worththewords

I've always read these topics but no one has ever brought this subject up. The same thing happens to me!

My blood pressure and pulse are actually in the perfect range after and during sex. My pulse will stay around 60-70bpm for a good 30 minutes or so. But then forget it, it gets back up to around 100bpm which is typical for me or higher if I'm feeling POTSy.

I've always wondered what causes this reaction considering I would have expected the complete opposite.

Best medicine, perhaps?

Interesting read. Yet I'm still skeptical and not that desperate yet!

Thanks for sharing.

I hope everyone sleeps well tonight!

I once told my doctor I thought I was having hot flashes at 23 and he laughed at me. He contributed it to POTS and the fact that like goldicedance said, it was because the autonomic nervous system controls (or messes up) body temperature.

It kind of makes sense that if your blood pressure gets too low, your heart starts to work harder. It's probably a good thing that it wakes us up. Occasionally if I am sleeping, I will wake up and be shaking, mostly feeling it internally but sometimes my hands/body are shaking. My cardio told me to check my BP when that happens as that could be low BP too. Everytime it has occured it has been because of very low blood pressure. I sit up for awhile to correct it. It's quite the pain when I'm exhausted and need the sleep. However, I can't take beta blockers - I have asthma. And I can't seem to tolerate any of the typical POTS meds. So I stick to the ice packs and sitting up method.

I don't have any suggestions for your area or Texas but if you are going to make all the effort to go there. Might it be worth going to see one of the top docs? Like Dr. Grubb in Toledo? Just a suggestion. If you decide to go see a doc in Texas make sure you talk to the staff a lot first to make sure they will be able to help you. It'd be really disappointing if you mention POTS and the doctor looks at you if you have two heads. (I've had something like this happen to me.) So thoroughly quiz and ask as many questions as possible, especially since you are traveling!

I know it is probably a bummer that your doctor can't treat you but it was definitely the professional route for him to take by letting you know that he isn't qualified to treat you. I had a cardiologist who would never recommend me to anyone else and yet she didn't have a clue what to do with me. Finally I got frustrated and went hunting myself for a new cardiologist.

Just another thought, you might just want to call around to local cardiologist or neurologist (I'm not sure what your chief complaints are) and see if anyone treats is familiar with POTS. I'm not sure where you are in Colorado but there are some big cities there that should have someone that has heard of it.

Good luck to you!

This happens to me at farely often and I wake up very hot. If it is a real bad episode I end up dizzy as well. I've always just blamed it on POTS. Usually if I switch sides or sit up for a bit with an ice pack, it all starts to go away.

Hi,

Anyone else here have their heartrate wake them up out of a sleep?? I get hot when this happens too. I know I posted something simliar to this, but w/ this prob I don't get nauseas or anything...I am wondering if it is the PSVT/SVT rather than POTS triggering this....?

What a story! I'm sure you had quite the laugh on the way home. Thanks for sharing.

If you look on page 2, you will see a new bracelet and a choker/necklace made by Nina added!

Also, more items (journals and paintings) have been added to page 3. Take a look!

Hope you are starting to feel better, Staci! I hope the doctor got back to you and that you are able to get back to work. Let us know how you are doing.

More items have arrived for the auction!

rqt9191 has contributed 2 purses and goldicedance has contributed 2 scarves.

I also received another bracelet and choker from Nina! I'll let everyone know when the pictures are up of those items!

The auction is almost here...

Hm. Just a shot in the dark but might it be your sinuses? I get headaches behind my eyes sometimes when my sinuses are bothering me.

Oh, I'm definitely going to take it. I'm sick of having sinus infections. I have a lot of problems with my ears, even though I have tubes in them, and they always act up causing dizziness that is worse than I experience with POTS if they go untreated. Mainly I'm dreading being worn out from them.

Sadly, it seems like my allergist knows more about dysauotnomia than my own cardiologist or neurologist! So unfortunately, I don't have anyone to prescribe anti-bran fog meds or saline. I'm seeing Dr. Grubb in November. Maybe he'll be able to help me out in that department and I will be able to enlighten my doctors.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I'll probably be buying at the least three - all adult medium. However, like Melissa said depending on the other things maybe more.

