Timbo

Last time I heard they illegalized it. But tonight, they are voting on the new medicare plan which will let people buy drugs from Canada. What these drug companies are doing is unethical and immoral. If they can sell the drugs cheap in Canada, they can sell them cheap here. We need fixed, regulated prices on prescription medication.

When I was diagnosed with Addisons Disease I was put on hydrocortisone and florinef. Both are steroids and I put 50 pounds on in two years. Then the weight gain stopped and I lost it all by dieting and exercising.

How many of you get chest pains, where are they located and how severe are they? I get chest pains every few days. They started three years ago, before I got the main POTS symptoms. I am wondering if I had POTS back then and only a few symptoms presented themselves. The pains switch locations frequently. I get them in the center of my chest, upper chest, left, right and below the chest plate. My chest pains are mild and sometimes moderate. I saw a cardiologist this past January and had a stress test which was normal. I am just curious. I will see the cardio again in January.

I have borderline bradycardia. Sometimes my pulse sits at around 60 and goes as low as 57. I also get tachycardia of 130 max on standing. But that only shows up occasionally. I do not take any heart drugs related to my POTS. I feel better than I did before POTS as well. I still have bad days where I don't, but exercising has helped a lot. Walking is the best exercise you can do. If you can push yourself and walk three miles, 5 days a week. I guarantee you that you will feel better within two months. Of course you should always check with your doctor before starting an exercise program of any kind.

My father will be home tomorrow. The cardiologist was amazed he is doing so well. I think much of his heart function has returned although we won't know that for sure until three weeks or so until another ECG is done. His clot or blockage was at the top of the lower anterior descending artery. A Heart Attack at the top of the LAD is known as "the widow maker". It usually kills the victim. So we are all breathing a big sigh of relife and looking forward to the implantation of a defibrillator. That will ensure his heart stays in rythm. My father is very very lucky. Thanks to your prayers and the prayers of countless others. Thank you all Tim

I take .2 every day. Both tabs in the morning.

It looks like my father is going to be OK. He is off the oxygen and IV's and he is getting up and walking. They are talking about sending him home on Thursday or sending him to a rehab facility for a week. Thank you for all your well wishes and prayers. I think it helped him a lot.

They are talking about moving my father out of the Intensive Care Unit so that is good news indeed. We are not out of the woods yet, but he is getting better each day. I do not know if they are going to do another ECG today. My brother in law's fiancee told me that her dad had a heart attack and only had 12% functionality left to his heart and he is alive and living a fairly normal life. He can't run a marathon or do any hard work, but he is coherent and in charge of his faculties. The doctor thinks my dad was having the attack long before the chest pain occured and that is why so much damage took place. They stopped the attack within three hours of the first symptom which usually means a quick recovery, but the silent part of the attack is what did the damage. My mother who is a nurse told me a story of a lady who went to see her cardiologist for a regular checkup and when he hooker her up to the EKG he realized that she was having a major heart attack. She said all she felt was a bit of pain in her wrist.

Thank you for your prayers and kindness. My Dad is doing alright. He is not out of the woods yet by any means. He is awake and speaking and cracking a few jokes. My mother has been a rock through this. I will keep you updated as things progress. We will know more on Monday when another ECG is done.

They did an ECG this morning and its not good. Only 15% of his heart is functional. They are hoping that when the swelling goes away more functionality will return. They like to see 50% so he has a long way to go. This is not over yet. Keep praying for him please, I beg you. Tim

I am headed back to the hospital. It looks like he is going to be OK. They got to him quick and stopped the attack. He was awake and answering questions last night. Thank you so much for your prayers, I know it helped him a lot. I will keep you informed. Tim

My father had a major heart attack today. The cardiologist thinks he will survive since he went to the ER at the first sign of chest pain. They unblocked his LAD artery and put three stents in. I am headed back to the ICU. If you could pray for his recovery, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks, Tim

I think we have all wondered at one point if we have SDS. I think we have all been frightened of it. Anxiety is a POTS symptom and I get it a lot. When I start getting muscle twitches I worry it could be ALS. When I had them to begin with I was worried about SDS. The biggest SDS symptoms are severe orthostatic hypotension, severe headaches caused by the hypotension and blackouts. The easiest way to rule out SDS is to get a blood pressure cuff and lay down on your bed. Wait for 5-10 minutes and take 5 readings. Get a basline. Then bear down as if you are having a bowel movement and take your pressure. If your pressure goes up, you do not have SDS. You heart rate should elevate as well. This is known as the Valsalva manuver and it ruled out SDS in my case. Oh and if I had a dime for everytime I worried about having SDS I would be rich. Anxiety is a part of POTS. I think it stems from getting these overlapping symptoms. I am glad to hear your doctor ruled it out. It would be very rare in a 21 year old.

I get that sometimes. This weird weak feeling and sometimes pain in the back of my neck. I have not had it in a long time though.

I seriously doubt they will go to court over $8,000.00. Their lawyers would cost more than that to sue. Hospitals can write off losses on their taxes, so don't let them intimidate you. If a judge sees that you are making monthly payments it shows a pattern of good faith and there is no way he is going to allow a case to go to trial. It really really sounds like they hired an over zealous bill collector who has no idea what they are doing. Moreover if the bone graft disintegrated, that in itself could be used in court against the hospital since their doctors obviously did not do a great job. I have dealt with bill collectors in the past with my medical bills. Most of them lie. They will tell you that they can report you to a credit bureau. I had a hospital try to charge me $500 for a tetanus shot. I mean the shot itself, not the ER visit. I refused to pay it and sent them $25 which I felt was fair. The Collection agency told me they would report me and I told them that they would have a large lawsuit on their hands if they did. Needless to say nothing ever appeared on my record. The fact is, unless there is a sentence or two stating that in the documentation you signed, they can't. If they did, they would be liable.

I am glad to hear that I am not the only one, I am not glad you have to deal with it though. It seems to increase when I go to bed. I read an article that says it is normal to have twitching while drifting off to sleep. I wonder if this is an undiscovered POTS symptom. Any thoughts? The one thing that seems to stop it is working out. I hit the weights and then the bike and it goes away for a while.

Are the any of you that have problems with involuntary twitching or jerking? Every once in a while I have a week or so where my head jerks slightly to the left for a second or less and then returns to normal. This happens periodically, not chronically. I notice it increases when I am nervous. I also have periods where my back jerks and my upper body moves to the left for a second and then returns to normal. I get these episodes every few months or so.

My mother is a nurse who has dealt with people with orthostatic hypotension and similar disorders, so she had no trouble believing that I have POTS. I can't imagine why people who have no medical training of any kind think they know all about the human body and mind. Tim

Johnny Cash died this morning. He had Shy Drager Syndrome, which is Multiple System Atrophy with autonomic failure. Recently the doctors were second guessing that diagnosis but no conclusion was ever reached that I know if. He died of complications due to Diabetes. I am not a country music fan, but I have a few of his records. The "Man in Black" sang songs that the common man could relate to, much like Frank Sinatra. I for one will miss him greatly. His wife June Cash died a few months ago. Please keep them in your prayers.

I am sorry that the old board did not work out. There were many technical issues which made it unfeasible to continue using it. This new board will let us focus on helping those with Dysautonomia without having to worry about the board crashing or accounts ceasing to work. Since I am away from my home often, it makes much more sense to use a board that will have a 24 hour tech support team backing it up. Tim