Health update (me)

     I saw a new cardiologist today. I've not been feeling great the last little while after an amazing reprieve of symptoms. The doctor I saw today treats a lot of POTS patients and had some great treatment recommendations. 

    I've been having weird fluttery feelings in my chest that don't quite feel like normal palpitations. I went to the ER last week for a flare up of POTS and gastroparesis and my EKG was abnormal. It showed "nonspecific ST/T changes" which can mean nothing at all or it can indicate arrhythmia. I am no the current wearer of a 30 day cardiac event monitor! It's not cute, so I'm trying to find all of my high neck shirts so it's not visible. 

    She also recommended low dose naltrexone (or LDN) and said it's been shown to help with both POTS and gastroparesis. I'm willing to try anything at this point! I'll start that later this week. She also recommended a B vitamin to help with fatigue. She recommended restarting IV fluids but with lactated ringers instead of normal saline as she's seen some better results with LR. She offered physical therapy to help with conditioning, but I'm pretty active so I'm not going to pursue that at this time, but it's nice to have it as a reserve option. I'm going to continue to wear compression stockings/leggings and try to orally hydrate on days I'm able to take in enough fluids (gastroparesis complicates this, of course).

    She said both POTS and gastroparesis (in my case) are caused by an autoimmune disorder attacking my autonomic nervous system.

    Overall, it was a great appointment. I felt listened to. I felt heard. She said a lot of POTS patients get told to "see psychiatry" and are dismissed as not having a physical illness and said I was really lucky to have had a good cardiologist from the beginning. I love the doctor I was seeing, but I wanted a second opinion. I'll be switching over to this cardiologist to take over my care. My other doctor was great and was willing to try anything I suggested, I would print out studies and bring them to him with ideas. I will always appreciate how willing he is to listen! But today was amazing to have a doctor who is super familiar with my diagnoses offer ideas and suggestions. She's in the womens heart center and obviously sees a lot of women. She also called me young, so I will love her forever 😂

I'm excited to see how things go and I'm really hopeful that I'll start feeling better again! I'm still feeling a million times better than I did a year ago. But summer is coming and generally I do absolutely terribly in hot weather. Fingers crossed!