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Timbo

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Everything posted by Timbo

  1. I take it in the morning just before work. It does a great job for me as I am on my feet most of the day. Tim
  2. I get joint pain every so often, mostly in the fingers, sometimes in my hips or elbows. Sometimes it hurts pretty bad, other times it is just annoying.
  3. I have Addison's Disease (Adrenal Insufficiency). I talked to a doctor that said that Addison's and POTS are linked. I developed Addison's first, then POTS. I have a very mild case of POTS, my worst symptom being occasional fatigue. Make sure you get the test results for your cortisol levels, I went into full Addisonian crisis because a doctor and the hospital never read the results.
  4. I have hypothyroidism. I take florinef which I hope isn't causing it because it is the florinef that turned things around for me. Remember I have a very mild case of POTS. None of my symptoms were ever dramatic but the collection of symptoms did have me on my back (not because of any otrthostatic problems) for a few months until we figured out what was going on and I started using florinef.
  5. Hey guys, I am working full time for the Transportation Security Administration. I am on my feet for about six hours a day. I have had no problems with standing so things are well. The only thing wrong is my triglycerides. For some reason they are very high while my cholesterol is normal. Does anyone else have problems with this? I seriously doubt it is POTS related. Anyway I hope you are all feeling well and doing good. I will keep checking in from time to time. Tim
  6. I know you are sold out of the metal bracelets, I was hoping you guys would sell the rubber ones live the LIVESTRONG bracelet that Lance Armstrong and Nike sell for cancer research. They seem to be in style these days. I would buy a whole bunch of them and give them to my family members. You can get them made here. Anyway I have been feeling well, I am considering a job with the Transportation Security Administration in which I would be standing for three hours on end. I have never had problems with fainting so I hope things go well. I was put on Zocor recently, while my cholesterol is normal, my triglycerides are out of control, does anyone else have the problem? I doubt it is POTS related but you never know.
  7. Actually, I have applied for a job with the TSA, which means I will be standing up 3 hours at a time. My orthostatic hypotension is very mild. I have never fainted or came close to it. I guess this will be a real test, I will let you know how it goes.
  8. The ultrasound lady said that everything looked normal. A doctor will look at the snapshots and I will get the results in a week. Hopefully I will get a full abdominal MRI to rule anything serious out. Oddly enough, my brother is having kidney problems as well.
  9. Hey guys, I have been busy with work but I have been having some trouble with my left kidney. I saw a doctor and she says it isnt an infection and probably isn't stones. I have pain near or around my kidney and abdominal pain most of the time so they are doing an ultrasound tomorrow. I won't know the results until next week but I am pretty nervous. I have a history of Kidney cancer in the family. I will let you know how it goes when I get the results. I am hoping that since I have no other symptoms but pain, it is a stone and not something worse.
  10. Great find! I showed it to some of my family to help them understand what I am going through.
  11. I have Schmidt's syndrome which is Addison's Disease and Hypothyroidism together. I went into full blow Addisonian crisis which should have but did not kill me. Other than POTS, if it is directly linked, I have had no other complications from Addison's. I take 20mg of Hydrocortisone in the Morning and 10mg at night.
  12. I would go. I have Addison's disease and you have many of the symptoms I had, but that doesn't mean you have Addison's. I would go to ease your mind. Make sure he tests your potassium and cortisol levels! http://www.drweil.com/u/QA/QA326582/ Thanks to Merrill for the link.
  13. First of all I got a clean bill of health and my holter monitor test was normal. I had an interesting discussion with my cardiologist this morning. I have Addison's Disease and POTS. He said that many Addison's patients develop autonomic problems. I had suspicions that Addison's and Dysautonomia were linked, but this is the first time a doctor has told me that they definitely are. I can't recall all of the technical information he gave me but he says that the dysfunctional adrenal glands can interfere with the autonomic nervous system. The reason I initially suspected this was because I belong to an online Addison's support group and many of them have low blood pressure problems and orthostatic hypotension. My endocrinologist diagnosed me with mild orthostatic hypotension before I developed POTS. Does anyone on this board, other than I have Addison?s Disease?
