Could it be Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome - PoTS?

I posted this in August last year. Due to having a crazy week (Insomnia/painsomnia)  and a dentist's appointment today I find myself too exhausted to write a new blog post.

I had one of those moments this week when searching through the archives of my blog I realised that I had never done a straight forward, honest to goodness post about PoTS. I may have mentioned it in passing but there is no one post based solely on it. I know that many people use my blog to try to explain their medical conditions to friends and family, so I am sorry its not happened until now.

My own diagnosis has moved away from "just" PoTs (although that is still part of it) and is now called Severe Autonomic Nervous System Dysfunction, which as far as I can tell is just a long winded way to say Dysautonomia. Which isn't a medical term that seems to have caught on in the UK. All it means is instead of just the basic PoTs stuff going on I have developed O.I (orthostatic intolerance - my blood pressure drops in to the toilet on standing), breathing difficulties which have been with me since the MG/ not MG diagnosis, bladder problems ( I get acute urinary retention on a regular basis), unable to maintain my body temperature just to name a few. This is a new and emerging area of medicine and many medics are yet to catch up on PoTS let alone Dysautonomia. Straight away please let me direct you to this website pots.uk.org so if you are currently battling to get a diagnosis you can print this guide for gp's and take this with you at your next appointment.

The first symptom I developed was sweating heavily when sleeping, be it a nap or a proper night's sleep. That was back in 2006 and which I now know is reactive hypoglycemia (blog post) from monitoring my blood glucose levels. Throughout my life I had been told I had low blood pressure (not a prerequisite for PoTS as people with all levels of blood pressure can have it), I had a lot of dizzy spells, odd cravings for salt, palpitations. I put my palpitations down to anxiety, as I had always been quite an anxious person. However once my anxiety issues had been dealt with and I learned how to combat them I continued to be left with a feeling of my heart wanting to beat out of my throat on random occasions. I would also on a regular basis get very lightheaded when changing from a sitting to standing position.

So many patients with PoTS are misdiagnosed as having anxiety, health anxiety or depression or other mental health labels before they eventually get diagnosed correctly that it is criminal. Unfortunately once you have had the mental health label attached by the medics it is a hard one to shake off. Even now when going into hospital as an emergency, I still get somatiform disorder brought up when it has been completely and utterly disproven. The problem is that to an uninformed doctor PoTS can sound very like anxiety, racing heart rate, tremors the feeling of adrenaline coursing through your body and an exaggerated flight or fight response. With the majority of PoTS patients also being women it can be even harder to be taken seriously. It seems the modern medical profession still believe in the condition hysteria.

By the time I discovered the little known condition of PoTS, like many I had been written off by the medical profession as overly anxious, internet searching for syndromes with probable somatiform disorder. It took me over a year of battling to finally get the test that would prove beyond all reasonable doubt I had PoTS. A medical condition at the time my old gp had told me didn't exist. For more info on my experience of the Tilt Table Test please click here as I don't want to bore you by repeating myself.

My main symptoms at the time of diagnosis were as follows

1. palpitations
2. feeling faint or fainting (aka pre-syncope and syncope. Please remember only about 30% of PoTS patients faint but many feel faint)
3. feeling like an elephant was sat on my chest and not being able to breathe properly
4. racing heart rate every time I changed position, even rolling over in bed.
5. greying out, especially after eating.  (My peripheral vision greys out)
6. Insomnia (BIG TIME)
7. Dizziness
8. Migraines and shockingly bad almost migraines
9. Cognitive deficit (aka brain fog /aphasia/ short term/long term memory problems)
10. Chest pain (too many times to mention I thought I was going to have a heart attack)
11. Reduced sweating (some people start getting excessive sweating, I only get excessive sweating at night)
12. Fatigue

This list probably doesn't cover all my symptoms and unfortunately many PoTS symptoms also merge into EDS symptoms as in the gut problems and bladder problems that many of us with both conditions have. It can get very difficult to differentiate the two. For a full list of symptoms please click here.

So what can you do if you suspect you have PoTS?

I can only base this on how I went about getting my diagnosis but it is the same advice I give everyone who asks my advice. 

Firstly get hold of a decent blood pressure monitor especially one that can also take your pulse at the same time. Here is a list of blood pressure monitors that have been validated by the British Heart Foundation as accurate enough to monitor your blood pressure at home. If you can afford it get one with a memory so it records your readings so that you can't be accused of making the numbers up. It is important to understand that blood pressure does not play an important part in getting a diagnosis. Some people with PoTS have normal blood pressure, some have low and others have high. Why you need the BP monitor is so that you can start tracking your pulse and your blood pressure. If you can't afford a blood pressure monitor for whatever reason, a pulse oximeter ( a little device than can read your pulse by clipping onto your finger) is the next best thing and you can pick them up online from as little as £10. 

Please remember people with PoTS tend to have very cold fingers (and toes) so before using a pulse oximeter ensure your fingers are warm enough to provide an accurate reading. Before my second tilt table test (yes I was stupid enough to do it twice) I had to sit with my fingers in a bowl of warm water as the pulse ox couldn't get a reading.

Secondly understand what PoTS is!

PoTs is a rise in your pulse / heart rate of at least 30 beats per min (bpm) or hitting 120bpm or over, within the first ten minutes of standing. In children (up to the age of 19) the rise needs to be over 40bpm. If your heart rate doesn't increase by 30bpm or over 120bpm within the first ten minutes of standing it is unlikely to be PoTS. 

When a normal person goes from sitting to standing their pulse / heart rate will increase on average by 15-20bpm. Within a minute or so their heart rate will go back to normal. A person with PoTS could start with a baseline heart rate of 80bpm and on standing increase to at least 110bpm. Then as they continue to stand their pulse could increase further. I know on my own tilt table test my own heart rate increased to 150bpm, unfortunately I don't know what my baseline measurement was. Usually my pulse is in the 80's and if that was the case I certainly managed the increase of 30bpm and smashed the 120bpm threshold.

Because many people (but not all) with PoTS also seem to have low blood pressure that is why I recommend getting a monitor. It helps to see what your blood pressure and pulse are doing after specific triggers such as climbing the stairs, raising your hand above your head, eating - particularly carb loaded meals. Many people with PoTS find their symptoms are much worse after eating heavy carb meals, so it is recommended to eat high protein low carbohydrate meals which don't cause postprandial symptoms.

Thirdly conduct your own poor man's tilt table test.

