I'm thankful I found this forum, as I feel lost and have nowhere to turn. I'm a 30-year old female in relatively good physical health (or I thought).
I recently went through a relatively traumatic event that has turned my life upside down. So badly that I have considered ending it.
Long story short, three weeks I was driving home from getting groceries and "something" happened. It felt like it happened on the right side of my head I immediately felt lightheaded, dizzy, close to fainting, and rapid heartbeat unlike I've ever felt. I pulled over, called 911 thinking I was having a heart attack.
I'll spare all the boring details and tales of rude doctors, but I was diagnosed with POTS this week. Right now we seem to be at a point where I am having POTS symptoms combined with panic attack/severe anxiety symptoms...and I can't tell one from the other. In fact, I don't know what even happened in the vehicle that night, other than it changed my life.
I've always had a lot of lightheadedness, going back ten years, from pretty much everything. It never really bothered me though, and I accredited it to being out of shape or the weather, etc. Taking deep breaths is extreme for me-I can almost "put myself to sleep" in 30 seconds. I used to think this was awesome. Now, not so much.
I am in a *constant* state of head fog-my head constantly feels "congested" like if I had a sinus cold, but it never goes away. I feel short of breath a lot which then triggers the anxiety and then play a fun game of merry-go-round.
Does this get better? Are there doctors who will listen? Is there treatments besides "eat better and exercise"? I'll literally take any support I can right now.
Scared to Death
in Dysautonomia Discussion
Posted
Hello all.
I'm thankful I found this forum, as I feel lost and have nowhere to turn. I'm a 30-year old female in relatively good physical health (or I thought).
I recently went through a relatively traumatic event that has turned my life upside down. So badly that I have considered ending it.
Long story short, three weeks I was driving home from getting groceries and "something" happened. It felt like it happened on the right side of my head I immediately felt lightheaded, dizzy, close to fainting, and rapid heartbeat unlike I've ever felt. I pulled over, called 911 thinking I was having a heart attack.
I'll spare all the boring details and tales of rude doctors, but I was diagnosed with POTS this week. Right now we seem to be at a point where I am having POTS symptoms combined with panic attack/severe anxiety symptoms...and I can't tell one from the other. In fact, I don't know what even happened in the vehicle that night, other than it changed my life.
I've always had a lot of lightheadedness, going back ten years, from pretty much everything. It never really bothered me though, and I accredited it to being out of shape or the weather, etc. Taking deep breaths is extreme for me-I can almost "put myself to sleep" in 30 seconds. I used to think this was awesome. Now, not so much.
I am in a *constant* state of head fog-my head constantly feels "congested" like if I had a sinus cold, but it never goes away. I feel short of breath a lot which then triggers the anxiety and then play a fun game of merry-go-round.
Does this get better? Are there doctors who will listen? Is there treatments besides "eat better and exercise"? I'll literally take any support I can right now.
Thank you for listening.