  14. I wouldn't worry about cancer unless you are coughing up a lot of blood and you are older than 60 and smoked most of your life or worked around asbestos day in day out. Other warning signs are fatigue (which we POTS patients know too well), major weight loss, loss of apetite, nausea and votmiting, but those a general, just because you have one or two of them does not mean you have cancer. From reading your symptoms I would say that the odds of you having lung cancer are about 0.01%
  15. I can take hot showers or sit in a hot tub with no noticeable effects.
  16. It seems that many of us have had a permanent change in our blood pressure. I was curious if I was the only one. I have the fluxuations like you guys do. Some days I am 95/60 and others I can be 115/80 but my baseline is around 105/70. Thanks for the info guys!
  17. I was 120/80 then when POTS came along I rarely break 110/75. I am wondering if chronic low blood pressure is part of POTS or are they just referring to orthostatic hypotension.
  18. I have a question for you guys. When you came down with POTS, did your normal blood pressure drop and stay there, minus any fluxuations? I was 120/80 before POTS, now I am 105/70 normally.
  19. I work for a custom homes firm and I run the computer network. I will be leaving that job to work for my brother doing the same thing. He is starting up a similar business with winter. There is very little stress in the job other than the occasional network problem. I have managed to work through days when I had fatigue.
  20. Someone did that to my father who has 15% heart functionality left after his heart attack. I am 6'6 250 lbs and I gave that person a very stern look and they quickly moved on. Being tall has its advantages, even though I would have never done anything violent.
  21. Deep breathing is how I was diagnosed with Dysautonomia. They hooked me up to an EKG and asked me to take deep controlled breaths and my heartrate was erratic. There is a blurb on this site about it.
  22. When I get a bad symptom and feel the anxiety coming on I take a few deep breaths and remind myself that I have POTS and the symptom is not that of a fatal illness. I close my eyes and concentrate on breathing and mentally refuse to be afraid. It took me a while to do this. I find exercise (even a little) also helps, it gives you a feeling of well being and that helps you feel more healthy and helps to fight anxiety. I realize that Michelle and I probably have the the mildest cases of POTS on this forum so I have little cause to complain. I feel normal (like I used to before POTS) 90% of the time. But I still deal with anxiety and symptoms. When I read the stories of people suffering from such dramatic symptoms I must admit I feel rather guilty. I don't understand why someone gets a mild case of POTS and why another person is disabled by it.
  23. My heartrate has gone as low as 55 with nothing more than shortness of breath. But that was on one occasion. I get days where it is in the 60's with no noticeable problems. There is no need to worry.
  24. Deep breathing can make the heart of a person with dysautonomia do funny things. If I do that, the beats get erratic. Maybe the breathing exercise triggered it. Tim
  25. I have been doing pretty good. I am working full time now, I work in a pretty stress free job so that helps a lot. I have felt pretty good except for the occasional fatigue, lightheadedness and shortness of breath. I have managed to control my anxiety without medication. I have figured out how to calm myself anytime I get a nasty symptom or two. I had some moderate kidney pain that I had checked out. Has anyone else had this? It went away for the most part, if I lay on my side it comes back sometimes. I am seeing a cardiologist on the 7th in a follow up of my recent ER visit which I mentioned here. I wore a holter monitor for 24 hours last week for the appointment. I also had some X-rays done on my spine and back, two doctors mentioned that they thought I had scoliosis, but my mother, a nurse says they are crazy and so do I. I do not have any noticeable curvature. They also said the size of my heart was normal and my lungs were clear (i'm a former smoker). I went to see the surgical guys again for the lump in my back, first they said it was a lipoma, then they said it wasn't, now the chief surgeon says it is so I am going back in six months and will ask them to do a tissue sample, just to be on the safe side. If it is a lipoma, I will opt to have it removed. Anyway, I am sure you are all bored to hear about my health but I figured I would talk about it in case anyone else had similar problems.
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