You maybe wondering what on earth is a poor man's tilt table test, that is ok I was left scratching my head after first hearing this term on a forum called DINET. Because none of us own our very own tilt table designed for testing people for PoTS amongst other things, we can replicate how we will respond to the actual test by completing the poor man's tilt table test and some gp's who are PoTS savvy will do this in their consulting room or at the very least conduct a standing test.

To conduct a poor man's tilt table test, you need somewhere comfortable and relaxing to lie down, without interruptions and preferably away from harsh or natural light. A wall to stand against which is adjacent to the relaxing lie down area however if you don't have this don't worry you can still conduct the test. You also need your bp monitor / pulse ox and a handy sidekick to record your test results. Also your sidekick can rescue you should you faint whilst completing this test so please be careful and do not attempt to complete it without having someone with you. Please also ensure that the area is safe should you decide to face plant, so free from things you could hurt yourself on. Cushions or pillows on the floor can help prevent injury!

To start the test you need to lie down and relax, no talking, no interruptions for 20 minutes. If you can darken the room in anyway before starting the test do. At the end of the 20 minutes with as little movement as possible take your blood pressure and pulse readings. These are your base line readings and what you will use to compare against the reading you get during the test.

Once you have your baseline readings stand as quickly as you can placing your back against the wall. The wall just helps prevent you from moving, people with PoTS tend to be natural fidgets because we either faint or feel like we are going to faint. Moving keeps the blood flowing, we don't want you to do that whilst you are standing up as it may mess up the results. If you don't have a wall to prop yourself up against try and keep your legs as still as possible.

Then at 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes and 10 minutes take readings of your blood pressure and pulse or get your trusty assistant to do it. After the ten minute reading has been taken, sit down get your legs elevated and have a drink of water. You may notice that your feet / legs have gone a nice shade of red or purple. Don't be alarmed this is called blood pooling and is very common with PoTs.

Now take a look at your readings if it shows an increase of 30+ bpm / 120 bpm this is positive for PoTS. Do not despair if it doesn't show PoTS one negative poor man's tilt table test does not mean it's not PoTS, it may just mean you weren't particularly symptomatic that day. Try to complete the test on a day when your symptoms are more evident.

Other things that might show during a poor man's tilt table test are things like orthostatic intolerance ( your blood pressure goes below 90/60 on standing), you may have also fainted, if so I am sorry. The blood pressure readings could also reveal if you suffer from hyper-PoTS, which is where you have high blood pressure and PoTS. This needs to be treated differently to "normal" PoTS as most doctors will avoid giving you medication that will increase your blood pressure.

If you can't for whatever reason do the poor man's tilt table test you could perhaps try what is known as the standing test. Instead of lying down you sit down for 5 to 10 minutes to get your baseline pulse and blood pressure readings and then stand for as long as you can. Taking your readings at the same intervals as the poor mans test. This can also show PoTS. Remember PoTS stands for postural (position) orthostatic, tachycardia (fast heart rate / pulse), Syndrome (collection of symptoms and no two patients are alike).

What to do next?

Print off the gp's guide from http://www.potsuk.org/gp_guide and book an appointment with your gp or a doctor at the practice who has been the most supportive. Sometimes these aren't necessarily the same. Whilst waiting for your appointment take a look (if you are in the UK) at the Doctors list on the same website. This will give you an idea of who you can ask to be referred to, not all cardiologists are knowledgeable in the area of PoTS so it makes sense to see an expert, rather than someone who will give you the run around. For international readers DINET also has a Physician's list.

If you have a disappointing gp visit and they still will not listen to you even when provided with your own test results and the gp guide, do not give up. Try every doctor at the practice if you have to and if that doesn't work contact the practice manager. If you get no joy after all of that try reaching out to one of the many UK facebook PoTS groups. They have members all over the country and they maybe able to help you find a new gp practice with more sympathetic gp's who are aware of the condition. 

If you have a disappointing consultants visit because despite your request of being sent to a specific doctor who is knowledgeable about the condition and you didn't get to see one, you have a right to ask for a second opinion and ask once again to see one of the doctors named on the potsuk.org website.

You will get there in the end!

Most doctors will not confirm a diagnosis of PoTS without conducting a Tilt Table Test, ECG and possibly 24 hour blood pressure / heart monitoring. I was diagnosed on my tilt table results alone possibly because from 2007-2011 I had so many other investigations conducted they decided nothing more was needed.

The good news is that many people recover from PoTS especially if they have primary PoTS. Primary PoTS is usually caused by pregnancy, a virus, trauma or prolonged bed rest. Astronauts suffer from PoTS when returning to the Earth's atmosphere and when their bodies re-adjust to the Earth's gravitational pull their symptoms disappear.

Teenagers who develop PoTS also have a high chance of growing out of it. Researchers believe that teenagers develop PoTS due to the hormonal changes and growth spurts they are subjected to. Patients like these tend to grow out of their symptoms by their mid- twenties.

Patients with secondary PoTS, so PoTS that has happened due to a primary condition such as cancer, autoimmune diseases (like M.S, Lupus, Sjogrens), Ehlers Danlos Syndrome can also look forward to on the whole having the condition managed through medication and lifestyle changes (exercise, increased fluids, salt, adequate rest).

However I would be remiss if I didn't state that there are patients like me that have refractory PoTS (it doesn't respond to medication) and go onto develop more issues relating to our autonomic nervous system. We are the minority though not the majority. I don't want to scare anyone who has just started on this journey I just want to be truthful.

My symptoms now are pretty much the same as when I first started on this journey with PoTS / Dysautonomia. I still have Ptosis on and off which no one has ever been able to explain. I still have issues with my breathing, fatigue, syncope and pre-syncope. A good day means that my heart isn't continually feeling like it is fighting out of my chest on every change in posture. A bad day means not being able to sit up in bed without feeling faint, my heart rate not dropping below 100bpm even at rest. 

With my combined conditions each day is very much different with a new set of symptoms to overcome. It is exhausting, it makes me angry, it makes me sad and quite a lot of the time it makes me laugh because my body is just so screwed up!

One last thing.....if you are diagnosed with any type of tachycardia, including PoTS and you hold a driving licence you must inform the DVLA. You can do that via this Link. You will also need to contact your car insurance providers.

Another great source of information is Stars another charity which helps people suffering with a variety of conditions including PoTS.

Could it be Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome - PoTS?

I had one of those moments this week when searching through the archives of my blog I realised that I had never done a straight forward, honest to goodness post about PoTS. I may have mentioned it in passing but there is no one post based solely on it. I know that many people use my blog to try to explain their medical conditions to friends and family, so I am sorry its not happened until now.

