Productive Morning

Was up and out early this morning and I'm so glad that (so far at least) my stomach seems to be feeling better for the first time in over a week. Went on a nature walk and did the grocery shopping all before 10 am! I also managed to get the laundry done and the house cleaned.
Now, I'm drained but it feels good to have been productive.

Amount of sleep: about six hours

Diet:
- Breakfast: 2 eggo waffles, 1 hawaiian delight fruit puree, 2 cups water
- Lunch: fresh veggie pizza, 2.5 cups water
- Dinner: mac and cheese with a chicken drumstick, 4 cups water
- Snack 1: handful m&ms
- Snack 2:

Exercise/activities:
- got up early and took a walk in the park
- large grocery shop
- small amount of gardening
- laundry
- house cleaning

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: difficulty breathing, arrhythmia, cold extremities, aches, tingling/numbness

Misc:
-

back to logging...

I'm working my way back into daily logging; and, because I've had the stomach flu for over a week, I'm also working my way back to eating.

Amount of sleep: about seven hours

Diet:
- Breakfast: 2 slices cinnamon bread, half granny smith apple, 1.5 cups water
- Lunch: slice of pepperoni pizza, 2.5 cups lime fizz (kindly made by my sister)
- Dinner: fresh veggie and ranch pizza
- Snack 1:
- Snack 2:

Exercise/activities:
- got up early and took a walk in the park

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: headache, upset stomach (lower), difficulty breathing, arrhythmia, cold extremities, aches

Misc:
-

Saturday at Bat

Amount of sleep: six hours or so, I'll take it.

Diet:
- Breakfast: pastry, 3 cups water
- Lunch: I honestly can't remember....
- Dinner: steak and roasted potatoes, lime fizz, 1 cup water
- Snack 1: rice cakes, 1.5 cups dr. pepper
- Snack 2:

Exercise/activities:
-

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: chest pain, arrhythmia, exhaustion, nausea

Misc:
white spots are back :(

TDIF

Overall, today was an okay day.
I got out of the house to cruise around my hometown for a scavenger hunt...
(God I love my hometown.)
Which was a nice change of pace.

Emotionally, not a great day...but I'm not in the mood to talk about it.
Hopefully, it's just the change in the weather (big storm moving in).

Amount of sleep: four or five hours

Diet:
- Breakfast: pastry, 3 cups water
- Lunch: pasta salad with olives and italian dressing
- Dinner: grilled hamburger and roasted potatoes
- Snack 1:
- Snack 2:

Exercise/activities:
- cleaned the entire house
- searched for photos for the scavenger hunt!

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: headache, chills, sweats, cold extremities, anxiety, nausea, arrhythmia

Misc:
white spots are back :(

Pictures from our garden:

Sticky Thursday

Ugh today is miserable out; not exceedingly hot but muggy as all get out.
I took the dogs out for a walk this morning, and by the time I got home my heart was pounding and I couldn't breathe. (From heat intolerance I have no doubt.)
So, at the moment, I'm hiding out in the a/c...which is fine because I've been sick all morning.

Amount of sleep: nowhere near enough. Maybe five hours? Horrible nightmares though. Waking up screaming and crying does not make for a good night's sleep :(

BP a.m.:
standing: 75/41 HR: 129
laying down: 78/55 HR 51 arrhythmia

Diet:
- Breakfast: Ensure
- Snack 1: pretzels, 4 cups water
- Snack 2: rice cakes, 2 cups dr. pepper, 3 cups water
Just horrible today. I really need to get past the stress and work harder at this.

Exercise/activities:
- took each of the dogs for a walk

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: nausea, cold extremities, stomach upset (lower), heart pounding, migraine, sweats, visual disturbances, extreme heat intolerance, fatigue, insomnia, mood swings, difficulty breathing.

Misc: I'm having that pain in my side again from my surgery. :(

More Misc:
Here are a smattering of my recent BPs. I was dumb and didn't put them in my blog as soon as I recorded them, and I didn't write down the dates I took them...so I'm not entirely sure what days they go with. (Like I said: dumb.) But they are important to know so here they are:

84/64 HR: 82 arrhythmia
81/57 HR: 52
84/50 HR: 105
100/68 HR: 57
94/91 HR: 61

104/61 HR: 76 arrhythmia
84/41 HR: 57 arr.
93/53 HR: 73
72/48 HR: 123
83/58 HR: 142

82/34 HR: 49
80/34 HR:47
99/67 HR: 76
77/40 HR:51

When they're all listed like that, it gives a pretty clear picture of what my body goes through every day. Heart rates ranging from 47 to three times that? Holy crap. No wonder I feel so awful.

