wareagle

Congratulations!! What an accomplishment!!

Congratulations Amy!! Welcome to the world little Siobhan!

Happy Birthday!!!

Thanks for the updates guys! Melissa, I hope that your recovery goes well and you're able to get some releif with your meds really soon. You're in my thoughts and prayers...

Hey Linda...sorry you're going through all this. My suggestion would be get that apt. with Mayo. There's absolutely NO reason why your GP can't call and get you set up with that. I mean after all...he can't figure it out and the specialist or at leaste the specialist's Nurse has decided that you're too complex of a case for him so tell them all to sit and spin and go see someone who actually Can and Will find out what's going on. That's what happened with me when I first got sick...mths of seeing doctors that just didn't know what to think and finally my GP sent me to Mayo. I would call and call and call until that office makes you an apt. (or have a friend/advicate do it for you). It's utterly ridiculous that these doctors can't take the time to make a simple referral. Good luck hon...keep us posted!

Hey guys...well I'm finally seeing a urologist for all of the issues I've been having. I'm not sure what to expect from this visit. I've been trying to research different conditions and tests related to my symptoms and they all sound fairly unpleasent. I know there are a lot of you who have been in the same position...any insight in what I can expect from this first visit and/or any tests he might want to run would be appriciated. My OBGYN is the one that made the appointment for me but she is no longer here so I really haven't had any guidence on this. Thanks!

Just wanted to check in with those of you living in or around Virginia. For those that may not know yet there was a shooting earlier this morning on the campus of Virginia Tech. hear in the United States. Reports are that over 22 people lost their lives and many more were wounded. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of you that may have been effected by this tagedy.

Lisa, I hope everything went well with your surgery and that at this moment you are resting comfortably!! Sending hugs and healing thoughts your way...

Welcome home Ernie!! We missed you!

Congrats Willow!! Sounds exciting...keep us posted on how everything works out.

My thoughts and prayers are with you Melissa...I hope that this hospital stay will be a short one and that you'll get to go home soon!! Thanks for the update Michelle.

Interesting but also a bit worrisom. Why is the Mayo Clinic stating that one "grows out" of POTS by the age of 20? The entire presentation implies that POTS is a disorder effecting young women and that it will just go away eventually as they age. I don't understand why Mayo would do this...I'm all for publicity re: dysautonomia but when it's not accurate or excludes a large persentage of patients it really chapps my hide. I didn't get POTS until I was 27...4 years later I still haven't grown out of it...what are they thinking? Aren't there specialist at Mayo? Addendum: Okay..went back and read the script again...and they didn't say that ONLY young women get POTS but the entire thing was very slanted and seemed to imply that...and If one didn't know better they'd think that's all there was to this disorder. I know that typically children who develope POTS do have a chance of "growing out of it"..but the presentation made it seem like everyone does...all she had to do was "wait it out". ERRRRR!!

Karen, I'm not actually taking anything for the fatigue...but wanted to let you know that my Doctor has suggested possibly trying Strattera..and I believe there are some folks that have been trying Provigil. There was some discussion on another site re: meds. for fatigue. Perhaps you could ask your doc. about these?

RE: Urine culture vs. urinalysis Lets see...In Febuary when I was first dx. with a mild bladder infection they did an in office urinalysis and sent it out for a culture...I was put on the Ceftin. As I got closer to finishing the round of antbx. I called my Dr. to make sure it was the right one b/c I wasn't getting rid of all the symptoms. They told me it should be working so I'm assuming it was on the list of possible tx. that came back with the culture. Once I finished the antbx. I had a repeat urinalysis about 4 days out and came back neg. so I thought I was having some other issue. I had another urinalysis done a couple of weeks ago that came back positive again..but they didn't do a culture. I'm really thinking that the original infection just didn't clear up and although the second round of Ceftin has given me some relief it just isn't enough to get rid of it all together. It's really confusing though b/c it is a mild infection...just really irritating...I would think if the Ceftin was listed on the culture it should have worked but in doing some research I found that it really isn't as effective as some of the other "typical" UTI tx. I have friends coming this weekend...so I'm just trying to keep this in check untill they leave then I'll look into some new tx. I really think that just a few days of the right tx. would probably clear this up...just nervous about which one I should try next. Morgan, What's Pyridium? Is that like the AZO stuff you can get OTC? My friend's mom is a nurse and told me that in order to get an accurate reading on a urinalysis you have to be off the antbx. for 7-10 days...any opinion?

