Jan

I can only address menopause. I went off the pill last February and have only had one period since. That one was pretty long and hard but I didn't get as bad of a headache or as many POTS symptoms as I used to get around my period. In the meantime, it is wonderful not having the menstrual cycles and the ups and downs that go with it. I get a hot flash about once an hour but I will take that over the cycles any day. My blood work indicates I am menopausal. My OBGYN didn't think I would get any more periods but I did get that one. I highly recommend menopause. Love not having the illness that comes with my period.

I have never understood why people or doctors push G2/Gatorade. The Gatorade and G2 bottles I am looking at say it has 110 sodium per 8 ounces, 30 mg Potassium and 50 calories for the Gatorade and 25 calories for the G2. Guess G2 has less sugar. Skim Milk has 130 sodium and 410 Potassium and 90 calories. I LOVE milk and it seems like it is much better for you. Sodium can be in any form, so if a person doesn't like the sweet drinks, or milk, you can eat some chicken soup or drink V-8 and be set for salt for the day. Then you can quench your thirst with water. You will still get lots of salt in your diet. It doesn't have to come from what you drink. Also, tomatoes are very high in potassium as are potatoes. Potato chips don't actually have a ton of salt, at least not for people like us who want TONS, but they do have potassium. Besides a lot of milk, I like Diet Pepsi. I put it over ice, so it gets somewhat watered down, and the caffeine helps constrict my veins. Some claim diet pop is a diuretic, but in reality it is a very very minor one.

Since you said car RIDE I will assume you are riding and not driving. I vote, go for it. I find that when I get out, I feel better. And if you don't feel well, you can feel just as bad at his place as your own. He sounds like he will understand. Yesterday, I had to run a short errand. I was a little dizzy walking around but I usually feel fine sitting when driving. I thought about the way I felt, and if I had felt that way when I first got sick, I would have stayed home. And I would have had terrible anxiety if I had gone out. And I would have been fearful, feeling that way walking around a store. I started thinking that maybe I am not really getting better as much as adapting. I used to be afraid to leave the house and like you, felt really comfortable at home. Now walking around a store feeling dizzy and disoriented is normal for me. One doctor at the Mayo Clinic asked me if I could walk very far. I said that it made me dizzy, so I usually only walk short distances and around my house. She told me that I needed to walk farther, and that I needed to retrain my body. That hit me like a ton of bricks, because I was limiting myself, and as a result, my world had gotten quite small. The more things I did that I was afraid of, the more things I was willing to try. The body really is good at adapting.

Since I take the second dose at noon, it doesn't prevent me from sleeping. That's interesting, Jan. I have never heard of anyone taking it in separated doses. It seems like it would keep you from sleeping, BUT if the illness makes you really, seriously fatigued, maybe the separate doses help keep your energy level up. We are all different I'm glad it works for you!

I have found taking Florinef twice a day helpful. I take it at 7AM when I get up with my kid while he gets ready for school. Then I go back to bed and take another .1mg at noon. I have found this works better for me than taking it all at once. Seems like the effects last longer. If I forget the noon dose, I know it because I feel really bad around 4PM. My doc started me off at full dose right away, but I don't seem to have the med sensitivity of others so it went fine. It did take a month or more of being on it for me to feel better, and I did spend that time adjusting times. He had me taking it in the AM and then at night. At one point I was even on .3mg. The .3 made me feel great for about 3 days and then it made me feel worse. I think you have to kind of figure out what works for you because we aren't the typical patients in the medical journals. Most doctors mean well, they just don't understand every illness.

I do miss my nightly hot bath. Luke warm just isn't the same. The hot bath turns my legs to jelly.

Alcohol is a vasodilator. Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor. Maybe they counter act the effects of each other?

I love the cold. I have been outside in the cold dealing with snow and putting water on our ice rink, yesterday and today for hours. It is 1 degree out. I feel my best in the cold. In fact, I was sweating when I was outside. It can be hard for me to readjust to being inside but that might be partly due to the change of activity level. I sometimes take an long warm shower to get my body temp back to normal. I am also dealing with hot flashes and man, being outside is such a treat when those happen. I can't deal with the heat for more than a few minutes. And by heat, I mean anything above 75 degrees.

