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Paula L

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Everything posted by Paula L

  1. Thanks, you too! Your adrenaline theory makes sense to me. It actually may also explain the heart pounding and other symptoms too.
  2. @Delta Hi, Delta, and thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to give me something to learn from. After I fainted twice from cramps, my doctor put me on the pill and they helped so much. The heat intolerance thing, which I have too, baffles me. I've always thrived in the heat, the hotter the better. When I was in my early 30s I became over-heated on a warm-hot summer day playing ping pong. I had never experienced that before, and I grew up in a hot climate. Since then I've had to really pace myself in the heat. Now it is much worse. Ah, frequent peeing. Sometimes I have to go so often I feel like I may as well get a book and hang out on the toilet. It comes out of the blue and leaves the same way. Last night, late at night, my heart was beating fast and wouldn't slow down and I was feeling palpitations and light-headed. I was pale. I wondered what I could do to feel better, then remembered I hadn't taken my beta blocker, which I take at night, and which I've taken since I had a heart attack several years ago (it didn't damage my heart and I now have a stent). Surprisingly, the beta blocker helped rather quickly. It occurred to me that the beta blocker may have been "masking" some orthostatic symptoms for about 6 years now. I'm sorry I can't seem to keep things short, but on a final note, after last night's event, I had very strong shivering that lasted for about 15 minutes. I was freezing and shaking. I've experienced that before, but not often. Previously I assumed it was from anxiety, but last night I wasn't feeling anxious during the episode. I was feeling, this is tiresome, I just want to go to sleep, as I tried to ignore my pounding heart. And now today I feel like a wet towel. I don't know if shivering is a possible symptom of POTS. P.S. My dog is half miniature poodle, a total joy.
  3. Matt, I will share an experience I had with a 24 hour Holter monitor and a ph test (to measure ph in esophagus), each done at different times. I get ectopics too (PVCs and PACs). Based on the notes I kept of my palpitations, my Holter monitor showed that I have far fewer ectopics than what I reported. Note that I also included in my notes whether I had heartburn, GERD, or had to burp each time I recorded a palp. The reason I did this is because I suspected that some of my palpitations are originating from my esophagus and not my heart. Coincidentally, I also had a ph test around that time which also required that I write symptoms I experienced such as heartburn, GERD, gas, etc. Since the test didn't record palpitations, I also wrote down when I felt a palpitation with a symptom. After reading the results, the doctor told me that every time I recorded a palpitation, the ph test said I had an episode GERD. That proved to me that all of my palpitations weren't from my heart. That knowledge and proof helps me a great deal with the anxiety I sometimes get when I feel palpitations. If I have heartburn when I go to bed I sleep propped on pillows to calm down the "palpitations," which are actually movements from my esophagus. If I lay on my side it's worse, so I'm stuck falling asleep on my back. I was on a fodmap diet for a while and my palpitations went down tremendously.
  4. I'm 65 now, and when I was younger, probably starting when I was 16, I often got light-headed and my vision would turn gray when I stood up. I also started having rare episodes of fainting that were a result of pain, either from severe menstrual cramps or strong intestinal pain. When I was in my 40s my doctor told me to keep hydrated to help avoid the fainting spells. Twice I've had episodes of near fainting after airplane trips, which I figured were because I was dehydrated. During these episodes my heart races, I sweat, I'm weak, am very nauseated, just feel generally horrible. I lay down until it passes, but I'm wiped out for the rest of the day. Daily, my heart rate often increases after I eat, lasting about 10 minutes. If I'm on my feet too long (stopping to talk to a neighbor while on a walk, for example), I start feeling yucky, I feel like I'm starting to get light-headed so I bend my legs and move until it eases up. When I get home I'm done in - not from the walk, but from the standing. I often get lots of upper body pains and aches, sometimes worrying me about my heart, but my heart is fine. I am frequently fatigued. Actually, I can't remember when I last had a day of carefree energy since my early 40s. I've often wondered about POTS because so many of the symptoms sound similar to what I experience. But that can be said of other conditions as well. I have a cardiologist, but feel like if I bring up POTS it won't be given more than cursory consideration. Is any of what I describe similar to your experience? I'm going though an episode where I'm spending a lot of time in bed, dozing and reading, and sleeping. This is the fifth day of terrible fatigue. It happens to me periodically, but usually only lasts about three days. On a positive note, my dog thinks it's great and stays in bed with me.
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