ramakentesh

Before when ive had these cascade or attack of symptoms ive really feaked out and as such panicked and thought that maybe its to do with panic attacks, but the last two times i have been quite calm and detached and just sat there trying to document everything that is happening - the initial pain in my upper stomach, the sudden feeling of being unable to get air - like you breath in but your still needing air when your fully breathed in - then i get a surging feeling in my neck and head and my vision goes weird - surreal is the perfect description - it will also fill up like when you have ust seen a bright light, and then i will get sooo cold and start to tremble violently - inderal does help, but the incomfortable feelingi still present. Ive had this happen seven times since i got POTS and 5 out of seven times were at night just after i hoped in bed, and they were precipitated by alcohol use about one to three days before (we are talking moderation here though - like a glass of red wine or a light beer at a friend's bbq). I remember my grandma telling me about her dad who had 'nerve complaints' and used to 'tremble' for an hour then be spaced out - sounds identical to these sudden attacks. Autonomic storm - that describes it perfectly. The sympathetic nervous system going into chaos... The first time it happened i was at the emergency department sitting there passing out and losing it and they were like 'um, we dont know whats going on - your blood pressure seems fine, but your passing out.'

aprilrose - i relate exactly to your discription - great to read it too

i havew many of these visual symtpoms from time to time - maybe its because the eye eats up a lot of oxygen and if its depleted they are sensitive too this - my vision is aways weird when im symptomatic.

Last night i had this tight feeling in my stomach and then a pressure or tightness in my neck and in my head and then i trembled all over and felt quite out-of-it.

i try to take some valerian or beat blocker to calm myself down when i feel so 'wired and tired.'

exactly - smoking pot is a dream nowdays - i cant even handle soft drinks on bad days...

I had another night of weird symptoms. I get this sort of uncomfortable feeling in my upper stomach and find it hard to relax, then all my veins dissappear and my skin goes clammy, then my heart rate starts up and i feel like i cant get enough air. Then my vision goes weird and i feel dreadfully cold despite having a lower than normal body tempature (unlike a fever). then my body trembles violently as if i am freezing for an hour or so and then it goes away - i cant sleep for the rest of the night well. What is happening? Has anyone else had this kind of experience? Im worried.

Most endocrinologist will accept the possibility of subclinical hypothyroidism but not subclinical hyperthyroidism unless the TSh is below 0.3 - mine went as low as 0.5 with free t4 being 19.9 (range 9-19) and three seperate endocrinologists all were emphatic that i did not have a thyroid disorder despite having nodules and all the symptoms. My antibodies tests were low though. In the end it turned out to be pots rather than an overative thyroid, but my symptoms were very similar as the same mechanism is overactive in both - the sympathetic nervous system.

The strength of the effect on what i was told was a very low dosage (a small tea mix provided to me by my alternative doctor) was quite surprising. It seems to act in the same way as florinef - the second night i found it hard to sleep and felt a bit full in the head which worried me. I found it made me a bit doppy in the head too. I phoned my doctor and he said that my reaction more likely suggests that i have adrenal problems rather than just blood volume issues - he thinks that a reaction that profound after one usage should only occur if adrenal steriods are lacking.

For many months i was suspected of having an overactive thyroid and i was rigourously investigated as i have a strong history of thyroid disorders in my family. I had hand tremors, weight loss, eye pain, heart palps and a whole host of other symptoms - and then they found nine nodules on my thyroid and my thyroid hormones were found to be elevated twice out of about five tests. My TSH was always normal. I was also dizzy and spaced out as well as cold rather than hot. I went to three endocrinologists and they all said the same thing - its not your thyroid. Eventually i was told that POTS activates the same thing that an overactive thyroid does - the excitation of the sympathetic nervous system - causing overactive reactions, weight loss, tremors, anxiety, etc. The fact that i was dizzy and cold rather than hot was indicative of it not being my thyroid, although peopel can get POTS symptoms from adrenal excitation due to the thyroid. Laslty they are revuing the TSH levels to move it from 0.5-5.0 (the higher the TSH the more underactive, the lower the more active) to 0.3-3.0. My TSH was as low as 0.5 which means that it was very close to the magic figures for being overactive - a TSH over 2.8 is usually an indication that the thyroid is moving towards becoming underactive rather than overactive. An overactive thyroid usually has VERY low TSH levels - as in as low as 0.001.