My own diagnosis has moved away from "just" PoTs (although that is still part of it) and is now called Severe Autonomic Nervous System Dysfunction, which as far as I can tell is just a long winded way to say Dysautonomia. Which isn't a medical term that seems to have caught on in the UK. All it means is instead of just the basic PoTs stuff going on I have developed O.I (orthostatic intolerance - my blood pressure drops in to the toilet on standing), breathing difficulties which have been with me since the MG/ not MG diagnosis, bladder problems ( I get acute urinary retention on a regular basis), unable to maintain my body temperature just to name a few. This is a new and emerging area of medicine and many medics are yet to catch up on PoTS let alone Dysautonomia. Straight away please let me direct you to this website pots.uk.org so if you are currently battling to get a diagnosis you can print this guide for gp's and take this with you at your next appointment.

The first symptom I developed was sweating heavily when sleeping, be it a nap or a proper night's sleep. That was back in 2006 and which I now know is reactive hypoglycemia (blog post) from monitoring my blood glucose levels. Throughout my life I had been told I had low blood pressure (not a prerequisite for PoTS as people with all levels of blood pressure can have it), I had a lot of dizzy spells, odd cravings for salt, palpitations. I put my palpitations down to anxiety, as I had always been quite an anxious person. However once my anxiety issues had been dealt with and I learned how to combat them I continued to be left with a feeling of my heart wanting to beat out of my throat on random occasions. I would also on a regular basis get very lightheaded when changing from a sitting to standing position.

So many patients with PoTS are misdiagnosed as having anxiety, health anxiety or depression or other mental health labels before they eventually get diagnosed correctly that it is criminal. Unfortunately once you have had the mental health label attached by the medics it is a hard one to shake off. Even now when going into hospital as an emergency, I still get somatiform disorder brought up when it has been completely and utterly disproven. The problem is that to an uninformed doctor PoTS can sound very like anxiety, racing heart rate, tremors the feeling of adrenaline coursing through your body and an exaggerated flight or fight response. With the majority of PoTS patients also being women it can be even harder to be taken seriously. It seems the modern medical profession still believe in the condition hysteria.

By the time I discovered the little known condition of PoTS, like many I had been written off by the medical profession as overly anxious, internet searching for syndromes with probable somatiform disorder. It took me over a year of battling to finally get the test that would prove beyond all reasonable doubt I had PoTS. A medical condition at the time my old gp had told me didn't exist. For more info on my experience of the Tilt Table Test please click here as I don't want to bore you by repeating myself.

My main symptoms at the time of diagnosis were as follows

1. palpitations
2. feeling faint or fainting (aka pre-syncope and syncope. Please remember only about 30% of PoTS patients faint but many feel faint)
3. feeling like an elephant was sat on my chest and not being able to breathe properly
4. racing heart rate every time I changed position, even rolling over in bed.
5. greying out, especially after eating.  (My peripheral vision greys out)
6. Insomnia (BIG TIME)
7. Dizziness
8. Migraines and shockingly bad almost migraines
9. Cognitive deficit (aka brain fog /aphasia/ short term/long term memory problems)
10. Chest pain (too many times to mention I thought I was going to have a heart attack)
11. Reduced sweating (some people start getting excessive sweating, I only get excessive sweating at night)
12. Fatigue

This list probably doesn't cover all my symptoms and unfortunately many PoTS symptoms also merge into EDS symptoms as in the gut problems and bladder problems that many of us with both conditions have. It can get very difficult to differentiate the two. For a full list of symptoms please click here.

So what can you do if you suspect you have PoTS?

I can only base this on how I went about getting my diagnosis but it is the same advice I give everyone who asks my advice. 

Firstly get hold of a decent blood pressure monitor especially one that can also take your pulse at the same time. Here is a list of blood pressure monitors that have been validated by the British Heart Foundation as accurate enough to monitor your blood pressure at home. If you can afford it get one with a memory so it records your readings so that you can't be accused of making the numbers up. It is important to understand that blood pressure does not play an important part in getting a diagnosis. Some people with PoTS have normal blood pressure, some have low and others have high. Why you need the BP monitor is so that you can start tracking your pulse and your blood pressure. If you can't afford a blood pressure monitor for whatever reason, a pulse oximeter ( a little device than can read your pulse by clipping onto your finger) is the next best thing and you can pick them up online from as little as £10. 

Please remember people with PoTS tend to have very cold fingers (and toes) so before using a pulse oximeter ensure your fingers are warm enough to provide an accurate reading. Before my second tilt table test (yes I was stupid enough to do it twice) I had to sit with my fingers in a bowl of warm water as the pulse ox couldn't get a reading.

Secondly understand what PoTS is!

PoTs is a rise in your pulse / heart rate of at least 30 beats per min (bpm) or hitting 120bpm or over, within the first ten minutes of standing. In children (up to the age of 19) the rise needs to be over 40bpm. If your heart rate doesn't increase by 30bpm or over 120bpm within the first ten minutes of standing it is unlikely to be PoTS. 

When a normal person goes from sitting to standing their pulse / heart rate will increase on average by 15-20bpm. Within a minute or so their heart rate will go back to normal. A person with PoTS could start with a baseline heart rate of 80bpm and on standing increase to at least 110bpm. Then as they continue to stand their pulse could increase further. I know on my own tilt table test my own heart rate increased to 150bpm, unfortunately I don't know what my baseline measurement was. Usually my pulse is in the 80's and if that was the case I certainly managed the increase of 30bpm and smashed the 120bpm threshold.

Because many people (but not all) with PoTS also seem to have low blood pressure that is why I recommend getting a monitor. It helps to see what your blood pressure and pulse are doing after specific triggers such as climbing the stairs, raising your hand above your head, eating - particularly carb loaded meals. Many people with PoTS find their symptoms are much worse after eating heavy carb meals, so it is recommended to eat high protein low carbohydrate meals which don't cause postprandial symptoms.

Thirdly conduct your own poor man's tilt table test.

You maybe wondering what on earth is a poor man's tilt table test, that is ok I was left scratching my head after first hearing this term on a forum called DINET. Because none of us own our very own tilt table designed for testing people for PoTS amongst other things, we can replicate how we will respond to the actual test by completing the poor man's tilt table test and some gp's who are PoTS savvy will do this in their consulting room or at the very least conduct a standing test.

To conduct a poor man's tilt table test, you need somewhere comfortable and relaxing to lie down, without interruptions and preferably away from harsh or natural light. A wall to stand against which is adjacent to the relaxing lie down area however if you don't have this don't worry you can still conduct the test. You also need your bp monitor / pulse ox and a handy sidekick to record your test results. Also your sidekick can rescue you should you faint whilst completing this test so please be careful and do not attempt to complete it without having someone with you. Please also ensure that the area is safe should you decide to face plant, so free from things you could hurt yourself on. Cushions or pillows on the floor can help prevent injury!

