What a Headache!!

Thursday night after over 24 hours of having a migraine with no relief I decided to go to the ER to see if they could give me something to relieve the pain. I should have known better with my past experience. I had already taken my Imitrex at home (which the doctor had to change because of insurance), which had not even touched it. They decided to start out with some benadryl and compazine at first which did not work and then they started to give me mega doses of dilaudid. I think that I was on my 3rd dose and was really tired when they asked if I was doing any better and I said no but I am really tired and I don't even remember getting the shot. The next thing I remember is that I woke up with a lot of people over me telling me to breathe. Apparently I had turned very blue and almost completely stopped breathing...praise the Lord they found me when they did. I ended up spending the last two nights in ICU and I still have a pretty nasty headache. I am just very thankful to be alive.

Praising God

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good and praising God. For the last three days I have been following the doctors orders...I have walked 30 minutes even though my heart has been off to the races the whole time I have survived. I also have been riding my mom's recum bike for 20-30 min each night, and of course I am wearing my compression stockings and drinking a gallon of water a day. Last night I also added raising the head of my bed a little bit. All of these things together with my new medication (Mestinon 60 mg 3 times a day) have allowed me to feel a little bit normal today. I am hoping that this feeling becomes a fact of life and occurs more often. Please pray that this whole routine is the answer to prayer that I am looking for. Praise the Lord for good days :)

Do I have the Faith to be Healed?

Last night at church the Pastor was preaching out of Acts 3 about the lame man at the gate Beautiful. The lame man was did not even have faith in God, but was just asking for alms at the gate as he did every day. He could do nothing but beg for money. He lived life like many people with POTS do, sitting around hoping to gain enough money to survive. The one thing that I have that he did not have is faith in Jesus Christ. However, the Lord did not overlook the lame man because he did not know Him. Acts 3:4-8 says, "And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with Johns, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God."

The question that I had when I left church last night is Do I have the faith for God to heal me? If God can heal a man that does not even know that he can be healed that surely God can heal me, someone who has believed and trusted in God her whole life.

Matthew 17:20 says, "And Jesus said unto then, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard see, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." I need to have this kind of faith.

New Look

I was told by the doctor that compression stockings can help with POTS. Since fluid pools in our legs the compression stockings help maintain the fluid more toward the heart or something like that. So since it has been so hot I did not want to give up wearing my capri pants :) I decided that I would sport a new look. However, it is actually not a new look...little boys used to sport this look all of the time in the past.

Me sporting my new look :)

Now all I need is a bow tie, hat, and some suspenders.

POTS has been the PITS

I am going to start out by giving a little bit of background information. I have been sick off and on for the last couple of years with numerous different things that the doctors could never pinpoint. Then I had finally gotten to the point where I was back to work and doing well, until the beginning of February when I came down with Pleurisy and ended up battling that for a couple of weeks. It is possible that the Pleurisy, which is a virus, is what brought on the POTS. At the end of February, I started having problems with palpitations or a fast heart rate. They told me there was nothing to worry about. Then one night I stood up and my heart was racing and I almost passed out. The next morning it continued only seemed to be getting worse. I ended up in the ER. They said I was dehydrated and sent me home. The next day I ended up in the ER again, this time they said I had vertigo or problems with my inner ear causing the dizziness and sent me home. The third day, I went to my doctor and my heart rate was around 180 when I stood up and almost passed out so she called the ambulance and sent me back to the hospital this time admitting me. After several days in the hospital and several tests, one being the tilt table test, they told me I had POTS. I was told to drink lots of water and increase my salt intake and given follow up appointments with the Electrophysiologist in a couple of weeks. Of course, I was not allowed to work or drive until at least then. For me, being a registered nurse, I was pretty much devestated.

Over the next several weeks and couple of months the doctor tried a couple of things which failed including toprol, proamatine and some that have helped a little Florinef.

NOW....I am still having mostly rough days. I am not nearly as dizzy as I was but I still am having a lot of heart racing. It does not matter if I take a bath or a shower my heart rate is still high when I do either (150-160s). I also am still pretty high when I do any kind of exercise for example today my niece and I went for a walk and my heart rate went up to the 150s. My blood pressure is still pretty low some mornings even on the florinef 90/62 with dizziness and shaky, but I praise the Lord that I am not as bad as some. I still have to stop and take naps a lot of days. I am going to be starting a new medication this week, but I am not sure what the name of the medication is. I will keep you all posted. The cardiologist that I saw in Rochester, NY also wants me to try compression stockings, walking 30 min per day, and lots and lots of fluid.

That is all that is going on with POTS.....