my back ached so bad I had to move and the free falling started up so badly and continued for nearly three hours. I literally prayed to die!! Finally that subsided and I had the worst headache ever. I was trying to figure out what was wrong ~ going through all the possibilities ~ stomach virus, migraine, stroke, etc., but didn't think it was any of those, so I just stayed in bed with ice packs all over. The next morning, my head felt better and I was able to stand without any spinning. I felt weak and the mere thought of what had happened threatened to make me nauseous, but I did feel well enough to go to church. While driving to church, the movement began to make me feel a little dizzy. By the time I got there, I was feeling very weak and very dizzy. I slunk down in my seat and sat like that through the services. After waiting for most everyone to leave so as not to have to encounter too much motion, I slowly walked out with my friend. When we got outside, I knew I was going down. Again, the dizziness and the free falling started coming on, though not as bad as the day before. They got my husband, who was rounding up children at the time, and he tried to get me to the van. Eventually, an ambulance was called and I was taken to the ER. In the ambulance my bp was 160 over something. I normally have very low bp and take midodrine throughout the day to raise it to normal. I was trying to think coherently (this was difficult) and tell them not to lie me down due to midodrine. I also managed to tell them that 160 was extremely high for me, but probably coming from the med. Then I realized I was past due for my next Midodrine dosage so it shouldn't be high at all, but don't think I was able to relay that. My husband was filling in quite a bit, and told them I had POTS. He was drawing a blank on all my allergies, though, and gave my age a year older(I'm going to keep a list of allergies in my purse now due to this)!! After that, all I could think about was trying to tell them I was not that old!! :-) At the hospital, they discovered my potassium was very low. They gave me sodium chloride and potassium. They took a CAT scan just to make sure it wasn't stroke, aneurysm, etc. They also called my neurologist, thankfully. They performed what they called an "orthostatic test" ~ basically like the Tilt Table Test, but just took bp while lying down and then made me stand. I didn't do too well ~ I passed out within minutes with the TTT last Spring, so I'm not surprised. They ended up giving me meds. for dizziness and nausea, but weren't going to let me go home until they did another orthostatic test. The ER doctor was afraid of stroke and said they had a very good case to keep me. I knew I needed to get home, and when I realized what they were doing, I just kept moving my foot up and down and leaning back toward the table with the 2nd Orthostatic test. My heart rate went way up, but my bp didn't go down as much, so they let me go home with a promise from my husband that he would bring me back if I got any worse. The discharge papers stated 'vertigo' and 'POTS'. Today I have felt very weak, but much better ~ no dizziness with meds. Have any of you been through this and if so, how have you coped? I can't stand the thought of having to go through that "free falling" ever again!! Also, if I had been at home, we never would have gone to the hospital ~ I had actually been so much worse the day before that I'm sure they would not have released me. How do you decide when to go to the hospital, or how do you let people know that you can go home and not to call an ambulance when you have an episode like this in public? Truthfully, I don't know how they were going to get me into my vehicle or how my dh would have gotten me up to our room. Also, I did feel so much better once they gave me meds for the dizziness and nausea, so I guess it was good that I went and I am thankful for my friends that insisted.
