Hi everyone! I am new to the forum but not to symptoms of dysautonomia ;( For many years (too many to count), I have suffered from chronic tachycardia, palpitations, crippling mental and physical fatigue, gastro problems- chronic nauseau, inexplicable stomach pain, headache, cognitive problems, high blood pressure, exercise intolerance, intolerance to extreme temperatures, dry eyes, anxiety attacks, chronic infections, cerbral hypoperfusion, and the list can go on..... These symptoms were diagnosed as consistent with chronic fatigue syndrome/fibro and chronic lyme disease. For years before that, I was told these symptoms were psychological and I was even misdiagnosed with some psychiatric disorders and hospitalized and now suffer PTSD from the mental health community. Most recently, I was tested at mayo clinic in AZ, where I live, for dysautonomia and I just found out testing revealed orthostatic intolerance. The dr is requesting specialized blood work to look for things like catelcholines (sp?), paraneoplastic antibodies, and some other tests that will be sent to mayo rochester. The name given to my condition was simply orthostatic intolerance, however I believe he means POTS as I have all symptoms. I am also supposed to undergo testing by my gastro at mayo for gastroparesis. In addition to the CFS, lyme disease, and also hashimotos disease, I recently had a spinal cord injury and has major surgery... i feel the spinal cord damage worsened underlying autonomic issues. Anyway, as I am glad to have a name for this, I am also sad to find out there is no "cure". It has gotten so bad, I cannot even sit at my desk for long periods of time without feeling "spacy:" and my heart banging away. To add to it, I live in a very hot climate and the heat is making me so much worse (I moved here from NY to escape the cold due to my thyroid disease) but now the extreme heat is killing me. I used to love the heat and outdoor activities, esp because AZ is so geared towards them and one of the many reasons I moved there. Also, I have been on disability for 4 years and I cannot see myself returning to work with this level of mental and physical fatigue and other debilitating symptoms. I am so glad I found this forum. I hope to gain some much needed support from this forum and be a support to others, as well as find some useful information and resources on how to manage this disorder. Thanks for listening! -NJ
