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Thank you very much @dancer65 I hope you're managing well also! xx

Just writing a final little update. Spoke to the cardiologist this afternoon with my Mum on the phone. He's not sure where just IST came from, he's officially diagnosed me with a POTS/IST 'mixture' as he explained on the phone. Ivabradine is left on the table, and he says I can pursue this whenever I want but for now he's happy with me trying the more conservative measures. He suggested trying bananas for potassium, which I might just give a go! I'm very relieved and now satisfied that everything makes sense. Thank you so much for all your support, much appreciated.

Well, I'm not sure anyone will see this, but what a time I've had of it. Still no reply from the cardiologist, but he's went ahead and arranged an appointment for me to come in to a ward on the 15th at 9am, to stay all day! I'm not allowed anyone in with me, COVID and all that. To be honest, with all the reservations described, additionally I'm not sure I want to be in a hospital during a pandemic. Especially on a medication that will lower my already low resting heart rate. I assume it would be fine in clinic because as I said before, nervous = high heart rate, but I worry about when I get home and my heart rate goes as low as 49bpm during sleep. I'm actually a little annoyed he just went ahead and booked this in! He noted on my final diagnosis letter that I notice 'fluttering' when standing, and have 'episodes' of nausea. As I explained in the first post, and to him, I'm nauseous constantly, and have been since I can remember. I'm popping in a note to my GP tomorrow that enables my Mum to be able to speak to doctors with me, then on Monday I'm going to phone his secretary and ask if he can phone us before then because I have questions I need answered. My Mum is going to support me, and hopefully enable me to feel like I can 'question' his diagnosis. It's not that I don't agree with IST, but I firmly believe POTS should be written down too. I'm just so annoyed at the idea he's going by my 'resting' heart rate when I'm in a hospital, not when I'm actually resting and relaxed. He told me the reason they do 24 blood pressure monitoring is because you can't get an accurate reading when someone's nervous, but it's not the same for heart rate? I've since went back into my notes to see what he said at the start. I mean, doesn't that basically confirm POTS too? Also, EDS has never been mentioned again which I was looking forward to exploring further. He asked me to draw a family tree with a list of all symptoms occuring, and I did so. It would have been good to have at least gotten that confirmed, since my brother suffers quite badly with muscle pain and he's by far more hyperflexible than me.

@dancer65 the same thing happens to me, I have to be given Diazepam at the dentist because I shake so bad that they can't work without it. I hope I get a reply back, but as of yet, nothing. I'm assuming he's pretty busy so I'm trying to be patient. Thank you for all your help!

Thank you for your replies @dancer65 & @Pistol! I haven't received an email back at the moment, but I will pursue this further. and try to stand up for myself. Is it possible to have both IST & POTS? I guess IST would make sense because when I get even slightly nervous, my heart rate goes sky high. But then I have the orthostatic symptoms too. Sorry for all these questions! Edit, I also forgot to mention another reason I was distressed after the phone call was because I was to phone on Monday and set up an appointment for this week to start IVABRADINE, which to be honest, I'm not sure if I want to take a medication at the moment. I'm so scared if I reject medication, they won't believe me anymore. I have to go in to hospital for a few hours for them to 'trial' it, and I can't take anyone with me because of COVID. I CANNOT say no to doctors, even when i'm uncomfortable with what they suggest. The tachycardia is really the least of my worries, I've had it so long I don't notice it much anymore and it doesn't distress me. I couldn't bring myself to phone, which also prompted the hurry to email the cardiologist. I feel so pathetic sometimes! Luckily I have a bad cold at the moment and have lost my voice, so that was an excuse I could use.

Hi everyone. I stumbled across this forum a while back. My story is kind of a long one, but i'll try to shorten it so I can get to the problem I'm having now. Since I was about five, I recognised I had a constant feeling of nausea. I never told anyone until I was about 13 when it was becoming too hard to stand anymore. This started a very long journey (I'm now 24!) of trying to figure out what was wrong. I was accused of being a faker by doctors, one trying as much as to get me sectioned, until I finally gave up and thought that I would just have to live like this forever. I saw a gastro doctor who knew I wasn't lying, but couldn't figure out what was wrong. I took the medication for nausea which thankfully worked a little and I stopped going to doctors after that. I then started taking really bad dizzy spells, and basically ended up in bed from October through to March. I always knew I had a faster heartrate, and after much research stumbled across POTS. Got myself a smartwatch, and lo and behold, heart rate would shoot up everytime I stood. I went to a new GP, and she referred me to a cardiologist here in Scotland. Now here comes the problems. I had an echo which was normal, apart from the fact my heart was beating fast during it. I've now been told I have IST? My resting heart rate for the last two years is normally 56-64bpm. From what I'm reading, IST causes a fast hear rate constantly. I guess it makes sense in the sense that when I get a little nervous, my heart pounds. But a lot of my weird 'feeling' are relieved on laying down. I have blue/red feet and legs, EDS runs in the family, all my symtoms get much worse before a period. When the cardio told me it was IST, I did try to question him a little but I am terrified of being seen as difficult, or too pushy. I have to be honest, I had such a cry after that phone call because at the start, I joined a few POTS groups and I finally felt so not alone. I met people who knew what I was feeling! In desperation, I've found my cardiologists email, and sent him one but I'm not sure if he'll be happy to discuss anything with me via email. I would find it so much easier to ask him things if he let me ask via email. I have no clue what to do next. I know IST and POTS are similiar, so there is a question in my family of "be happy with what you get diagnosed with" but I've waited so long so I want the 'right' answer, if you know what I mean?