It takes a long time to get over a marriage, even for healthy people with jobs and kids. My husband cheated on me and believe me, it has been hard not to play the "could have been" game. I think my X is playing that game now that his girlfriend showed her true colors and left him. I would never take him back because I can never trust him and he has showed HIS true colors. The kind of man who cheats on his wife, would have done it even if you weren't sick. And he wasn't your best friend, he was a fraud. The man you fell in love with doesn't exist. You don't want to be married to a man who would leave his wife when she needs him most. It is perfectly normal to feel alone and afraid and depressed in your situation. You are better off alone than dependent on someone like him. I understand needing to find something that makes you feel useful. I am on a committee at church, and while I often miss meetings due to illness, I make the name tags and send the Thank you notes to the people who sign the guest book. It makes me feel useful. The last church I belonged to used to call people on their birthday. I was one of the birthday callers. Small things, but they make a difference to me. My kids are almost all grown up and when my youngest graduates I know it will be hard. When I had to stop working, I decided being a stay at home mom was enough of a goal. Now I look at retired people, and try to determine what they use to feel useful. Sometimes I feel pathetic. But truly ONE DAY AT A TIME really helps. Find things you enjoy. An online game, books, calling people etc. Try to enjoy life and not focus on what you are missing. You aren't doing anything wrong. Sometimes we are given more than we can handle and we have to just wait it out and eventually we get some strength back to face life. My heart goes out to you, I have been where you are. Hugs to you, and know you aren't alone in your feelings.

NDRF isn't moderated. Before it went down there were some really ugly offensive posts. It got really creepy with people saying things like SATAN was at work on the board. I have heard that the Smith's have wanted to shut down the board in the past because they don't have the time to moderate it, and I am afraid this might make them decide not to bring it back. It is sad since it is a first stopping point for many, and also how many of us got to this site. I would like to thank those who started this board, and maintain it and moderate it since that really is a tough job.

My advice... First, eat supper early. Like at 5PM. And drink lots of liquid and salt your food. That way you can eat in peace and not risk losing more weight. I don't always know when I am hungry and I have had some pretty awful symptoms come on while I am attempting to make dinner. So eating early will also help if by some off chance hunger is bringing on the symptoms. I don't know if you are on any meds but consider if this happens at a time when one wears off. Second, you need a mantra. Like "This will be gone by 8 or so" "This won't kill me" Don't fight it. Just tell yourself it is temporary, and you can ride it out. If relaxing in a dark room with a candle helps, do that. If being active helps do that. Watch TV or do a puzzle, read. I find when attacks hit, I feel better doing nothing. I tell myself I can get through it and relax. I think over stimulation brings on those kinds of symptoms for me. Some people need to be distracted. Do what helps. Third, stop dreading it. If it is anxiety or stress, being afraid it will happen can actually cause it to happen. Your body is reacting to either stress or just POTS and it isn't your enemy. Your body is trying hard to cope but has gotten it wrong. Talk to your body and comfort it. You are in this together. Your body doesn't want to feel this way. Encourage it. I know this sounds kind of stupid, but I found that it helped me to think of my body as my friend, and not as the enemy. You are under tons of stress, and stress makes any illness worse. EVERYONE, not just those of us here on this board, get physical symptoms and panic like stuff under stress. I think what is happening to you sounds normal for someone as stressed as you. I personally wouldn't even consider meds until you get through the holidays and your exam because things may calm down a great deal for you. I have dreams around the holidays that my dad are in. I used to wake up sad because he is no longer around. Now when I have the dreams, I am happy to see my dad. I am sorry for your loss, just know that it won't hurt as much with time. Good luck, if things don't get better you can always consider meds.

One time I was with a group of people who were talking about how they are trying to cut down on salt in their diets and I said, "I keep salt packets in my purse". You should have seen their jaws drop, like I had said I was a heroine addict.

I think the question I would have isn't whether you can have children but whether you will be able to care for THEM with POTS and whether you can deal with years of not getting a good nights sleep.

I would suggest calling your pharmacist and seeing what they have to say. Sometimes the stuff we read about is only for rare cases.

I always take Florinef with a glass of milk. I found it gave me stomach pain on an empty stomach. I also get stomach aches if I eat too much salt at once. So it could be either one. Spread the salt out and eat food with the med and see if that helps. Or it could be something else. How is that for helpful?