To start the test you need to lie down and relax, no talking, no interruptions for 20 minutes. If you can darken the room in anyway before starting the test do. At the end of the 20 minutes with as little movement as possible take your blood pressure and pulse readings. These are your base line readings and what you will use to compare against the reading you get during the test.

Once you have your baseline readings stand as quickly as you can placing your back against the wall. The wall just helps prevent you from moving, people with PoTS tend to be natural fidgets because we either faint or feel like we are going to faint. Moving keeps the blood flowing, we don't want you to do that whilst you are standing up as it may mess up the results. If you don't have a wall to prop yourself up against try and keep your legs as still as possible.

Then at 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes and 10 minutes take readings of your blood pressure and pulse or get your trusty assistant to do it. After the ten minute reading has been taken, sit down get your legs elevated and have a drink of water. You may notice that your feet / legs have gone a nice shade of red or purple. Don't be alarmed this is called blood pooling and is very common with PoTs.

Now take a look at your readings if it shows an increase of 30+ bpm / 120 bpm this is positive for PoTS. Do not despair if it doesn't show PoTS one negative poor man's tilt table test does not mean it's not PoTS, it may just mean you weren't particularly symptomatic that day. Try to complete the test on a day when your symptoms are more evident.

Other things that might show during a poor man's tilt table test are things like orthostatic intolerance ( your blood pressure goes below 90/60 on standing), you may have also fainted, if so I am sorry. The blood pressure readings could also reveal if you suffer from hyper-PoTS, which is where you have high blood pressure and PoTS. This needs to be treated differently to "normal" PoTS as most doctors will avoid giving you medication that will increase your blood pressure.

If you can't for whatever reason do the poor man's tilt table test you could perhaps try what is known as the standing test. Instead of lying down you sit down for 5 to 10 minutes to get your baseline pulse and blood pressure readings and then stand for as long as you can. Taking your readings at the same intervals as the poor mans test. This can also show PoTS. Remember PoTS stands for postural (position) orthostatic, tachycardia (fast heart rate / pulse), Syndrome (collection of symptoms and no two patients are alike).

What to do next?

Print off the gp's guide from http://www.potsuk.org/gp_guide and book an appointment with your gp or a doctor at the practice who has been the most supportive. Sometimes these aren't necessarily the same. Whilst waiting for your appointment take a look (if you are in the UK) at the Doctors list on the same website. This will give you an idea of who you can ask to be referred to, not all cardiologists are knowledgeable in the area of PoTS so it makes sense to see an expert, rather than someone who will give you the run around. For international readers DINET also has a Physician's list.

If you have a disappointing gp visit and they still will not listen to you even when provided with your own test results and the gp guide, do not give up. Try every doctor at the practice if you have to and if that doesn't work contact the practice manager. If you get no joy after all of that try reaching out to one of the many UK facebook PoTS groups. They have members all over the country and they maybe able to help you find a new gp practice with more sympathetic gp's who are aware of the condition. 

If you have a disappointing consultants visit because despite your request of being sent to a specific doctor who is knowledgeable about the condition and you didn't get to see one, you have a right to ask for a second opinion and ask once again to see one of the doctors named on the potsuk.org website.

You will get there in the end!

Most doctors will not confirm a diagnosis of PoTS without conducting a Tilt Table Test, ECG and possibly 24 hour blood pressure / heart monitoring. I was diagnosed on my tilt table results alone possibly because from 2007-2011 I had so many other investigations conducted they decided nothing more was needed.

The good news is that many people recover from PoTS especially if they have primary PoTS. Primary PoTS is usually caused by pregnancy, a virus, trauma or prolonged bed rest. Astronauts suffer from PoTS when returning to the Earth's atmosphere and when their bodies re-adjust to the Earth's gravitational pull their symptoms disappear.

Teenagers who develop PoTS also have a high chance of growing out of it. Researchers believe that teenagers develop PoTS due to the hormonal changes and growth spurts they are subjected to. Patients like these tend to grow out of their symptoms by their mid- twenties.

Patients with secondary PoTS, so PoTS that has happened due to a primary condition such as cancer, autoimmune diseases (like M.S, Lupus, Sjogrens), Ehlers Danlos Syndrome can also look forward to on the whole having the condition managed through medication and lifestyle changes (exercise, increased fluids, salt, adequate rest).

However I would be remiss if I didn't state that there are patients like me that have refractory PoTS (it doesn't respond to medication) and go onto develop more issues relating to our autonomic nervous system. We are the minority though not the majority. I don't want to scare anyone who has just started on this journey I just want to be truthful.

My symptoms now are pretty much the same as when I first started on this journey with PoTS / Dysautonomia. I still have Ptosis on and off which no one has ever been able to explain. I still have issues with my breathing, fatigue, syncope and pre-syncope. A good day means that my heart isn't continually feeling like it is fighting out of my chest on every change in posture. A bad day means not being able to sit up in bed without feeling faint, my heart rate not dropping below 100bpm even at rest. 

With my combined conditions each day is very much different with a new set of symptoms to overcome. It is exhausting, it makes me angry, it makes me sad and quite a lot of the time it makes me laugh because my body is just so screwed up!

One last thing.....if you are diagnosed with any type of tachycardia, including PoTS and you hold a driving licence you must inform the DVLA. You can do that via this Link. You will also need to contact your car insurance providers.

Another great source of information is Stars another charity which helps people suffering with a variety of conditions including PoTS.

Dear 2015

This post was nearly ready to be published last week when we had the devastating news that Willow had a tumour in her breast, should the X-rays showed that it had spread, we would have to make the hard decision to let her go. Due to the intense emotional distress this caused both hubby and I, we decided together that I would skip a week of the blog until we knew what the future held, life with or without Willow.

 I am happy to report the tumour hadn't spread and it was successfully removed. The tumour was a mixture of benign and malignant cells so from now on we will keep a close eye on her. So here it is the post I prepared before even knowing that 2015 was going to be a roller coaster.

*  *  *

Dear 2015,

I know that you are just a few days old but I wanted to give you a heads up, 2014 was a bit shit health wise if I am honest and I would sincerely like it if you would give me an easier 12 months. Although with awful PoTs symptoms starting on New Years Eve, I think its clear what your evil intentions are.