Hot and Sultry Wednesday

Horrible diet day.
What I need is to go to the store and buy some actual food to have in the house
(we have none)
But I don't have the funds to do that; so I'll have to make do with what we have for now.

Amount of sleep: five hours max. Punctuated by thunderstorms and bad dreams.

BP morning:
(will update later...I really am taking them)

Diet:
- Breakfast: 6 rice cakes. I love them. 2.5 cups water
- Lunch: three slices bread, 1 cup dr. pepper
- Dinner: pasta salad, 1 cup dr. pepper, 3 cups water
- Snack 1: handful pretzels
- Snack 2: handful m&ms

Exercise/activities:
-

BP p.m.:
standing: 83/57 HR: 97
laying down: 86/35 HR:54
symptom: 77/34 HR: 57

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: nausea, cold extremities, chills, sweats, heart pounding, walking difficulties, memory loss, brain fog

Misc:

It's Tuesday; whatever.

Want to do: head back to bed and never get up

Will do: I'll find something
***
Okay, so I did end up doing something with my day. I tried to vacuum out the pool. It's hard work, and it was very hot today (tomorrow even hotter) so I didn't get to finish it, but I tried.

Later on, I went to boyfriend's to get some time and space away from the stress at home.
It was well worth it.

Amount of sleep: five hours maybe?

BP morning:

Diet:
- Breakfast: 2 cups fruit preserves, 2 cups water
- Lunch: pasta salad 1.5 cups ginger ale
- Dinner: hamburger and pasta, 1.5 cups homemade lime fizz! (heaven)
- Snack 1: handful m&ms, 2.5 cups water
- Snack 2:

Exercise/activities:
- vacuumed some of the pool

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: nausea, cold extremities, chills, sweats, light headed, heart pounding

Misc:
-

Sad Monday

Sad news today...Great Grammy died this morning.
***

Amount of sleep: about six hours

BP morning:
laying: 94/71 HR: 61
standing: 84/50 HR: 105 arrhythmia

Diet:
- Breakfast: nutella on bread, 2.5 cups water
- Lunch: chicken nuggets and fries from McD's (I forgot how gross their nuggets are...won't be having those again)
- Dinner: pasta salad
- Snack 1:
- Snack 2:

Exercise/activities:
-

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: nausea, exhaustion, cold extremities, chills, sweats, light headed, heart pounding

Misc:
-

Up-in-the-air Sunday

A nice day here...was sick a bit, but overall it was decent.
Still waiting on some news.
Now, however, I'm beyond exhausted.

Amount of sleep: about six hours

BP morning:
laying: 84/47 HR: 59
standing: 76/61 HR: 108

Diet:
- Breakfast: nutella on bread, 2.5 cups water
- Lunch: n/a sick again out of nowhere :(
- Dinner: hamburger (and roll), baked potato (cheese, sour cream, bacon bits), applesauce, browie, 1.5 cups dr. pepper
- Snack 1: half an iced mocha
- Snack 2:

Exercise/activities:
-

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: nausea, exhaustion, headache/migraine, cold extremities, chills, sweats, arrhythmia, heart pounding

BP evening:
laying: 81/57 HR: 52
standing: 84/64 HR: 82 arrhythmia

Misc:
-

Saturday

All that's left of our garden :(

Amount of sleep: few hours

Diet:
- Breakfast: nutella on bread, 2.5 cups water
- Lunch: n/a too sick.
- Dinner: salmon, pasta, lime fizz.
- Snack 1: half an iced mocha (what's making me sick now)
- Snack 2: 2 cups water

Exercise/activities:
- nothing really. so exhausted from overdoing it yesterday

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: nausea, exhaustion, headache/migraine, cold extremities, chills, sweats

Misc:
-

It's My Birthday Damnit!

You guessed it, today's my birthday. I'm turning the big 2-4.
The weather is perfect (65-70, sunny, not a cloud in the sky, light breeze...heaven)
I've gone on two walks already today and it's not even noon!
Still not feeling great,and I shouldn't push myself; but screw it, I'm going to.