I doubt the healing is starting over. I think you can wake up tomorrow and it will be a good day. Or not. This whole process is unpredictable, which is what makes it hard. Did you over do it on the days you felt well? That can cause a set back. Try not to get depressed, tomorrow could be a great day. I have had good and bad days for the last 10 years. I slowly get more good than bad. The more liquid a person takes in, the more they should urinate. Otherwise you would explode. If you aren't feeling well when drinking a lot, then do try to increase the salt. You might want to drink something other than water. Milk, chocolate milk, juice, especially tomato juice, ice cream float.....if your body has to digest it, it should stay in you longer. Pots can be secondary to lots of diseases. It is common for older people or people with poor circulation, diabetes, or heart issues to get orthostatic hypotension. For most of us, we don't know if it is secondary to something. Since it is a "syndrome" all that means is the people with the diagnosis have the same symptoms. We may all have different causes.

I get headaches when I sit too long. If I ignore them, they will turn into a migraine. They will go from hurting on both sides, to attacking one vein on one side of my head. If I get up, take Advil, move around and drink caffeine, I can often get rid of it before it turns into a migraine. Yours could be a two sided migraine. Normally they are on one side, but who knows. The rest of your description sounds like a migraine to me. My advice, don't ignore the headache when it first comes on.

They found lesions on my brain and thought I had MS. The spinal tap showed I didn't have MS, so now I just get to know there are lesions on my brain. I wish I didn't know. Every migraine I get, I think, oh no, here comes another lesion.

My advice Don't get it if you are allergic to eggs and ask for a dose without mercury. WHY do they still use that as a preservative, is there really nothing better?

The H1N1 tests are very unreliable. Some who have died tested negative and were confirmed on autopsy. More than one person I know who went to the doctor were told that they aren't testing because the tests are so unreliable, and they would treat the person the same no matter how it came back. Also, most people with the flu don't go to the doctor so the people tested are sick, and that may be why many have something else. Which leads me to believe that H1N1 might be much milder than initially thought. The problem I have with Dr. Mercola, is even is he comes up with something that makes sense, I have a hard time believing him because of some of the off the wall really weird stuff he has said.

I do find them painful and sometimes feel a little dizzy after wards maybe from the pain or from standing still for a time, but it is a passing thing. I have always feared I would faint with my breast in the vice grip, either from pain, or from standing. Wonder if that has ever happened?

There are many healthy parents who do less than you do. Some have two jobs and have no time to see their kids sports and are too exhausted when they get home from work to even pay attention to their kids. Some only have one job and miss all their kids activities due to their hours or because they have their own social life they put first. Some parents just don't go to the activities. There are some kids whose parents I never saw at any activity. Some are wealthy and travel and leave their kids with the nanny. Many countries send their kids to boarding schools. I miss my son's AM bowling league every Saturday because I can't do mornings. He understands. Now he can drive so he goes to practices on his own. You can only do what you can do. Be sure to tell your kids how much you wish you could be there for everything and get all the details of what you missed from them. Share their joy of victory, or agony of defeat. Taking the time to talk to your kids and letting them know you are interested in their life is more than many parents do and it is more important than watching something from the side lines. Does you X go to games and practices? If so, then the kids have one parent there, if not, he is way out of line saying it is part of being a parent. I rarely saw both parents at any of my sons activities. Would your kids be better off with a healthy mom? I don't know, what if the healthy mom had to work long hours and was exhausted and crabby at the end of each day. Healthy mom might miss out on even more of the kids lives. Healthy mom might have her own life to lead and still miss her kids activities. Health doesn't make a person a good parent. You are doing the best you can, your kids will be fine with a mother that loves them. Some kids don't even have a parent that cares as much as you do. Your kids are lucky to have you in their lives. My kids told me they liked the fact that I was home for them even though I was sick. When I was working, life had it's own different set of difficulties.

I used to wake up at night with a racing heart, sweating, and panic until I started taking Lorazapam before bed.

I have heard you can just go and sign in and wait for an opening in the department you want to go to. It is risky but I guess it works.

I had a referral from my primary Dr. I only waited about 3 weeks but I went the week before Xmas and I don't think it was a popular week to go.