2014 was going swimmingly until I had a glucose loading tilt table test to confirm the diagnosis of postprandial hypotension in February. However it also changed my diagnosis from PoTs to severe Autonomic Dysfunction making my diagnosis even harder to explain to the myriad of medical professionals I would encounter during the remainder of the year.

Following the TTT my health took a massive decline. Just five days after the tilt table test (TTT - for short) I was bed bound and hooked up to my oxygen concentrator 24 hours a day for a week. I was inducing stress levels in my husband that I didn't think were possible to survive without provoking a heart attack. No one had any answers, all my gp could suggest was going back onto fludrocortisone (florinef for you in the USA) and increasing my fluids. My hospital consultant was on holiday, so my gp and I were winging it. As always my main aim is to stay out of hospital because dealing with idiots when I am unwell drives me nuts, even well-meaning idiots. When I say idiots I mean the ones that although well-meaning presume they are experts in my condition after 5 minutes on google.

Thankfully that time I avoided a hospital stay, the next admission in April 2014 was planned. This was for a trial of the drug Octreotide to see if I could tolerate it and if it prevented my postprandial episodes as I refer to them as. The drug worked but the whole trial was farcical, with me being discharged after only injecting the drug once myself and arguing continually with the nursing staff who kept trying to give me the drug hours before meal times which as I later found out due to my own mistakes would have produced horrendous hypoglycemic attacks. I was also discharged with very little information and with my gp having no way of ordering the syringes or needles I needed to inject the drug because they weren't available on the pharmacy list which gp's can order from. This took several months to rectify, oh and I have failed to mention that I had no information regarding the disposal of the sharps bin either. As I said farcical. 

May and June 2014 saw repeated bouts of cellulitis and I was very lucky not to need I.V antibiotics to sort it out. I had blood tests and antibiotics coming out of my ears but no cause for these repeated infections was ever found. I am just lucky I guess. I had no appreciation before hand how ill cellulitis can make you feel. The first bout started with what we presume was a spider bite on my knee, the second bout started after I had a manicure and the third and fourth bouts happened after I was bitten repeatedly by mosquito's. I was very poorly but as always I chose to ignore it as I have found burying my head in the sand always works well. Spot the lie.

The end of June was equally dramatic with Acute Urinary Retention occurring on the 20th June resulting in me being admitted to hospital on the 21st June with a blocked catheter. If I thought I had lost my dignity when having a smear test (PAP test in the USA) in the past I was in for a rude awakening when having catheters fitted and subsequently removed. By the time a catheter becomes necessary you no longer care what it will take to relieve the agony of an overly full bladder. I have very little recollection of these events and I kind of understand women who say they forget the indignity and pain of childbirth. I think I have blocked the memories from my mind. Only to be remembered when I read the blog posts these incidents are contained within.

So six months in and 2014 had been one of the most eventful years of my professional sick persons career. So 2015 I would be grateful if you could keep the drama to a minimum. I don't mind drama as in I have a winning lottery ticket or a National Newspaper wants me to write a regular column for them, that's fine. I just don't want the health drama for me or any of my loved ones. There is too much drama in the world already without adding a whole new level of shitty health problems.

The following six months weren't remotely better, they just presented different challenges. From March onwards the back pain I had been suffering with since 1999 decided to ramp up a gear. I found out in September I have arthritis in my spine and a flattening of one of my discs. My palpitations, feeling faint etc have been worse for the last six months which has meant me staying on the dose of 3 fludrocortisone tablets a day. The steroids help but the bring other issues such as sleep problems and constant hunger. My weight has gone up and down like a yo-yo in the last 12 months. An outsider may think "weight should be the least of your problems" and I agree it should but I am so unhappy when I can't fit into my clothes. I can cope with my health being awful as long as I don't put on lots of weight. My weight seems to be the final straw. With my back pain being as bad as it was I spent much of the summer in bed in vast amounts of pain. With further reduced mobility I ended up putting on weight.

One good part of 2014 was finding out the answer to why my back was painful and discovering that gentle Pilate's could strengthen more core muscles enough to alleviate that pain. I found joy in completing the exercises and used my Pilate's time as me time. I could relax and found myself feeling calmer.....until my knees really started to hurt. I think the strengthened core muscles changed my gait which then altered the pressure on my knees or maybe the pain in my back was masking the pain in my knees. It doesn't matter because in December 2014 I could add early onset arthritis in my right knee and  possibly all of my fingers.

December 2014 was eventful due to another bout of Acute Urinary Retention and a urinary tract infection to boot. So again 2015 I beg of you don't meddle on the health front please. The last 12 months was hard to deal with and I am no longer bouncing back like I used to. My husband really can not continually cope with this level of stress. As a result of my declining health he has now put on several stone in weight as he is a stress eater. I want him with me for a long time, so please lay off me for a while so that he feels he has some kind of control in his life.

Last year I made a huge list of New Years Resolutions, it was the first time I had done so for many years. Looking back at the list I realise I didn't accomplish any of them due to the health issues. That was a bitter pill to swallow. 

One of my resolutions wasn't affected by my health, I wanted to get back into creative writing.....I didn't, I got back into blogging after an 18 month break. It has been one of the most rewarding things I have done. I have made a very special friend who I would never have met without my blog. I was nominated for a Wego Health Activist Blog award and I more than doubled my readership in the space of ten months. Something I am extremely proud of.

So if I maybe so bold 2015, I have provided you with my personal wish list for the next 12 months. I know you can't cure my numerous medical conditions but you can be kind.

- I feel its time you gave me a break on the health front, just keep me ticking along with the conditions / symptoms I am used to. Don't go throwing me any curve balls because I really don't think I have the energy to cope with them.

- Please limit my exposure to idiots in the medical field. I have been worn down by the constant exposure to them last year. Let someone else have them for a change or just educate them a bit better before you release them on the general public. I can't be the one to educate them all the time.

- Before one of my well-meaning acquaintances sends me the link to a blog where someone cured their PoTs through adopting a sugar-free, Vegan diet may you give them a change of heart or make their Internet connection go down until they decide I have probably already seen it several times.

- If they do send it let me receive it far more graciously than I did in 2014 but then again maybe not a little sarcasm never hurt anyone.

- If I do go into Acute Urinary Retention again can you make it on a day when I have shaved my legs and waxed my bikini line? It just makes me feel better to know that these are done if someone is going to be rummaging around in my lady parts. 

- Please don't let it be this year that my smear is due for the reasons above plus it is painful due to my retrograde cervix and dislocating my right hip when I adopted the "position" last time.

