Laura

Nina, thinking of you and your family. Hugs.

Hope you've had a day full of fun!!

Hope you've had a great birthday, Kate!!

Thinking of you on your birthday!!

I hope you've had a wonderful birthday!!

Gena, Hope you've had a special day!

Good luck tomorrow! Hope this surgery will get you feeling much better very quickly! Laura

Glad you are back Ariella!

Nina, Thinking of you and your family.

I'm glad this seems to be working for you! Any bit of relief is wonderful, isn't it?!

Hi Amy, I'm sorry that you are having a hard time with this. Any time that you stop a medication (especially one that you've been on for a long while) there is a good chance that you may experience some "rebound" effects. Effexor is not an easy medication to stop. Many people who stop have a really tough time for a while after as the body re-adjusts. For you, with Pots, it may be that you will have a bit more difficult time with it. Your symptoms may flare up and take a bit longer to settle back to your normal. It may help a bit to know that you can expect to feel badly for a while, but if you can push through it things should settle. That might give you a better sense of control when you are experiencing flare ups. Try to breathe through it and tell yourself that it is expected and it will pass. It may be also that you need to reduce your dosage at an even slower rate. It's great that you are trying so hard to prepare to have another baby. It may be tough getting there, but keep trying and keep positive! It might just take a bit of time to get things sorted out, but you'll get there! Laura.

Hi Claire, I noticed in another post that you were wondering about salt intake. When you are on Florinef you do need to increase your intake of salt in order for the florinef to work. Florinef needs salt to help it to increase your water retention, which increases your fluid volume and increases your BP. If you don't have the salt, the florinef won't do much for you. I just thought I should post that as it sounded like you might not have been informed of that based on your post under Restarted Florinef. I hope that makes sense! Laura

Hi Amy! I was just going to post to wish you a happy birthday when I saw this post! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I hope you have a very good apointment on Thursday - be sure to let us know how you make out.

Hi Rhonda, I also experience tremors to varying degrees. They become much more pronounced if I am up and walking about, if I am extra tired, have over-exerted, or have not been drinking enough water/taking enough salt. Sometimes I have the full body shakes, sometimes it is just my hands. I was on Midodrine for a while and did not notice any specific increase to the tremors, but everyone responds differently. I would think it may be more in relation to the TTT and may take a bit to settle back down. My BP doesn't drop either, it elevates and my heartrate is around 170- 180 as well, so we sound a little bit similar! I wasn't told that I did not have typical Pots, I'm not sure what your doctor meant by that. As Morgan said, I don't think there is really a "typical" form of Pots. We are all pretty individual in how this affects us. Hope some of this helps you to sort things out. Janet : Welcome to the site! Hope you get some good info here and meet all the great people.

Hi Lauren, Something that helps me feel a little more secure is to have someone (for me it's my mom) call me a few times a day at the same time every day. I expect the call and always answer and if she doesn't call for some reason, I phone there just to check in. While it doesn't help much if something goes wrong, I do feel alot of reassurance from it. My husband also gives quick calls through the day to see how things are. It is very scary to be alone and deal with this. I hope you can use some of these ideas to help yourself feel a little more secure. Take care Laura!

Hi there, Tachycardia can be a cause of shortened PR interval on your ECG, and considered a normal varient. As your heartrate increases, your PR interval can shorten. Your doctor may have felt your ECG was "fine" as he may have expected to see a shortened PR interval with your tachycardia. Does that make sense? hope this helps you out a bit! Laura.

Melissa, I'm so sorry that things have been going so hard for you. It must be exhausting. You are a strong girl, try to keep hanging in there as best you can. We are all thinking of you here and sending you good thoughts and positive energies. Take good care. Laura.

Hi Heather, your dose depends on what your doctor feels is right for your particular condition. You could be prescribed up to 320mg of inderal, so 60mg of time released capsule may not be considered a particularily high dose. It would be best to talk to your doctor if you feel this is an inappropriate dose for you. Good luck! Laura

Hope you had a wonderful birthday, Sue!

Oh, Lois!! What a huge accomplishment that is! It must feel so great to be finished with that part of it. I hope you have a great time celebrating.... it was a very long road to get to this point!! Have fun! Laura.

Hi Ernie, What a great idea! I have family in Montreal and have been wanting to get down there, but I'm not sure it will be possible this year. When there is a date decided, I would be able to know better! Hopefully there will be even more people interested in attending! Laura.

Hi there! I wanted to tell you that I know someone who had elevated RF levels and bone pain in the fingers, wrists etc. She has hypothyroidism and the doctor told her that her levels were off and she needed to increase her medication. Said that the RF levels were elevated because of this and they should go back to normal levels once the hypothyroidism was back under control. I don't know why this would affect the rheumatoid factor and had never heard of this before, but the doctor was correct.. her levels are normal now and no more joint pain. I wanted to mention this incase it is of value to you!

Dayna, yes you can get vertigo from having a cold and if that is the cause it should resolve over a few weeks as you get better. With colds, sometimes you can get a fluid build up in your ears or irritation in your ears that can cause vertigo. Feel better!

What a huge accomplishment!! A big congratulations to you!

Hi Belinda, It's nice that they think this is from your dysautonomia, but can they not give you something to help ease things off? Grr... Have you tried cold compresses or ice packs on your face for some temporary relief? Drinking ice cold water? I'm sure you've likely tried just about everything by now! Wish I could help. Laura