Hey guys..I've been trying to think of an answer for you but I can't seem to come up with a good one!! It could be that your mouth/throat are dry when you're not eating or drinking so it's more difficult to initiate the swallow. The weight of a bolus (food/drink) often helps to trigger a swallow so when you have to do it on command it can be hard to initiate sometimes. You can also have problems initiating swallow if you have oral dysphagia which is basically difficulty managing food and liquid in the mouth...sometimes this is caused by mucscle weakness or discorrdination and the inability to move the bolus from front to back...but it doesn't sound like that's an issue for you. It doesn't appear to be harmful as you're able to eat and drink without problems...I know we all carry water with us constantly..so if you feel you have saliva or mucus that you need to swallow maybe use the water to help trigger? Sounds like your doctor is aware of the situation so that's good...just make sure and alert him if you develope any other problems.

Thanks guys...it's good to know that some can tolerate Cipro in case I have to take it...it comes in 250 and 500mg do you know which you took? I've decided to do nothing at this point. I finished the 2nd round of antibiotics and I'm going to wait a couple of days and see how I feel. If the symptoms continue to worsen..which I have a feeling they will...I'll go back to the doctor and discuss options. I'd like to go back on the Macrobid as it seemed to be working...I just don't think I can take it twice a day and don't know if it can be used only once a day effectively. I'm just so scared and frustrated at this point...I don't want this to turn into a kidney infection but none of my doctors are stepping up saying.."This is what we need to do". The one I saw on Monday was like.."well, the urinalysis is negative but I can give you cipro if you want"...and told me I knew more about the appropriate anibiotics to use with POTS than she did and left it up to me if I wanted to take it or wait and see what happens. Putting the desicion on me has made this very stressful...I feel like I should know what to do but I don't...just keep going round and around with it in my head. Thanks again for all your advise and support..

Okay..so I went to the doc. and the urinalysis was negative (which I expected). The doc. gave me a rx. for Cipro...but I told her I didn't think that was a good med. for us..and after looking through some old posts I'm not planning on taking it. So now I don't know what to do. The Ceftin isn't working...or it's not getting rid of the infection completely. The Macrobid @100mg BID was too much for me and I don't know what I should take for this. I'm just so tired of doctors looking to me for the answers. Does anyone have any experience with antibiotics that worked for your UTI that were tolerated well?

Hey guys...I'm back from my trip...and still having urinary issues. It turns out that I've actually had a bladder infection this whole time...since the beginning of Feb.!! Apparently the GP I went to see here was unaware that antibiotic tx. can give you false negatives with the urinalysis for up to 10 days following the last dose...so instead of listening to me when I said my symptoms hadn't gone away she assumed my issues were a result of a yeast infection my OBGYN told me I had. So...for several weeks I was attempting to treat a yeast infection which resulted in causing MORE irritation down there. When I got to my friends house I called my OBGYN and said the yeast tx. wasn't working b/c I was getting worse..and then they tell me I DIDN'T have a yeast infection?! Still confused on that one...the doc. looked at a sample under the microscope while I was in the office and told me I had yeast..but then when I called they said the culture was negative for yeast and it sounded like I had a bladder infection. I went to my friends doctor and he did a repeat urinalysis which came back positive for an infection (go figure). I tried to take Macrobid but had a lot of trouble with it so I went back on the Ceftin even though it didn't work the first time...thought a longer course might work better...and I had a wedding to go to so didn't want to try anything else new in case of a bad reaction. Now I'm home..11 days into the tx. with Ceftin and still have the infection. I'm going to my old GP tomorrow if I can get in to see what she has to say about all of this. I really think I need a different antibiotic and hope it's okay to start a new one. The Macrobid actually seemed to be working...I just couldn't tolerate the 100 mg. twice a day...maybe once a day would work? Does anyone have any experience with a persistent bladder infection? Any advise or suggestions I can take with me to the doctor tomorrow? PLEASE anything will be much appriciated....I need this thing to GO AWAY. It's just such a gamble with these antibiotics...trying to find one that actually works without making me too sick to function.