- If any insects or arachnids bite me this summer please let me avoid cellulitis and high dose antibiotics. By attack number 4 it got quite boring and the medication made me feel really nauseous.

- Please get my gp to admit fully that I have arthritis in my fingers. Seemingly them swelling up, being stiff and painful just isn't enough proof when I already have arthritis in my spine and knee. Please stop him holding onto the belief that its my stretchy ligaments causing the problem and admit it is EDS causing early onset arthritis.

There are lots of things I could ask of you 2015 but I really don't want to appear greedy. If you could just make it a smoother ride this year for me and my loved ones it would be greatly appreciated. I know there will always be bumps in the road so let me face them as I faced the ones in 2014, with humour and wit.

This too shall pass

This too shall pass

I have been repeating this quote over and over in my head since February when my health first started to decline. Its the one thing that has kept me going through a year which I can honestly say is the toughest one I have faced.

In February I took a tilt table test, this was to look at my body's reaction when I ate or drank because I have postprandial hypotension. Before the test I had to consume 250 ml of lucozade which is just pure sugar and tastes like syrup. Once they had their base line measurements I was then tilted. According to my consultant it was the most impressive one yet. However for some reason the tilt table test triggered off my symptoms in a way no one could have expected or anticipated.

My previous tilt table test in 2011, the one that got me diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome had left me bed bound for around 5 days. I had been expecting the same with the one in February. This time I was fine for a few days and the wallop! I ate my lunch and then felt my heart rate increase (which is totally normal for me) however after several hours my heart rate had not come down and I was feeling short of breath. Having been in this situation before and knowing that the local hospital would admit me but then do nothing I saw no point in panicking....just yet. I rang my gp the following day and went back on fludrocortisone.

My husband ended up taking a week off from work to look after me. To ease my symptoms I used my oxygen concentrator and ended up staying in bed for well over a week. Since then I have never got back to my pre tilt table level of health.

As those of you who read the blog regularly and follow me on facebook on my The Myasthenia Kid page will know this year I have battled cellulitis 4 times, I have been admitted to hospital because my bladder decided to stop working and I needed to be catheterised. My autonomic nervous system symptoms are still pretty awful. As I write this my head is swimming as due to the heat I am continually feeling faint and dizzy.

Putting all the dysautonomia symptoms aside (I have kind of got used to them horrific as they are) my major battle at the moment is my chronic back pain. Bad backs seem to be a family legacy. Obviously my mum is waiting for major spinal surgery (as written about in Democracy in Action part one and two), my father has also been diagnosed with back problems and needs to have steroid injections but is refusing them at the moment much to the rest of my familys (mum, sister and me) annoyance. My sister suffers with awful back pain and I have been slipping discs in my back from the age of 16.

The pain in my back and the referred pain is so bad that it is depriving me of sleep and making me feel sick. Its not massively high on the pain scale, I wouldn't rate it much above a 5 -6/10. However it is constant there is no relief.

On a good day I have a burning sensation down my left leg and an altered sensation, my leg feels wet and my foot can feel like I am wearing a wet sock. I also suffer with iliac crest pain - it took me years to work out what this pain was. I can push through this and enjoy whatever I happen to be up to. 

I have whats called leg dominant back pain, which means I have very little pain in my back, most of my pain is caused by the nerves that run from my back down my legs.

On a bad day (and unfortunately I am now having more of these than good days) the pain is down both legs, my knees throb. My buttocks and the backs of my legs ache and burn and I have a small amount of back pain. On a very bad day the back pain is awful and any sudden movement will trigger a wave of spasms. I have also noticed that my legs will feel heavy and I feel like it takes a real effort to move them. Keeping a diary of the pain I have also noticed there is a connection between the bad pain days and decreased function of my bladder and bowel.

Nothing has happened so far to make it a medical emergency such as double incontinence or not being able to go completely for hours. Other than that incident at the end of June when my bladder packed up completely and I ended up with acute urinary retention. 

To be honest I have been living with this nerve pain in my leg since 1999 when the original back injury occurred and I never really gave it much consideration until the lyrica (pregablin) I have been prescribed stopped working and my mum found out what a terrible state her back is in. 

My back symptoms ramped up at the end of March and I decided to do what I always do which is ignore them. However the pain has increased to such a point now where I can no longer do so. Due to it being nerve pain my opiate pain killers have zero effect on it. Doubling the lyrica dose at night worked for a month or so but I have now had to double that dose and double my morning dose. 

My back has got so bad that I am unable to do the things that I want to do. Combining the dysautonomia and the back issue I am no longer able to complete the small tasks around the house that I have always done. Things are starting to build up and get on top of me. 

On Friday I realised that I can't do this anymore and had to ask for help. So I now have a cleaning lady who will be coming for 2 hours a week to help me keep things straight. I can't keep on asking my husband to do more and more as its just not fair on him to be working full time looking after me and the dogs and then expecting him to do a massive clean as well. At least this way his days off will be spent spending time with me instead of impersonating Mrs Mop.

I find it hilarious that I am so house proud now, before I got sick I didn't do housework unless someone was coming to visit. I was working full time and we were always going out somewhere cleaning seemed like a real drag. Let me be clear my house was never like something off hoarders but it was dusty and things weren't always put away. Sheets and towels were always washed once a week its just what I call the finer detail was never attended to. 


One of my fondest memories is my mum coming to visit me in my flat and her saying "you don't iron your sheets then?" I replied "when I don't work full time it will be top of my list". I will be honest ironing my bedding has never made it onto my list of things to do even though I no longer work. To me ironing bedding is as pointless as ironing underwear, life is just too short (and obviously I am physically unable to be stood at an ironing board long enough to iron 2 sets of king size bedding!).

As I say my house could never have been described as something out of Hoarders (one of my favourite shows that I like to watch and feel smug. I do know these people have a mental illness before anyone decides to give me a piece of their mind!). It was dusty and well lived in. I had a friend once come over and write clean me on the dust on the TV screen. So I wasn't exactly on top of the cleaning back then. Plus hubby wasn't into it too much either having the old fashioned impression that housework was my job. Thank goodness that outdated attitude of his has now gone. I always find it amazing when I look back and see how much both of us have changed from before I got sick.


 My attitude to cleaning changed when I was at home 24/7 I wasn't prepared to sit in a mess all day everyday. Over the years I have become obsessively house proud which in turn has made hubby more so too. I am guessing some of the reason for my obsessive attitude towards keeping the house tidy was that I didn't think it was fair on hubby to be working all day and coming back to a mess. It was all about what I could contribute to our relationship now I wasn't working. Despite the fact that I would suffer enormously trying to keep on top of things I still felt that being at home all day meant I was responsible for everything in the home. It was never something that my husband demanded or expected it was an unrealistic expectation I placed upon myself. He didn't care if things weren't done as he would sort them out when he had the time. 

