After being sick for so long, I finally have a name for my illness: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, otherwise known as P.O.T.S.

A cardiac condition that's stripped me of my health, weight (causing me to drop to anorexic weight), self confidence, friends, jobs and continuing my education.

My goals are simple: gain weight, be healthier, and get out more. Basically, get my life back!

I'm also hoping to spread some awareness on this little known condition, and to highlight the struggles of the underweight and people with "invisible illnesses."

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Just keep swimming

After an epic meltdown last night, I'm trying to push on today.
It's going to be a relatively easy day though because it's way too hot for me to be outside.
I took the dogs for a walk at 9:30 this morning and it was already 85 degrees out.
******
I started a new medication today: Midodrine. (I've mentioned it before)
It's...interesting. One of the side effects is that it makes your scalp tingle- and boy does it ever.
I feel like someone rubbed novocain all over my head.
It's not awful, but it's very weird and unnatural; plus it gives me chills.
I'm curious to see if it will go away once the new med builds up in my system.

Amount of sleep:
maybe four or five disjointed hours? Not much or enough

Diet:
- Breakfast: bowl of strawberries with brown sugar, 3 cups water
- Lunch: mac and cheese, 1.5 cups dr. pepper
- Dinner: roasted chicken, green beans, onions, mushrooms, pasta and applesauce, 2 cups water
- Snack 1: rice krispies treat, 4 cups water
- Snack 2:
3 cups gatorade

Exercise/activities:
- two walks early. (one with each dog)

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: extreme heat intolerance, dizziness, nausea, heartburn, pounding headache, arrhythmia, cold extremities (how?)

Misc:
- started taking midodrine

A friend of mine gave me this quote today...pretty appropriate considering how I'm feeling:
The spirit of a man sustaineth his infirmities, but a broken spirit who can bear?

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