For the past month, I've been suffering with a sinus infection. I took a weeks worth of Biaxin which usually does the trick but it didn't knock it out of my system. My allergist felt I might have gotten used to Biaxin so he switched me to Avelox, which is in the same family. I took 2 weeks of Avelox. I also took prednisone for about 18 days to take care of my ear problems. I felt better when I was on higher doses of prednisone (even my POTS did!).

Anyway, I came off the antibiotics and 2 days later my sinus infection was back full blown. I tried to just drink some orange juice and ride it out. A week later it is still going strong. My allergist has prescribed me Avelox for 6 weeks and if my ears get as bad as they were another round of prednisone.

6 weeks of antibiotics?! I took my first one after dinner and a little over an hour later I was fallling asleep and feeling completely worn out.

I guess I should also note that in the midst of it all, I had a CAT scan done that showed my sinuses were a mess. My allergist feels that a full 6 weeks will knock it out of my system.

Has anyone taken Avelox? How do you do on antibiotics? If POTS doesn't already take enough out of me, now I get to add this to the mix.

My allergist is very aware of dysautonomia, sometimes I wish he was actually a specialist because he takes his time and is very thorough. So I trust his advice. He said he didn't want my system to keep getting run down with these sinus infections.

Was labeled an alcoholic because I drank for three months when I was nineteen, with a girlfriend of mine who was having her last hurrah before marriage and my first hurrah away from home. Was sent to AA meetings.

That doesn't sit well with me at all. Neither did some of the other things. But what?! What is there background on determining this? Regardless, programs like AA are a CHOICE. Wow.

I'm a couple months from becoming a certified addiction counselor and unless they sent you to an appropriate professional and they discussed your drinking with you, and you decided on your own to go to AA, that's some pretty unethical practice going on there.

I'd definitely like to hear about your appointment afterwards. I looked into that place as it is the closest to me (I live in Florida). Or if anyone else has been, I'd love to hear your experiences as well.

dizzygirl's crochetted baby blanket is now up!

Check it out. The auction is almost here!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

I'm looking forward to seeing the winning design!

Yes, tutor.com is done strictly from home over the computer. You can work from 1 hour to 30 hours a week. Completely up to you. You only do training once, which is over the phone, and you pick the best time of day that works for you. All of this can be done while laying in bed.

I came across this article awhile back and saved it. It has a list of legit companies that you can make an earning from home.

'4 Real Jobs You Can Do From Home'

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Colleg...ids/P142363.asp

Also, if you hold a bachelor's degree or are working towards one, you can tutor kids from 4th grade to College at www.tutor.com in subjects ranging from English, science, math, to social studies. You make your own schedule from 2pm-1am up to 30 hours. Starting pay is $10 an hour and it goes up the longer you are with the company.

Roselover's paintings are up now!

I have TMJ. I wouldn't really recommend getting the mouth piece unless your insurance will cover it. My insurance didn't cover it but I got it anyway thinking it would really help me. It's supposed to help ease some of the pain you create from grinding. I found that I spent my nights grinding into a very uncomfortable mouth piece. You can actually get them at the drug store to mold to your mouth - I'd suggest giving one of those a try before investing any real chunk of change. I grinded right through the drug store one but I should have known it would have been uncomfortable from my experience! Expensive lesson learned. I take Advil when I wake up and it's real bad. Stress only makes TMJ worse so do your best to go to bed relaxed (easier said than done, I know).

All the quilts from dawn are up! I just finished sending Michelle pictures of Roselover's watercolor paintings. Those will probably be up tomorrow!

The cards and medic alert bracelets are now available for you to view!

Take a look.

I received more quilts from dawn and two paintings today from Roselover, I'm putting the photos of them on my computer as I type. I'll post again when those are up too!

The Mayoclinic actually gave me a card when I was there to give to an ER that stated to "See this patient immediately" - I only used it once when I was in really bad shape and the person at the desk asked me if I made it myself! It had info about me and all Mayo contact info.

It wouldn't hurt though to keep something on hand explaining POTS considering everytime I've told the ER doc that I have POTS they drug test me first before anything. I think part of it has to do with my age (23) and the name POTS. I've started referring to it as dysautonomia after I had 3 seperate ER experiences that required them to drug test me.

At the very least keep a med list on you.