I always felt things had to be perfect. I am guessing that controlling my environment was a way of having some control in my life. I cant control my illness or how I will be feeling hour by hour, so by controlling how our home looked soothed me psychologically. Now I can no longer do this it troubles me and makes me feel guilty as I am yet again contributing less to our relationship. My mantra "this too shall pass" is continually on my mind.

Hubby actually told the cleaning lady she won't have much to do. I beg to differ, hubby still doesn't see the finer detail and I am fed up with the battle of getting him to hoover the stair carpet and the bedrooms. At least this way I know that they will be getting done and without argument!

It was a very bittersweet moment when I realised that I could no longer manage the little household chores that I had completed to ensure we kept on top of things. I am sure if we didn't have the three dogs there wouldn't be as much mess but as I could never part from them admitting I needed help was the only solution. It does compound the sense of failure I feel. I am unable to work and now I am unable to keep the house tidy. It makes me ask myself what can I do other than just survive at the moment. I will admit I shed a few tears over this decision.

Its going to be very strange for me having our cleaner in the house doing the jobs I used to do (and more). I am already getting anxious about it, what if the dogs scare her - they can be quite noisy on first meeting people, what if she thinks our house is really dirty, should I clean before she arrives? Its all down to a fear of being judged. She has already text me to reassure me that its ok to ask for help. It doesn't stop the anxiety though, if there is something to worry about I will find it.

So here I am the day before my cleaning lady starts trying to distract myself from the anxiety that I am feeling. I have to create a list of the jobs I want done tomorrow.....which I still haven't started because I feel guilty that I need help.

I know that "This too shall pass" however I am beginning to wonder when this year from hell will end. I have never been one to wish the year away but this year is one that I wish would just go. I want a do over and get back to how things were.

Octreotide Trial one week on.

Sorting my syringes for the day.

I'm one week into my octreotide trial and things have not  been going swimmingly. Over the course of the last week I have been developing some nasty side effects of the gastrointestinal kind. Last night I was awoken at 230am and over the course of the next 6 hours I barely left the bathroom.

Over the last week I have been managing to inject myself 2-3 times a day. I was struggling with it initially, not because of having to inject myself but the issue with eating regularly. I learnt years ago to avoid post prandial hypotension to avoid where at all possible eating lunch. At school I would struggle to stay awake after lunch. At university I would regularly fall asleep in the lecture theatre and snore, loudly. This issue followed me into my workplace and to avoid falling asleep in front of a room full of new employees, avoiding lunch was the only thing I could do.

My post prandial hypotension could almost be described as a kind of narcolepsy, I can't keep myself awake. I have no choice in the matter but to go to sleep. Fighting it makes me feel extremely ill. My eyes roll to the back of my head, my speech becomes slurred and I can not put off the inevitable, I go to sleep. My blood pressure drops so low I awaken confused, not knowing where I am. Nine times out of ten I will initially believe I am back at my parents house, a place I haven't lived in since 1996. My confusion can last a few minutes to an hour and it is terrifying. Out of all the horrid symptoms I endure this is the worst. It will reduce to me to tears on a regular basis.

As you can imagine, after last night, I was deflated ( pardon the pun) , exhausted and in pain. However due to the amazing results I had experienced I wasn't ready to throw the towel in just yet. I was wobbling psychologically and feeling a bit sorry for myself but I was determined to carry on.

After what can only be described as a hideous night, out of the blue my consultant rang me to find out how I was doing and to make arrangements for the tilt table test I was due to have on Tuesday 22nd April. On hearing of the disastrous night I had endured, he decided a tilt table test wasn't going to be a good idea. I have been advised to halt the injections today (Monday 21st April) and resume tomorrow starting off again with one injection a day. I am to continue with one injection a day until I ring his secretary on Friday and let her know how I am doing and a decision will be made from there.

Some of my cyber friends are on this medication for PoTS alone and have been advised not to take it at meal times as there is an increased risk of side effects - wind (gas) , bloating, diarrhea, constipation and nausea. With post prandial hypotension the whole point is I take it with meals. However I am suffering with all but one of the side effects - constipation. How last night I wished that I was suffering with constipation!

I will see how the week goes and maybe if there is no joy I will use the drug to treat my PoTS rather than post prandial hypotension. As the drug works so well I am happy to currently persevere as long as I don't have a repeat of last night.

It maybe that I can only tolerate one injection a day without incurring the wrath of the octreotide god. If thats the case my post prandial hypotension is always at its worst at lunch time for some reason. If I could obliterate that symptoms with little or no side effects that would be an enormous leap forward.

Octreotide trial, the results!

On Monday 14th April I made the call that I had been a little apprehensive to make, I rang the ward to see if there was a bed available for my octreotide trial. The answer was a resounding yes and then the nerves kicked in big time, up until then I had been relatively calm.

The disasters of my stay will be fodder for a future blog post (s) when I feel less like I've had a bus and then several cars run over me. However for those of you interested in the results I thought I would do a quick update today (Wednesday 16th April) ready to be published on  Thursday 17th April 2014.

I managed to get home a little after 24 hours on the ward and by this point I had tolerated three injections of 25mcg, one of which I had done myself. The injections are subcutaneous so theres no finding a vein which would be a complete disaster for me. If a hospital phlebotomist has problems and they take blood all day everyday theres no hope for an amateur like me!

The injections need to be done in conjunction with a meal as my symptoms are at their worst in the two hours after I eat. The first injection stung a little, the needle going in doesn't hurt its the octreotide going in that does. However I've had some great advice from fellow users courtesy of facebook and know that it is best to get the dose up to room temperature before injecting it.

With the first injection given to me on Monday evening, I still had a little episode after eating where I went to sleep and then woke up confused thinking I was back at my parents house in a completely different city. The confusion didn't last long and I came out of it pretty quickly.

My second injection took place at around 7am on Tuesday morning and I had a few slices of toast to see how my body coped with another carbohydrate heavy meal ( it really doesn't matter what I eat, protein or carbs I will crash all the same but carbs are the worst). After 45 minutes I had some tachycardia but it wasn't as forceful as normal (by forceful I mean it didn't feel like my heart was trying to break out of my chest. That's how it normally feels after I've eaten) I did have a little sleep of 20 minutes but I had, had such an awful nights sleep that at some point during the day a nap would have been called for.

