I'm new, but having been reading for several months. Just looking for some encouragement, I feel like everything out there in the internets is so depressing and not a lot of hopeful success stories. I have joined a few Facebook groups, but it's hard to get anyone to respond.
Looking back, I've always had this. Teenager, passing out and outgrew that in my 20's, just like literature says. But over the years, there were symptoms, I just didn't know. Like feeling horrible and exhausted after a hot shower. Fatigue. "Good lord, I'm out of shape! Why is my heart racing?!! I feel so much better if I just laid down." Intense headaches if I tried cardio. BUT, I functioned. Not like everyone else, but I raised 3 children and worked. I traveled, I did everything I wanted to.
2 months ago, I was at work. Got heart flutters and passed out. I woke up as a different person. I can't get out of bed. I'm weak. I shake. I don't want to eat. My legs and arms are going numb. I'm disoriented. I sit and cry. All day and night. I've been in the ER three times scared, I don't know how to fix it. I increased water and salt to no avail. I haven't been at work. I just search for positive stories saying that maybe I can get back to work again and I am met with stories of disability and wheelchairs. Some sites state that 90% of those with POTS, once treated, lead productive lives. I'm beginning to think it's a lie.
I have an appointment with a electrophysisist in the middle of October. I have had EKG's, echos, CT Scans of my heart and my lungs. MRIs of my brain. And was given Xanax to get me over this "hump." I can deal with the fast heart rate, I always have. And when I say so, I will get up at walk 3 miles every day. So what is the block? Why cant I function? Sometimes, I wonder if I have a name for it now and I'm allowing it to cripple me.
Any encouraging words that there is a light at the end of this awful tunnel? Thank you for reading and for any responses.