Amount of sleep: sadly, not much :(

Diet:
- Breakfast: brownie, 2.5 cups water
- Lunch: potato pancakes, cheese, sour cream, bacon bits, 1 cup dr. pepper, 1 cup water
- Dinner: (going to be) pepperjack stuffed burgers, salt potatoes, dr. pepper
- Snack 1:
- Snack 2:

Exercise/activities:
- took both dogs out for a walk
- short walk through the nature trail
- watering the garden (which is hard work, believe me)

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: heart pounding, light headed, difficulty breathing, weakness, exhaustion, migraine again

Misc:
-

Some pictures:

Crash Thursday

Physically feeling just awful today.
I can't keep my eyes open, my heart physically hurts and is beating funny, and I can barely stand.
I haven't been able to get off the couch.
:(

Amount of sleep: not much

Diet:
- Breakfast: fruit puree, 1 cup water
- Lunch: mac and cheese, 2 cups water
- Dinner: potato pancakes with sour cream, shredded cheese, bacon bits, 2 cups water
- Snack 1: small brownie
- Snack 2:

90/60 HR:71 arrhythmia
81/54 HR:69 Arr.
78/51 HR: 70 Arr.

Exercise/activities:
- house cleaning (thanks to a late-day burst of energy)

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: shakes, head tingle, difficulty breathing, weakness, exhaustion, migraine again

Misc:
-

Breezy Wednesday

It is a beautiful (though windy) day in my neighborhood. Sunny, 75 and breezy.
In my opinion, near perfect.
(little less wind and it would be perfect)

Physically, I'm feeling pretty awful today because of the huge weather change...
But, I can breathe outdoors; and tonight we're going to grill beef kabobs on our brand new grill, and maybe make homemade lime fizz (my favorite!) so I will take the physical suckiness to have a much more beautiful, and enjoyable, day than yesterday.
***

Amount of sleep: Maybe six hours?
HORRIBLE nightmares. I sure hope that's not a side effect.

BPs a.m.:
Laying down: 83/48 59
77/46 81
Standing: 87/63 94

Diet:
- Breakfast: two swiss cake rolls, 2.5 cups water. (it's the only thing I wanted!)
- Lunch: garlic bread, 3 cups water
- Dinner: beef kabob with onions and peppers, oven roasted potatoes, 1 cup ginger ale.
no lime fizz- I felt way too sick for that unfortunately. :(
- Snack 1:
- Snack 2:

Exercise/activities:
- had the best of intentions to walk, but instead I cleaned the backyard and the pool

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: shakes, head tingle, difficulty breathing, weakness, exhaustion, migraine so bad my head's going to explode :(

Misc:
-

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?

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day.

Amount of sleep: maybe six hours? weird nightmares

Diet:
- Breakfast: nutella on bread, 2.5 cups water
- Dinner: hamburger, fresh corn, pasta salad with green olives and italian dressing, small glass ginger ale.
- Snack 1: slice of garlic bread, 2 cups dr. pepper
- Snack 2: rice krispies treat, 4 cups water

Exercise/activities:
- 7 straight hours of gardening.

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: pounding heart, headache, cold extremities, heat intolerance, nausea, chest pain

Misc:
-

Sizzling Sunday

This morning it is already a toasty 80 degrees- I almost passed out just getting the paper...later and tomorrow are supposed to be even hotter. ugh.
(Don't get me wrong, I like it sunny and warm...but I would like to be able to enjoy it)
*****
Some days, it's really getting to be too much to deal with my mom.
First, she gets on my case about not starting my new meds yet. What part of "I can't afford to get them just yet" doesn't she get?
I also haven't started them because I don't know how it'll make me feel, so I want to hold off until the weekends over and there isn't so much pressure on me to do things.

Second, she just doesn't get how I don't feel well and how bone-deep it goes.
Today, we had to do a full-day gardening marathon in the heat and humidity.
Now, I ache in a way that means I won't recover for days.
On the plus side, we bought a new grill. Just in time for summer- perfect!

Amount of sleep: about eight hours...still exhausted. (will I ever feel well rested?)

BP a.m.:
standing: 74/60 HR: 121
laying down: 83/45 HR: 62

Diet:
- Breakfast: nutella on bread, 2 cups water
- Lunch: none...too busy gardening. I have to get better at this.
- Dinner: bakes chicken, onions, green beans, mushrooms and applesauce. 1 cup dr. pepper
- Snack 1: 3 cups water
- Snack 2:

Exercise/activities:
- 7 straight hours of gardening.

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: pounding heart, headache, difficulty breathing, arrhythmia, cold extremities, heat intolerance, nausea, shakes

Misc:
-

Striking Saturday (pun intended)

Gorgeous miniature lilac bush that my mom bought. Smells heavenly but has teeny, tiny white flowers.

Plus, I get such a kick out of Sassy being a creeper.

Although it started with rain, today actually turned out to be a nice day here.

