SeattleRain

Thanks for the responses, everyone - it's much appreciated! A cookie for all of you

Thank you for the responses. AllAboutPeace, I was seeing a cardiologist, but that didn't work out too well. He never even brought up my heart rate. The most details I could get out of him were "you're fine" and "I don't know what that is". I had an abdominal ultrasound today and meeting my GP next Wednesday to go over the results, and if nothing shows up I'll probably see if he can recommend a good cardiologist that won't play games and work with me to figure out what's wrong.

For those who have worn a Holter monitor or "Zio" patch - do you know what your sleeping heart rate was? Mine was under 37 beats per minute. My GP says it's normal for me since my HR is often on the lower side, but in the same "Zio" patch report it said my average heart rate was 67. Didn't say what my resting heart rate averaged out to be, but for me it's been around 50 - 60 now. Looking online, I'm seeing 8% drop is normal (from resting HR, I think). 8% for me would be a resting heart rate of 40bpm. A drop from 60bpm is 40% Any thoughts on this?

Sounds a lot like me. Is being lightheaded the only symptom you have? All of my symptoms came after losing a lot of weight, too. I dropped from 190 down to 160 in one month, then down to 145 within 2 months after that. I mentioned that to my GP and he said it shouldn't be causing my problems, but that it can take over a year for your body to adjust to your new weight. How weight loss may play a role in these symptoms - I really don't know.

I really have no idea - that's something you'd want to ask your doctor. From those sources it sounds like your levels are on the high side of normal. Have you had blood tests in the past to reference so you can compare? I've been to the ER 3 times since July and my levels for things would fluctuate. One day my potassium levels were low, then 2 days later it was back up to normal. Either way, I started eating bananas. Not because they're potassium rich, but because they're delicious and I like bananas MPV - Mean Platelet Volume. High levels, according to the source I cited, could suggest high blood pressure or another heart condition. Read this article for info on Eosinophil: http://www.medfriendly.com/eosinophil.html

MPV: "Normal platelet counts range from 150,000 to 350,000, and a normal MPV is in the 7.5 to 11.5 range. Anything below 7 or over 12 is cause for concern." Source: http://www.ehow.com/...st-results.html EOC (Eosinophil count) - 6% (high normal?) Source: http://ph.answers.ya...24185509AAYYF8q Another source citing 2 - 8% as normal: http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/nutrition/nutri_normalvalue.html However I found another source, that says 1 - 4% is normal. http://www.fpnotebook.com/hemeonc/lab/EsnphlCnt.htm Question 3: Vitamin D level is low in a lot of people. Now that we're in winter months, there's less UVB rays from the sun hitting your skin to make it. You could lay outside naked all day and still not get enough UVB rays to make enough Vitamin D. You can take a supplement to help but it takes a very long time and high dosages to get Vitamin D via an oral supplement.

I wouldn't value my opinion much since I haven't been officially diagnosed but in the last 3 years I've been sick once - and since July when I've had POTS "symptoms" I've been sick since September 10th - definitely feel like my immune system has been weakened and takes forever to get over being sick. It's hard enough dealing with symptoms but when you're sick on top of that it's just plain scary. I'm becoming a germaphobe now - alcohol hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes galore!

Thanks for the response. I did see blink's response in your thread and that did make a lot of sense. When I went to the cardiologist I put (not a concern) next to my notes about palpitations so he didn't focus on them as the problem. But they definitely seem like they're related to another problem I'm having... Are the throbbing contractions when you stand up? Or just at any times?

How many palpitations do you have per day, and what do they feel like? For those that have the strong, forceful, "throbbing" contractions after standing up - do you know why this happens (specifically)? After a month have having maybe 1 palp, I'm starting to have them regularly each day (5 - 10) again. I don't buy the "it's normal" bologna my doctor tells me. It's hard to imagine that never having a palpitation my entire life, to having 20 - 30 per day is "normal".

This is the closest I could find: http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/8311315/reload=0;jsessionid=0nBc5GvpS2A9Js0JDnPJ.4

This happened to me on a daily basis from the start of July to the end of August. It's what triggered my first ER experience. It feels like the process that puts oxygen into my blood was working at 50% - shortness of breath feeling. Breathing deeply didn't seem to help. It happened so often that I considered ordering an oxygen tank. I stopped having these breathing "attacks" right around the time I started increasing my water intake to 3+ liters a day (no clue if that's why, though). Do you have a pulse Oximeter? I won one in an auction for a penny (You can get one for like $40). They're great for monitoring your heart rate and if you have breathing problems you can at least have some comfort knowing that your blood oxygen level is normal... Whoa! I hope you got his DNA - we have cloning to do!

I really hope you can find some sort of relief soon. I can't imagine going through all of that. Hang in there!

My libido is definitely down. I could speculate it's because I spend more time thinking about my health problems than I do about sex. It doesn't help that sexual activity brings on symptoms (especially palpitations). It'd be hard to imagine an increased libido when you don't feel very good. I do find women just as exciting and interesting, though.