Hey guys..just thought I'd post an update. Went to my OBGYN yesterday and had a pelvic. She said it was still yeast...no bacteria, etc. So she gave me a sample of gynazole-1 to use...I actually used that earlier in this whole saga but maybe this time it will work better? So now I'm just waiting and praying that this will all get better soon. As far as the urinary issue...I'm not completely convinced it's related to the yeast...but untill I get this infection cleared up I really won't be able to get any other answers. It's just frustrating...I feel like this should have been cleared up over a week ago. If my GP would have just given me the proper tx. I have some problems with anti-fungals...some I can tolerate and others I have bad reactions to. My GP prescribed terconazole almost 2 wks. ago...I tried to take it on that Friday and had a bad reaction so then I had to wait the whole weekend without tx., when I called the office to see if she'd give me something else rx. strength I was told to use OTC meds. Which obviously was a complete waste of time b/c instead of feeling better..I felt worse. My gyno. was surprised the GP had me use OTC and instructed me to call her office from now on for the rx. treatment. So, now I wait...have to leave on Sat. for two weeks and should be looking forward to the trip but so worried that I'm going to feel like this the whole time I can't really get excited. Sometimes I feel like my body has just up and foresaken me!!

Hey Diz...I may be incorrect about the type of b/c pills you can use. I THOUGT that it was important if you were going to skip the placebo week and just take back to back pill packs that you needed the steady dose so that you weren't having your hormone levels fluctuate. My understanding was the pills that have varying levels do so to prep. you for a period? I could have sworn this was explained in another post but there are so many when I do a search I can't find it. Maybe Morgan or Ithomas or someone can explain better?

I use a low dose b/c pill...Aleese to supress my periods. I take them continuosly for 3-4 mths and then I let myself have a period. You can use any b/c pill to do this as long as it's one that has a steady dose of hormones the entire mth. ( I forgot what the term is). You can't use any that taper the dose off toward your period...again I'm sure someone will chime in with the correct term. If you do a search on Birth control pills or supressing periods you will find a lot of info. Good luck!

I'm so sorry for your loss...My thoughts and prayers will be with you and your family...

Hi all...I'm so frustrated and uncomfortable right now I could scream! Four weeks ago I started to feel like I had a bladder infection coming on...went to the doc. and was dx. with a mild bladder infection and put on antib. without incident. But my symptoms never went away...so I went back to the doctor 2x's now and both time the urinalysis comes back negative...but I DO have a vaginal yeast infection...and have for over 3 wks now apparently. I did one 3 day OTC tx. for the yeast...one Rx. dose...and now have been on another OTC for 5 days now with the same freakin' symptoms!! The problem is it doesn't FEEL like a yeast infection to me...my main symptom is the urge to urinate...it's like something is really irritating my urethera there's lots of pressure there and it feels like my clitoris is being effected too( hard to explain..it almost feels like I'm being stimulated?). There's no itching and no discomfort in my vaginal region...it's all up front so to speak. Also feel pressure in my lower abdm. I'm really getting worried b/c I have to go out of town next weekend and will be gone for 2 wks...I need something to help these symptoms. The GP I'm seeing is a new doctor for me...she seems very competent but I'm beginning to question this dx. I have a pelvic scheduled with my OBGYN for Wed. for a second opinion. I read prior posts on IC...can that come on so accutely? I usually don't have ANY urinary problems..only 3 UTI's my whole life...I'm starting to get worried. Has anyone had a vaginal yeast infection cause mainly urinary type problems? HELP!!

Welcome home Melissa!! Just know we are with you...through both the good and the bad...no matter what. ((((HUG)))

I also have a couple of jars from the recall...but mine were not new...we purchased them well over a month ago and I've been eating from them all this time. Guess if I were going to get sick it would have been by now? It's for ConAgra foods...which is Peter Pan, Walmart brand, etc. peanut butter.