I wasn't feeling well all morning, and my mom decided she had the urge to go bowling *immediately* and wasn't taking 'I don't feel well' for an answer.
So...off we went.
To be honest, I like to bowl, I just wasn't in the mood for it.
(Who would be with their heart beating out of their chest and crazy nausea?)
For not having bowled in over a year, I didn't do too badly. My last two games were over 100 and (out of the three of us) I won the last round.

Afterward, I had a celebratory mocha frappaccino.
(Which will make me sick tomorrow, but was worth it for today.)

It was a decent way to spend the afternoon and it felt good to do something *normal* people get to do anytime they please.
Although now I'm in serious pain and neck deep in exhaustion.

Amount of sleep: seven hours ish but not very restful. looking forward to going back to bed.

Diet:
- Breakfast: nutella on bread, 2 cups water
- Lunch: n/a was out bowling
- Dinner: homemade veggie pizza (a recipe from a postcrosser!) I made mine with mushrooms, onions and (red and yellow) peppers- and I don't even like peppers!
- Snack 1: small mocha frappaccino
- Snack 2:

Exercise/activities:
-bowling

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: pounding heart, headache, upset stomach (lower), arrhythmia, cold extremities, heat intolerance, aches, dizziness

Misc:
-

"I'm a Success" Friday

As is the norm lately...it's raining again.

But, I dragged my butt out of bed to get things done.
Went and brought back our roto-tiller, dropped something important off to my sister, picked up my new additional meds, got the part for our pool heater and fixed it.
(All by myself thank you very much!)

When I got home...I had this lovely surprise waiting for me!
(addresses covered up obviously)
Plus my boyfriend brought me surprises before he left.
(He's going to be away for the weekend)
One bunch of flowers and a candy bar for each day that he'll be gone :)

While I'm still feeling just crappy: still wanting to cry all of the time and just hating myself...I can't help feeling a little bit loved

Amount of sleep: about six hours.

BP a.m.: (yeah I remembered!)
laying down: 71/47 HR: 63
standing: 66/51 HR: 101

Diet:
- Breakfast: nutella on bread, 2.5 cups water
- Lunch: n/a...was home too late and didn't want to spoil my dinner
- Dinner: potato pancakes with cheese, sour cream, and "bacon" bits. 2 cups dr. pepper
- Snack 1: kit kat bar
- Snack 2:

Exercise/activities:
- ran errands
- fixed the pool heater (go me!)

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: pounding heart, headache, difficulty breathing, arrhythmia, cold extremities, aches, chest tightness, nausea

BP p.m.:
laying down: 82/43 HR: 50
standing: 85/52 HR: 82

Misc:

Covert Ops Thursday

Somehow, I am absolutely exhausted today...probably because of the weather.
Yesterday was gorgeous and sunny all day, then storming overnight, and now it's back to nice out...but, you guessed it, later it will be storming again.
This time, the rain will continue for a few days into the weekend.

My sister and I ran a few errands, and then went into covert ops mode and drove out to my boyfriend's house to mulch our (his and my) garden while he and his roommate are at work.
I wonder how long it will take them to notice...
If they even notice (lol)

Amount of sleep: about eight hours...yet, somehow, I'm still exhausted.

Diet:
- Breakfast: Luna protein bar, 2.5 cups water
- Lunch: n/a...was home too late and didn't want to spoil my dinner
- Dinner:
- Snack 1: couple of chips with home made mexican dip, 4 cups gatorade
- Snack 2:

Exercise/activities:
-ran errands

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: pounding heart, headache, upset stomach (lower), difficulty breathing, arrhythmia, cold extremities, heat intolerance, aches

Misc:
-

Weds.

Horrible depression today...lingering, no doubt, from yesterday.

It was beautiful all day, yet I couldn't enjoy it because I was so miserable.

There was one small blessing: My boyfriend and I finally got to plant our garden.
We're having horrible thunderstorms now though, so I'm praying that our garden doesn't get ruined and that our plants don't get washed away.

Amount of sleep: 5-6 hours. not great.

Diet:
- Breakfast: n/a
- Lunch: potato pancakes with cheese, sour cream and salt, 2.5 cups water
- Dinner: small amount of mac and cheese
- Snack 1:kit kat, 2.5 cups water
- Snack 2: 3 cups water

Exercise/activities:
-took both dogs on a walk

P.O.T.S. symptoms experienced:
so far: pounding heart, headache, nausea, aches,chest pain, difficulty breathing, arrhythmia, cold extremities, heat intolerance

Misc:
- ob still. ugh.