Rachelexis13

Hi all, I am new to the forum. I'm really glad that I stumbled across this forum as I have had horrible symptoms now for over a month that are gradually starting to become plain miserable and are beginning to ruin my life! So, I will start at the beginning. In the middle of November, I started to feel like I was experiencing a rapid heart rate while walking around at work. My arms and legs would feel as if they were tingling and I'd feel dizzy as well. I'd feel extremely shaky also. I finally got sick of it and became even more worried when chest pains came around. This led me to the emergency room. When I got there, they took an EKG, bloodwork(including my cardiac enzymes and d-dimer), and a chest x-ray. They also took my orthostatic vitals and found that my heart rate about doubled upon standing. Blood pressure didn't really drop that much though. Anyway, I was put on fluids and my heart rate wasn't as high upon standing they found afterwards. They also discovered that all my other tests(bloodwork,EKG,chest x-ray) were normal. So, I was sent home and they left it up to orthostatic hypotension due to dehydration. After being sent home, I still didn't feel right. I would feel off balanced every single time I stood. I had no appetite and an awful headache. The headache though seemed to subside when I had some caffeine. This isn't surprising as my body is used to have one coffee a day. Somehow, after Thanksgiving, my symptoms seemed to get a lot better. I wasn't feeling as off balance walking around and I was eating pretty well. My heart rate still increased though each time I stood up. The highest it got to was usually 120 BPM with more walking around. I also had an echocardiogram and discussed the results with my cardiologist. I have congenital heart disease as I had heart surgery as a baby for a heart condition that is resolved, but still continues to be monitored each year. She told me my echocardiogram results looked good and that there looked to be nothing structurally wrong with my heart thankfully. I discussed my symptoms though with her and she told me that it sounded like it could possibly be POTS. She gave me some recommendations on what to do(hydrate, increase my salt intake,compression stockings, etc.) and told me that she would like to see me in two months time to see if my symptoms improve after college is over for me as I do graduate this month quite soon. So, I agreed to this and set up an appointment to see her in January. Well, later that night, I was at work and started to feel quite unpleasant chest pains while walking around. It scared me quite a lot as it was very uncomfortable and I know that chest pains are so concerning. When I got home, the chest pain started to alleviate a little, but not by a lot. So, I decided to go to the ER on Saturday evening. Once again, the doctors saw that everything was okay. EKG was good as well as my chest x-ray and bloodwork. There was no evidence of a blood clot as my d-dimer was great and my cardiac enzymes were also not indicative of any cardiac stress. I was given a liter of fluids and sent home as my symptoms(including the chest pain) really seemed to improve the moment that the fluids got into my body. I have been told now to follow up with my cardiologist as usual and primary care doctor come Monday. I'm so exhausted by these symptoms and it's really starting to depress me. I fear that I will never get better at all or find any answers. All I do really currently is lay in bed and cry. I'm so sick of the chest pains, the rise in heart rate, the fatigue. I guess I am posting on here to ask does it ever get better at all? My mental health is really starting to decline from all this. I have shut myself off really from virtually everyone in my life and I have taken off work twice now to go to the emergency room. My mom is tempted to take me to a different cardiologist that can get me in sooner as she is also tired of seeing me this way and feeling concerned for me. It seems so difficult too to even come across a specialist of any kind who knows what POTS is. I am not diagnosed. So, I am not going to diagnose myself as having it. The ER doctor though last night and my cardiologist does agree that's what it really sounds like. Is there any specialists I should go ahead and see besides my cardiologist? Any advice would be immensely appreciated. Thank you so much and be well everyone!