BuddyLove

Amyschi, When I used to take care of my Mom, by the time she was 90 years old, I knew I wasn't qualified to take care of her properly, just a thought in the back of my mind, anyway, I woke up one morning and couldn't breathe!!! I went to the ER, and got a prescription for klonopin, and if things get real bad, a half of one calms me down. Just having it nearby helps. I can no longer drive the car longer than 15 minutes. I believe it's anxiety on top of getting old, and a genuine uncertain future. I've been to psychologists, no help. I'm sure I'd be better watching what I eat and exercising, but it's not a cure, it just helps. If things get really rough, a good Steak and Cheese can usually set things right,

The last time I went to the ER, I had a panic attack while I was sleeping!!! I was used to the panic attacks, but I was on Ambien, so this one was different, and scared the beegeebers out of me. They kept me lying alone in a room for an hour. I'm not sure, but it seemed like they were sending me a message "Don't come here unless it's an Emergency!!! I'm all alone now, also, I turned 70 last year and everything is falling apart. Yoga is 95% Breathing, you not only learn to increase the amount of oxygen you inhale, you expel more stale air so you can get fresh replacement healing oxygen in your bloodstream. You have to intentionally override your autonomic nervous system, I know that doesn't help you right now, but I spend a whole lot of time worrying about my self, all day long, and it might help that. When I try to get some diet and exercise in, it upsets the frozen place I've found as a refuge from a World and Future that's out to get me. I'm afraid when the next shoe drops, I'll have to leave my House and Home. The advice from most people is a version of "try not to worry about it"... I was originally diagnosed with severe Depression before my tilt table test, I'll bet a hundred people told me a sure fire cure, every one was different, we really are alone in this life, hunh? I'm going to have to find a way to bring people back into my life, my Mom and Brother recently died, and I wouldn't want to drop all my problems on some strangers who would never understand anyway. My Anxiety has grown so much I'm afraid to drive sometimes. The Walls are closing in. I used to be the one who stood strong while everybody else was falling apart, practice, I guess. If I could hand my Life over to someone who knew what was going on, I would in a Heartbeat.

I used to watch Doc Martin with my Mom, I was just thinking today about the old woman who was dying of dehydration because she didn't want to pee in the bed. I had my tilt table test done a couple of months after Hugh Calkins and Peter Rowe wrote their breakthrough report. January 1996. I used to call the Secretary in their office, I asked her if I was bothering her, she said she was glad for the feedback. I asked her what happens to everybody who is diagnosed, she said she had no clue, they didn't have the funding to find out. I did corner one Doctor, he was telling me what I had, I could look in his face he was sharp as a tack, so I prodded him, I told him he had the wrong chart, nothing he was telling me sounded like me, At that point he broke training and actually leveled with me "The main side effect from what you have is poor quality of life" He nailed it. I never heard it put better. One great Doctor is better than 100 average Doctors.

There's psychological side to exercise, I have made the Classic Mistake of raking leaves, and loving the results so much I end up overdoing it and crashing for the next three days. There's a psychological side to accepting being disabled for the rest of your life. The Kobayashi Maru is a training exercise in the Star Trek franchise designed to test the character of Starfleet Academy cadets in a no-win scenario. That's probably the toughest exercise we all need to master. I think if there was a book on the perfect exercise plan for P. O. T. S patients, we would have all put it on our shelves by now. Over and over I've heard the same lame advice from medical professionals that is unfortunately true- Be sure to exercise, but don't exercise too much.

Whew, long story... I definitely save 30 dollars, but with the Internet/Telephone/TV Package, my bill goes up every year.

@MTRJ75 Thanks!! I think I had actually tried to do this before, and got frustrated, but this time I tried it and was successful. Generally speaking, you have to earn less than $27,000/yr which I do. The next morning, I got a notice from Verizon that they were hiking my bill by 20 bucks. But hey, it felt good to feel like I was WINNING again, if only for a brief time. In Virginia, because I live on a modest disability income, I don't have to pay real estate taxes that would otherwise cost me over $6,000/yr. There's lots of red tape, but some people here might want to look into it, staying in my home means alot to me. And because I'm on Medicare and Blue Cross, I get back $800 a year, anybody who watches TV has probably heard that. But other than that, I pay full cost for practically everything, and as everybody knows, prices of everything have gone through the roof.

I can't offer any suggestion what exercise plan is best for each and every person here, but when I was first diagnosed with Neurally Mediated Hypotension, I went to a lecture with a Doctor who said it wasn't the Neurally Mediated Hypotension that was going to kill me, it's the lying around all day that will do me in.

Because of Neurally Mediated Hypotension, I had to stop running with my friends when I was twelve, and going to the gym when I was thirty, Even though I didn't know why. Trying not to be bitter about it is as hard as finding a diet and exercise plan I can stick with. Before my tilt table test I had to get a psychologist to write my notes for work, when I told people I was suffering from depression, everybody had a cure for me, and every cure was different. At that point in my life, I laughed at depression, I think I kind of liked it, like a warm fuzzy blanket. When my psychiatrist asked me what I wanted after prozac didn't cut it for me, I reflected for a moment, than I blurted out "ENERGY!!" That's still my greatest regret in life, not having the energy I want and need, I'll never get used to it. FDR was still trying to walk the last week of his life.

If no one here responds, I'll try again via the telephone, his nurse told me he doesn't usually like to take on older patients. I believe some of the examples might be a catecholamine test, a cold pressor test, EMG (electromyographic) testing, and a sweat test, among others as well.

Hi, I live in Northern Virginia, finally, there is a doctor within my driving range who is clued into Neurally Mediated Hypotension, Dr Hasan Abdallah. Unfortunately for me, he doesn't take Medicare, so he can charge me anything he wants, and I live on disability retirement in a very expensive area. I've talked to his nurse a couple times, she said he initially gives each one of his new patients a battery of tests, but they're all done in-house, so again this could cost me a small fortune. I wrote him an e-mail asking for a list of the tests he gives so I could have them done with my primary care doctor under Medicare, but I never got a reply. I have no idea if this was intentional or just an office mix-up. I was wondering if anyone here who has been with him could post the tests he gives to his new patients, I don't think it would be a betrayal of his trust, and I believe it could be a big help to the general population here. I had my tilt table test done over 25 years ago, but that's about it.