Hi all, I'm new here. I'm Grace. I have POTS (and CFS/Fibro/IBS/PCOS/possible ARVD but I had conflicted opinions.). Hooray! I was diagnosed way back in, 1998 (I think)? when I was 15/16 (I'm almost 22 now). At that time I was big into dysautonomia forums, since that was pretty much the only way I could find out information about my disorder. Since then I've drifted away and right now it feels like I'm back to square one on being educated about this disorder. A lot has changed in the last 6 years! Background: I was diagnosed by a stress test (and other things that I can't remember) at the local childrens hospital. My brother also has POTS and was diagnosed first, so when I started showing the symptoms it was pretty easy to figure out. I started Midodrine and Florinef. Those worked for a few months, but then stopped. I stopped all medication and that's pretty much it up until right now. I've gone to the doctor when I was feeling particularly bad or worried about something. Which as time went on has been passed off more and more and nothing. Right now I'm looking to probably find a new cardiologist and get back on track with treatment. For the last few years, it has pretty much been "I'm not too broke, so why mess with it more." I've learned to deal with my symptoms on my own, which has worked out mostly well. Except that one time I passed out and fell off a bus On the other hand I pretty much do nothing, since everything makes me feel awful. My brother and I do the grocery shopping for the whole family once a week and we're useless for the rest of it. I'm on SSI, and even with treatment I doubt I'd be able to get to school/work. I'm just hoping to gain a little bit back and be able to feel a little better on a general basis. So, what should I do? I'm looking for a new cardiologist (is a cardiologist the right specialty anymore?) because the one I am currently seeing is a jerk. A long while ago I was having really bad palpitations/arrhythmia type feelings. We called (my mom really) and he said to go to his office the next day, or if it bad the ER. We opted for the ER. Everything checked out fine (of course!) but I went home with a 24 holter. When I went to my cardio's office a couple days later with the results he laughed and said, "What were you running in place all day?" when I said No, I had been laying down all day, he didn't "believe me" and laughed some more. I got to see the strips from the holter and it was going all over the place at times when I knew I was laying down. When the lines (I can't remember what the office term is) go off the page (top and bottom) on 85% of the pages that's not great right? Needless to say I have little faith in his abilities. Plus he's just a jerk. What kind of treatments are out there now? I'm going to assume whichever doctor I do end up seeing will know very little to nothing. I'd like to go prepared with ideas and such. Is a tilt-table test really necessary? There is no way I'm having one done. I've already been diagnosed with POTS, I'm not going to go through an unnecessary extremely uncomfortable test to reaffirm that. With that, will it be a huge problem that I haven't had one done? I'm worried about it being brought up, then I'll refuse and be labeled uncooperative. Is there any point in doing all this? I survive well enough. I feel sick a lot, but I've been doing okay. Should I stick to my "If it's not broke, don't fix it." theory? Thanks, Grace