At around 930am my consultant popped in to find out how I was doing. I really don't like being in hospital and the usual confident young(ish) woman that he has got to know over the last few years had vanished. Before him was a quivering wreck that was close to tears with the stress of it all. Hospitals / doctors / anything remotely medical makes me extremely anxious these days due to horrific past experiences, so I think he was genuinely shocked at the state I was in. Having told me the day before that I was going to be kept in all week and I had managed to bargain him down to Wednesday morning, he decided that I could go home later on that day provided I suffered no side effects from lunch times injection and that I did the injection myself!

At around 13:30 I did my very first injection, having been talked through it by the nurse. All went well until she forgot to tell me that the skin that I had pinched to put the injection in, had to be let go of before removing the needle - otherwise what you have injected oozes out! I haven't made that mistake again!

I've suffered no  hideous side effects from the octreotide. All I have experienced so far is a strange metallic / salty taste around 20 minutes after injecting, a strange burning feeling in my mouth and throat, a minuscule amount of nausea and an empty feeling in my stomach. None of these symptoms are so dire that it would want to make me discontinue the medication.

Even on the tiny dose that I have taken there have been improvements. Today I've had no tachycardia after eating, on checking my blood pressure it was a healthy 115/80 with a pulse of 68. I never have a normal blood pressure unless I am in a lot of pain or I am incredibly stressed and my pulse never goes below 80 beats per minute. It usually resides in the 90 -100 zone, so a low pulse rate is incredible. I also took a shower whilst the octreotide was still in my system ( it leaves the body after 90 minutes) and I had no blood pooling in my legs. Normally when I shower they are a livid pulsating purple colour and at the same time my internal organs feel like they are falling out of my body onto the shower tray beneath me.

However I need to stress this isn't a cure, for want of a better word my autonomic nervous system is screwed and my condition is worsening. I will only improve whilst the drug is active in my system. There is a slow release injectable version of this drug but I am in the trial phase at the moment and that won't be considered until my consultant and I are sure that the drug is improving my condition.

As soon as the drug wears off my heart rate soars and my blood pressure plummets. For the 90 minutes whilst its working, so far I haven't noticed any change in energy levels but then I have a hospital visit to get over! So the injection currently improves my post prandial hypotension and tachycardia for 90 minutes three times a day. The rest of the time I still have tachycardia, orthostatic intolerance and painful joints due to the Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.

I know that this is a much shorter post than normal for me but I am exhausted!

This is the "sharps bin" and pack of syringes I have taken home with me! The bin is enormous and we are now trying to work out storage solutions for all my syringes so the house doesn't look quite so goulish! I am thinking about getting some nice fabric and making a drawstring type bag to cover the outside of the sharps bin!

losing what little ground I had gained and a tale of two naughty hounds!

This post was supposed to be about something else entirely but the energy theives visited and I'm stuck in bed!

Since the beginning of February after the tilt table test which I'm now seriously starting to regret having my health has been in a precarious state.

I've had a couple of good days in the last month but that's it. Currently its just constantly lurching from one bad day to the next. Pretty much every day by 2:30pm I'm done, by 4:00pm I'm ready to sleep. I have to try and keep myself awake otherwise I end up waking up after 7 hours wide awake, which makes it a long day if you've been up since 3am.

My heart is constantly racing again, on the fludrcortisone my blood pressure has only reached the dizzying heights of 100/61. To tell you the truth I am sick of it.

The steroids make me grumpy and angry. They are wrecking my skin and despite the increase of salt I seem to be constantly dehydrated. Its been so bad that my skin is extremely slow in going back down after you pinch the back of my hand. Everything I drink just goes straight through me.

I will be quite honest I'm feeling miserable!

Now something to make you laugh

This is Frankie lying on our new rug. The day we bought it he wouldn't get off it. Today he managed to puke on it, he had been eating grass out in the garden which I was unaware of. Whilst I went into the kitchen to make myself a drink he puked bile (bright yellow bile) and grass onto the top corner of the rug. As I am quickly cleaning the rug as hard as I can as I do not want it to stain and the carpet shampooer is in the shed, I hear a rustling in the kitchen.

 I've left the cupboard door open in case I needed more cloths or towels.

 I know what is happening, I should have realised this would happen.

Mollie has jumped up and pulled a bag of treats down to help herself being aided and abetted by Willow. This is what my husband and I refer to as a rookie mistake! The thing is I've left that cupboard door open countless times and she's never done it. She's so sneaky she knew I was too busy cleaning the rug to stop her!

By the time I got back into the kitchen all that was left was an empty wrapper and two dogs making a hasty exit! Ears down and tails between their legs. You have to admire their audacity. If I hadn't been elbow deep in puke I would have taken a photo!

Here are the naughty girls! Like mother like daughter. I couldn't be cross for long and it has given me something to chuckle about today!

So glad I have my babies to make me smile! Even if they are cheeky beggars!

Grrrrr!

Well yesterday was rough Nurse Frankie was right about that! The fatigue from not being able to catch my breath properly meant by the time hubby got home from work at 7pm I was already dozing on the sofa.

I felt fine on waking this morning, I had had around ten hours sleep ( those hours are interrupted with toilet trips and fluid intakes, so I never actually sleep a whole night through. I can't remember the last time I slept all night). As the morning progressed I noticed that on changing direction I was becoming dizzy as the hours have slowly ticked by the dizziness and feeling faint has progressed to the point where the only safe place for me to be is in bed. So here I am on rare disease day stuck in bed. Oh the irony!

My mood is low, I'm hormonal and steroid bitchy not a great combination! I've now been really sick for 18 days with a period of a week before that being mildly sicker than I normally am. So my normal routines and activities have been curtailed for 24 days. It may not seem like much but when you've fought so hard to get where I was 24 days ago it feel like a massive smack in the face.

This was all triggered by the Tilt Table Test on 4th February,   ( im getting confused between the TTT and a drs appointment  the TTT was a Tuesday the drs appointment was Friday 7th) its now 28th February and I'm not improving as rapidly as I would like. The last two days have been bad as for a few days prior I had made some big improvements. I'm not back to where I was before this nose dive but I was making great advances towards it. The last two days seem to be my bodies way of telling me it was too much too soon. So here I am again feeling faint, dizzy and stuck in bed. Grrr!

Its going to be a long boring day as hubby is on a late night, all my friends are working and doing normal people things. I here alone bored out of my mind. Too sick for a visit yet sick of my own company and the dogs arent great conversationalists! So I'm boring you rigid instead.

Its now a rest / nap time for me. Fingers crossed tomorrow is better xx