For me POTS had one of the principle symptoms of feeling wired and when i was at my worst i was incredibly anxious. This was a great shock for me because i had never had any anxiety at all before its onset in my life. My friends used to complain about me being the opposite - quite careless and calm to the point of being sluggish. When pots came on i lost heaps of weight, started trembling like someone with an overactive thyroid, and was wired and anxious - hyperactive and jittery, yet spaced out and dizzy at the same time. Im not trying to say that you definately have POTS, but if you have POTS symptoms and were diagnosed with it, you would expect to get anxiety as a symptom rather than a seperate entity - or if you already have anxiety, POTS would bring it out - your adrenals are on overdrive with my form of pots. Weed/hash/etc doesnt help anxiety in any way - and some people suggest that it can actually bring out latent mental illnesses. It also drops your blood sugar and pressure which would make your symptoms worse (if pots was your problem), and can dehydrate you too. My advice would be to try licorice root as well - it can help with adrenal problems as well as orthostatic intolerance - valerian is another good herb.

I have been using it for two days and am amazed by the effect - its quite amazing how well i feel on it - although it also seems to up the sympathetic overactivation as well as reduce the dizziness for an hour or two. I actually get sweaty when i take it.

Does this increase blood volume or just pressure??

I realised that the symptoms of 'adrenal fatigue' and POTS actually mymic on another - you could almost argue that Adrenal fatigue could be a mild case of POTS. Could it be that people are actually being diagnosed with Adrenal Fatigue when they are suffering POTS, or could it be that Adrenal Fatigue is actually causing POTS in people??

I often get periods where i am constantly cold - cold hands and feet especially, and my head feels like its going to explode if i bend over - i hear my heart rate in my ears and my face goes very red. Being worst in the mornings is also a common theme with POTS. your best bet is to get everything else excluded and then get a TTT test.

i was feeling quite poorly today until iu had a glass of salty water and it was almost and instant improvement. Is there any health risks in drinking glasses of salty water? Im quite sure that this thirst and urinating - which came on in me before the actual symptoms - is related to the problem. would anyone like to comment on whether this is a reaction to the inability to maintain blood volume, which results in hypovolumia - dizziness, palps, weakness, symptoms,?? I was reading that the eyes eat up more oxygen than any other part of the body - so if there is a problem with blood flow and oxygen flow to the eyes, they are often the first parts effected - thus the weird vision when the dizziness comes on?? And this could explain the vitreous floaters?

Hot showers and bathes often make me feel drained and dizzy and weak - but i have unbelievable cold-feeling periods where i constantly am cold sensative and i need to have hot showers then just to get the blood flowing to my hands and feet.

dizziness can occur with normal blood pressure - infact at times my dizziness was profound while i had normal blood pressure measurements - but was suffering palpitations and dizziness

Two things ive noticed recently - firstly that when an episode comes on im always thirsty constantly and urinating constantly as well - up twice during the night, and going constantly all day - ive been tested for sugar related issues and apart from occasional low blood sugar, its normal - and my urine gravity has been low, but never constisantly low like in diabetes inspidis. I cant work out the mechanisms that are causing this. Should i try to up the salts contents of my waters? Secondly, if i miss my breakfast in the morning - being salty foods now - i find that i feel like crap and that it starts a bad reaction that lasts most of the day - dizzy, getting dizzy after eating, orthostatic intolerance -whereas if i eat my breakfast as soon as i wake up i tend to be ok. Also does anyone get reactions to anti inflammotory drugs?

Definately familial - there are a b\number of people in my family in the past who had strange reoccurent fatigue, tremors and 'nervous system problems.'

you do improve but its slow going - ive been sick for over a year and im much better now, but certain things - like missing my salty breakfast or taking a antiinflammotory drug can knock me for six

my heart is nearly always quite stable without betablockers and i still get symptoms - particularly if i miss breakfast - and in the mornings. Most of these are due to hypovolumia - the thirst for me is the indicator

I remember when i was that bad. I had slight symptoms for ages, but nothing that was really bad until it suddenly came on afdter a period of very heavy exercise and a bad cold. I was so spaced out that i didnt know what was going on - tired, over emotional, anxious, so incredibly dizzy, weak, pale, lost heaps of weight, got heaps of vitreous floaters in my eyes, would tremble after the slightest exertion, tachycardia if i even lifted my hands, couldnt handle alcohol or caffiene, was constantly thirsty, restless, couldnt focus and just felt crap. I didnt even work out what was going on until i had already started to very gradually improve - after nine months i started to feel better. Now days - its been 11 months and i can walk every night and pretty much do most of what i used to be able to. My eyes have never been the same though, and im still thirsty and pissing every half an hour - and i still get very dizzy in the mornings... Although i fear a relapse, i have definately improved through just time really - i cant put my finger on any other reason.

i too get this but only after breakfast - straight after to an hour or two later - its mainly dizziness, cold extremities, short bursts of palps, sapced out feeling, and my blood gets low. I find eating more actually seems to help, but im not sure why.

so do you think that your pots is autoimmune related as most thyroid diseases are?