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imapumpkin

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Everything posted by imapumpkin

  1. I've had POTS (or at least known about it) for 3 years and have always been really high-functioning (Worked in restaurant, on my feet for several hours a day, no fainting, work not a problem). After spending a torturous summer in obscene heat in DC and suffering a trauma that resulted in hospitalization for chest pains, I am now back in the Northeast and much happier to be in cooler weather. It's been over a month and I still feel like I have no energy. Normally with my POTS i'm pretty much chronically fatigued but it is manageable, not debilitating. However, since I've been home from DC I feel every day when I get up and all day long like I've been beaten with a ton of bricks in a pillowcase and like my eyes want to close and nap. I saw my family doctor today and she said she can think of no physiological reason why I should have no energy (I think she forgot about my POTS since I was seeing her for a follow-up about anxiety). I'm not sure whether this complete wipe out I'm feeling is my POTS, because I haven't been experiencing tachycardia with postural changes. I have been trying to rebuild my stamina by taking short 15-20 min walks around my neighborhood and I usually feel better afterwards, and its usually at night (for some reason after the sun goes down I feel better for whatever reason). I asked my dr if I could try and increase my stamina by exercising for real and she said definitely not, don't go near a treadmill. But I'm so frustrated that my dr didn't even offer to refer me to a POTS specialist or run blood work or anything to figure out why I feel each day like I've run 10 miles and been hit by a MACK truck. I have been taking it easy and not pushing myself and I had hoped that after a month I might see some improvement in my energy level but I still feel like a sloth. I'm really scared that my time in DC and the trauma I suffered has pushed me into the group of people with POTS who can't work...which is terrifying because I've had no problem working for my entire adult life. Does anyone else just feel totally depleted of energy without the fainting or the tachy? Please help I feel so discouraged.
  2. Just had the same problem when I spent the summer in DC. For people with pots we already have low bp and low blood volume, and heat dilates your veins making bp even lower so your symptoms increase. It also increases your chances of becoming dehydrated which is really bad for POTS patients. It got so bad for me I had to have someone bring me back to the Northeast.
  3. Thanks for the replies, everyone. the adrenaline rush would make sense because right before was when the heart hammering was teh worst. i had hoped the oxytocin would be have a calming effect, but i guess it's something i'll have to work around. i definitely get more techy when i'm upright as opposed to laying flat.
  4. My POTS has been very bad lately since I lived all summer in a a very hot climate. A few weeks ago I moved back to the Northeast and and trying to regain my energy and normal function. My embarrassing question is: can Dysautonomia, particularly POTS, cause tachycardia during/after orgasm or sexual activity? The last time I had an orgasm I experienced a heartbeat that felt like it was going to explode out of my ribcage. I know blood pressure and heart rate spike during climax but I'm in my 20s and have had plenty of orgasms in my life, but NOTHING like this. This was extremely uncomfortable and felt like my heart was hammering to get out of my chest. I know people with autonomic dysfunction get a racing heart from adrenaline and drugs like Novocaine because our autonomic nervous systems are sensitive to them...now I'm wondering if Oxytocin (chemical released in the brain during climax) is whats make my heart go nuts. I've known about my POTS for almost 3 years and have engaged in a healthy sex life since then, but this is the first time my heart's ever gone crazy. I know what a normal heartbeat feels like during climax and this was NOT normal. Could this be related to the fact hat my POTS has been very bad lately?
  5. I am about 50 feet higher above sea level where I am now than where I usually live..I dunno if that's enough tomake a difference but it might. Klonopin I take for anxiety-- i've been on it for 7 years and only have known about the POTS for 2.5 so I'm not sure whether its contributing to the situation; I'm inclined to say it is unrelated. Basically what has changed between my old environment and new: -Much high humidity and temperature -new job -switched from a job on my feet to a sedentary desk position. -severe stress caused by major move, new job, anxiety, and relationship issues. Does emotional stress make POTS worse? Because it's like a vicious cycle. I get stressed, my body feels sick so I get anxious and more stressed which makes me feel sicker.
  6. Although the air conditioning helps, it's like my body can tell its over 90 degrees outside. I think it may be barometric pressure. I feel much better on days that its in the 80s and I feel a noticeable improvement after the sun goes down. I am near DC, so its a city-type hot in addition to stifling humidity. I took at trip to FL in march and it was in the low 80s and I had no problem, but the second DC started seeing 90 degree weather I got very sick, and the longer I stay the worse it gets. Today I tried to brave the 90 degree heat to go grocery shopping but made myself so sick on the trip over in the heat that even though the market was cooled, i felt faint and nauseous and had to go right back to my apartment. I know I have to go back to the northeast but the soonest time I can go (I'm so sick there is no way I can drive myself so I have to wait for someone to pick me up) is next Mon or Tues and I don't know how I'm gonna last the next week because each day I feel sicker.
  7. I'm not on any medications for the POTS other than moderate exercise, increase in sodium and fluids. I can go see my cadiologist but not until September because he is not available before then. I've heard klonopin can be helpful for pots patients and I take it for anxiety, but it really hasn't helped my pots symptoms. I'm sure that the heat is exacerbating the symptoms if not causing them because I feel better on cooler rainy days, and I felt just fine until June when all of a sudden BAM it was 95+ degrees every day and we had that freak heat wave where it got up to 104.
  8. Yes- DEFINITELY. I can't drive anywhere without sunglasses, even on overcast days. Working in offices with flourescent lights drives me nuts and getting my eyes check is like toture. They have tinted non-prescription glasses you can wear and also contact lenses that are sunglasses that help.
  9. I was diagnosed with POTS two and a half years ago and for the most part have had minimal symptoms other than chronic fatigue and daily nausea among some other symptoms. Then I moved from the northeast to the mid-atlantic for the summer and my POTS has flared up so badly that I can barely go outside because of the heat. I plan to move back to the northeast as soon as I can arrange it...my question is this: My POTS has never been this bad or debilitating. I feel sick every single day whereas before I was able to function and hold down a job. Have I permanently made my POTS worse by moving here or will I start to feel more functional again once I'm back in a place that's not 95 degrees every day? Is it possible to make POTS permenantly worse through a really bad summer-long flare up or is this terrible bout of sickness because I'm in such a hot environment?
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