ljoeb

I will be praying too!! Joe

Thanky... THanky... Thanky!! My new avatar is installed!

Oh boy.... I did not break my tailbone... but I bent it back in '95 in a skating accident and I won't tell you how it got fixed but it involved the doctor telling me to "drop 'um and bend over the table..." then all of a sudden he was able to lift my heels off the floor with just one finger... OUCHHHH HA! (I hate skating too... but I was with my 6th graders at the time for an end of year party... well they talked me into getting out there and I didn't make it around 1 time before I fell square on my, as Forrest Gump would say, "buttocks."). About 10 years later, after years of a combination of adjustments, physical therapy, injection therapy and lots of drugs... I finally had surgery to fuse my L5-S1 level. I had the same kind of problems you had before... lots of pain and numbness in my left leg and foot. I had "drop foot" where my left foot wouldn't keep up with my walking and dragged behind. My surgery was a success and I have had little problem since!! I would suggest decompression therapy first. I hear that is a great alternative to surgery. Unfortunately, my spine was totally seperated at that level and needed to be fused. Injection therapy was by far the least effective at least for me. Hang in there... the sun will actually rise tomorrow!! Joe

Don't know if this really fits here.. but I want to use another "picture" for my avatar and can't figure out how to upload one. It asks for a Url address, but the picture I want to use is on my computer. Any help would be appreciated!! Joe

In 1995, after a "weird" situation while driving in a car (looking back it was very similar to some of the "woozy" episodes I have now), I had a 24 hour eeg. I had much more hair then, but I did look a bit weird. The funny thing is, I had a 24 hour halter monitor on at the same time... so I was wired from head to waist with all sorts of electrodes!! The hassle I had was getting the "goop" off of my head and out of my hair after the electrodes were removed. The eeg came back "negative"... but since the neurologist couldn't explain the event in any other way, he labeled me with "epilepsy" and put me on a couple mind numbing, personality stealing drugs and told me not to drive for 6 months. Well, after 3 years I had had enough of those medication and was tired of walking around like a zombie, so I went to another neuro doc and was placed in the hospital for a 5-day eeg. I went in the hospital on Monday, was taken cold turkey off my meds, and the test showed no seizures. The only thing the doc commented on every morning was my sleep pattern... which he said I didn't have any detectable rem sleep the whole time I was there. Granted, I wasn't allowed to sleep from Tuesday morning at 6am until midnight Wednesday. He just thought it was "odd" but said I didn't have epilepsy. I left the hospital and didn't sleep for about 2 months and another doctor placed me on trazodone for sleep and I have been on it ever since. Hang in there... 24 hours will be up before you know it!!

That is to be my next step too, if I don't get relief from some medications I just started (at this point I am.. thank goodness). But my cardiologist/dysautonomia doctor, suggested if the meds don't work, he will want me to have a "video eeg" just to see what goes on with my brain during my "stupor" events after being up and about for a while. Hoping everything goes well with your visit! Joe

Well I started Florinef a week ago Monday and started the 2000mg/meal sodium plan my doctor suggested (I have a great document that lists high sodium foods with their sodium content if anyone is interested--just let me know). After "reading up" on the medication on this site, I called and asked my doctor if I could start at .05mg instead of .1mg he had initially prescribed. Well the first couple of days I felt really weird but by Thursday, it was like the sun came out after a year and a half of overcast and stormy skies! My eyebrows became "unknit," and I actually had some expression and life in my face (this was the first thing my wife noticed) instead of the usual "dazed, confussed and pained" look I normally walked around with. Amazingly, other than a massive pre-syncopal spell upon standing up at the end of a church service on Sunday (www.lifechurch.tv for anyone interested), I have had one week of clear headed, non-fatiqued, snap in my step living. But I am always in a "waiting" mode for the roof to cave in again!!! The doctor wanted me to increase to .1mg after a week at .05 and I tried, but after two days of 150/100 blood pressure, I dropped back to .05mg for now. I see him next week, and I am going to see if he'll just let me stay at this level as long as I'm feeling good... knock on wood!!!

That's when I knew it was time to go to the hospital... I was driving home from work and had to pull over for a few minutes and think where I was going. Not fun at all! I've avoided SDC the last couple of times we've been there... we love the shows though... Pierce Arrow is our favorite!!

Mary... I can't tell you the number of times people say, It sounds like you've been drinking or on some good drugs! I do slur, and my speech becomes very methodical because I am trying to say the right thing so I go slow and try to spit the right words out... it doesn't always work. Hang in there!! Joe

Thanks for all the encouragement!! In Texas, a doctor has to stress very clearly to patients who have any kind of disorder that can impair their driving, the risk they will be taking if they are in an accident.. loss of driver's license and insurance. So I don't venture out too often. There have been times I have felt "fine" when I left for the store or where ever, and then start back home and realize, "I shouldn't have done that!" So I am really careful and try to stay on back roads where there is not a lot of traffic. Brain Fog describes me well for about 5 - 6 hours most days. Early mornings and most late evenings I feel pretty well. Dawg Tired... we do have a lot in common... age, pacemaker, brain fog and Branson!! That is our home away from home. We are there about 3 - 4 times a year and just love it!! I would live there if I could.. and sell timeshares or work at Silver Dollar City.. what fun!

Hi!! When I was in the hospital in June, my potassium level was way low and they gave me a couple of shots of it. Since then it has been in the low normal range. I just started florinef, and my doc is going to keep a good eye on it. He basically just wants me eating a banana a day and some milk. He said he would get more aggressive with it should the level stay low. Sorry that there is not a lot of help here. But know that I am hoping for the best for you!

Just wanted to say, Hi to everyone! I am one of the rare males on this forum. I have learned so much over the past several months I have been reading posts. Thanks for all your input! I too, have been on a "journey" since Nov. 2005. Long story short, I was diagnosed with "sick sinus syndrome" (I had a resting heart rate in the 40's and at the time I was 300 lbs.)and they popped in a pacemaker in Sept. '07. I was also diagnosed with orthostatic intolerance after over a year having pre-syncopal spells upon standing from a seated postion only and walking a few steps across the room, and being confirmed by two failed TTT. My EP doc basically told me that I would never drive again and would probably not be able to work, to put on support hose, and stand up "slowly" when getting up. What a deal!! Thanks to DINET, I found a doctor in Dallas, Dr. Amer Suleman, and have been under his care since Nov. After a battery of different tests, he determined that my problem was being caused by low blood volume. He has been able to use my pacemaker (I'm beating at 85 bpm) along with trying different meds to try to get my condition "more liveable." We're not there yet... but I think we are making progress. I just started florinef last night and hopefully that will help. I am still off work and the State of Texas frowns on people with pre-syncopy or syncopy driving. I am supposed to have 6 months episode free before I can legally drive. Well, that starts over every day, sometimes several times a day. I do get out every so often.. it is awfully boring just sitting around the house. Question: does anyone else have mass confusion at times? I can be walking through a grocery store and its like I'm a wind-up doll winding down. I start walking like an old man, I get "lost" if I'm by myself, and I can't make a complete sentence without mangling words or making words up or adding letters to words and just sounding completley drugged or drunk. (another reason why I don't drive much). I even laugh at myself because I can hear how stupid I sound. That is followed by severe fatigue and I end up sleeping for 2 - 3 hours just about every afternoon. (My mornings are generally good till about 11 or so, after I have been up for a while.) Thanks, and I look forward to meeting many of you! Joe