What was he calling your GP for?

Thanks for the advice, that's what I've been thinking. I just wanted to verify that I did have blood pooling in my legs with my cardiologist - but that didn't work out as planned. I was really hoping that it could just be venous insufficiency that's causing my problems but it looks like that's not the case. After GP I'm heading straight to a Dysautonomia neurologist another member here suggested.

That sounds like quite the experience! I'm glad you got through it okay. Sounds like this is a big step for you!

Thank you for the response! I wouldn't go back to him if they paid me to!

No. Today I saw him and in my notes asked him if he had ever heard of POTS/Dysautonomia and he never answered the question - so I'm assuming he either had no idea what it is or seems like the type that would consider it pseudo-science. Thank you for the response, Rachel!

That's what I wanted to hear "I don't know, but we'll figure it out". Not "I don't know, I don't know what you want me to do about it" - that's literally what he said to me! My GP is super nice and can tell he cares about his patients but the extent of his practice only goes so far...

I saw the cardiologist I've seen multiple times since July. He's seen my condition get progressively worse. He told me 3 months ago that "after 3 months if you're still feeling bad, we'll do a bunch of tests" and laid the "you're just out of shape, start exercising more" line on me. (This was after I was doing high intensity interval cardio, sprinting at full speed on and off for 25 minutes - hardly "out of shape"). Today I saw him regarding blood pooling in my legs, which I'm convinced is happening because: 1) My legs turn purple when I'm standing up for any period of time, such as taking a shower. 2) My legs feel full of pressure after about 30 minutes of laying down 3) I'll get occasional pains in my legs when this happen 4) They do look slightly larger after a while of this feeling 5) When I stand up, it feels like my heart is starved of blood and struggles to beat. 6) When I lift my legs above my head before standing, the above symptoms are nearly completely reduced! (HELLO!) He argued that blood can't pool in legs like that, and that if blood was pooling in my legs, it takes days to go away (I guess the doctor's articles I read online about lifting your legs above your head are all wrong?) He disregarded all of my symptoms asking me "well I'm not sure what you want me to do about it" and when asked for an explanation regarding standing up and symptoms, and why lifting my legs above my head would help reduce them - his answer was "I don't know". Then went on to suggest that "maybe there's some joint pressure being relieved when you do that". Joint pressure? Why would joint pressure make my heart feel starved of blood? He referred me back to my general doctor, who already referred me back to my cardiologist the last time. My GP is just going to refer me back to him. I told him that, and he looked at me like an idiot and said "I don't know why he would do that...." - Maybe, possibly, because it feels like a problem with my HEART? Put 2 and 2 together, man! So I argue about the blood pooling in my legs, and he sarcastically suggests I lay down for an hour if I don't believe him. I say "Okay, I'll do that!". He puts me in a room, tells me he'll check in a few times then after an hour he'll look at my legs. After an hour and 20 minutes I call his office to have them remind him I'm still waiting for him. After an hour and 40 minutes I just got up and left. There's nothing more annoying than a doctor who makes it obvious he doesn't care, he doesn't understand how you feel and on top of that, doesn't even show up when he says he's going to. If the GP doesn't lead anywhere useful I'm going to a good neurologist another member here recommended, and hopefully get a TTT or something. Thanks for hearing me vent!

Thank you for the responses, everyone! misstraci, yes, each time I went to the cardiologist he brushed off my symptoms as "hey, everyone feels crummy sometimes." and "start exercising more". Argh! I've had my blood tested each time I went to the ER. I don't know if they checked my Vitamin D levels but I own a tanning bed so that should be okay. Potassium came back low once but came back to normal the second time. I try to eat a banana each day now anyways. I take Epsom salt baths regularly as well as rub magnesium oil on my chest/arms regularly, so that should be fine, too.

Here in WA we get to mail our ballots in

That's how it was with me whenever I got sick as a kid. Drove my mom crazy. Not so for me now though. Between the doctor jitters, the drive (45 min. on a good traffic day), and the wait (20 min. sitting in the waiting room and 10 min. in the exam room), by the time my doc sees me I'm a sweaty, tachy mess. He probably thinks I'm an idiot because I have so much brain fog when I talk to him I can't seem to string a complete thought together. Sometimes I want to say, "I'm an intelligent person in real life, I promise!" I can understand that. I go over what I want to say to my doctor over and over in my head then when I finally get there it's like "Ummm... I don't feel good?". So now I just print out a well thought 1 or 2 page summary of what's going on, and hand him that!

I'm most likely going to have a TTT done within the next couple weeks, too. I'm right there with you with the "What if I'm having a good day?" scenario. It seems like every time I'm at the doctor, I'm having a good day!

Ah, that must be really tough. You're a trooper for going through all of this. You'll be okay - I wouldn't worry about the surgery too much. They'll take care of you, you'll be in good hands.