POTS-itively Fabulous

Medication and Mary Poppins Bags

2010-01-31T18:07:00.000-08:00

After a failed attempt at Wellbutrin that knocked me on my butt, I'm finally moving around a bit more. I was so scared and sick that my amazing mom came down to assist my amazing husband in getting me well and stayed for 3 days. She also cleaned my entire house and tackled my mountain of laundry. So thankful for her.

Med Fun:

So far, I've found out that Acebutolol will slow down my marathon heart rate, but will also lower my blood pressure to the point where I can't lift my head. Cool party trick.

I've learned that too much Florinef will give me the headache from hell and raise my blood pressure sky high, but just a bit is a miracle worker.

My blood pressure crashed after taking Midodrine, and the head scratching made me look like a crack addict.

I've moved on to Zoloft (a pediatric amount), and so far no craziness, chest pain, or faster than normal heart rate (PLEASE DON'T LET WRITING THIS JINX THIS!!!).

Also Potassium supplements, ThermoTabs, and salt, salt and more salt. I have a salt shaker in my purse at all times. I would definitely win at any of those parties where you play the "What random things are in your purse" game.

Where do I put all of this medication?

My Mary Poppins Medicine Bag

Remember in the movie when Mary Poppins took a lamp and a full-length mirror out of her purse. It's exactly like that, but filled with never-ending meds and a blood pressure machine.

Other amazing things:
Curly fries from Jack in the Box
Salt from the Great Salt Lake
Grape Pedialyte
Lemon Lime G2
#1 Husband
90 second whole wheat rice
DVR
Cuddly dogs
Snuggies
Carla Bruni and Kings of Convenience

Look Out - I'm Wheeling Around!

2010-01-16T18:14:00.000-08:00

Today was the 1st day in a week that I've left the house for anything unrelated to doctors and hospitals. My husband and I made it to Target, where we ran in for 15 minutes and then head back home, where I proceeded to be completely exhausted.

Proof I left the house:

I thought I was doing pretty well in the cart until I ran into one of the isles and took the bumper (?) off the bottom. Luckily husband saved the day and fixed it before anyone saw.

What's the etiquette for returning the cart - do you have to bring it back inside, or can you leave it in the parking lot like any other cart? And if you have to take it back inside, doesn't that defeat the purpose that you can't walk, therefore can't walk back to the car after dropping it off? These my friends, are the amazing things I'm learning each day.

After going 4 months without caffeine, I also gave into having a sweet tea, which I think resulted in my total downfall. I guess sugar + caffeine is not welcome in my body anymore. Not the best idea I've ever had.

Also, last night I had a conference call where I completely (TMI?) sweat through my clothes. It's not hot inside. I proceeded to jump in a cool bath where I started to freeze, hopped out crawled out, and got hiccups. Then I got hives. What's the deal, nervous system? Why do you always want to be on the outs? Let's make peace for a while.

Wheels of Glory

2010-01-11T23:32:00.000-08:00

How many of you are in wheelchairs? There are definitely times where I could benefit, but for now I'm more comfortable being home than in a wheelchair. And I think I've figured out my problem: I haven't seen any amazing wheelchairs. And so I've decided that if the time comes and I decide it might be easier to get around on a 4-wheeler, I want one of these:

Did you ever see the movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks? You know how they're flying through the air and everything turns psychedelic looking (or maybe if you're prone to sensory issues this part made you throw up and you never watched it because you'd rather stare at the ground than watch swirling colors and want to puke on yourself)?

Anyway, this would be a good first choice.

Do these go up escalators?

The redneck option

Ground effects!

A future parking spot

When you're rollin' in the club.

The great part is all of these come with some amazing accessories like matching gloves, custom cushions, and streamers. Ok, I haven't seen any with streamers yet, or rhinestones, but I'm sure they exist. And I will find these. Oh yes. I will find these.

Pass Out in Style

2010-01-10T22:07:00.000-08:00

Scenario: You're at the mall (Hurray! You've finally gotten out of bed!). All of a sudden, POTS comes up and wham, you're on the floor. You don't want people rifling through your Louis Vuitton bag trying to find your pills, so you have a badass medical bracelet with your meds and condition engraved. GENIUS!!

In a sorority and need an extra charm? This will fit fantastically on your Tiffany bracelet.

Manly? Pull off that mysterious "I have an illness but also a nice watch" look.

For those times when you really want to faint at a fancy dinner party!

This is for me in brain fog

And an assortment of bracelet choices. I like this one best:

Just for humor's sake. You never know what people wearing happy face accessories are really capable of...

These babies are all at http://www.stickyj.com/medical-emergency.html. If you see anything with rhinestones, please feel free to send them my way. Do you have any recommendations for fun medical bracelets?

Other resources:

The Tortoise and the Hair

2010-01-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

This is me today:

Except that I started Midodrine, so I couldn't be the turtle. I just felt like the turtle. So I spent most of my day trying to sit like this:

And scratching my head like a crack addict. I wish I could say that my hair was perfectly coiffed, but I look like one of those celebrities in US Weekly under the "Celebrities: They're Just Like Us: See, They Look Awful!"

Get Excited To Take Your Pills

2010-01-07T20:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm pretty sure this is for dogs, but how amazing is this. It's a BONE. And a PILL ORGANIZER. And it has POLKA DOTS. Probably not the best idea if you have a dog who might think this looks delicious, but you will never mix this up with your grandma.

This is pink. That's enough for me.

A personalized bling pill organizer case. Perfect for nondescript awesomeness.

This was made out of pill boxes, but it's a cute idea for someone crafty.

Sleek! You could probably engrave your name on the back, in case you're lost in brain fog and forget your name and your pills.

POTS-itively Fabulous

2010-01-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

I decided to start this blog as a resource to my fellow Potsies (not Potheads) who may be unable to stand upright, but who still stand up for looking good and being fabulous.

According to Wikipedia, the most relevant and medically-correct website out there, POTS is: a condition of dysautonomia,^[1] more specifically orthostatic intolerance, in which a change from the supine position to an upright position causes an abnormally large increase in heart rate, called tachycardia. This is often, but not always, accompanied by a fall in blood pressure.

My story (in short):

I've probably been dealing with POTS for years. After going to dozens of doctors for dizziness, dehydration, rapid heart rate, heat intolerance and near-fainting, I was ruled out as having anxiety and not drinking enough water. And who knows, maybe having some type of infection. Let's try some antibiotics! I can't tell you how many bottles of unused antibiotics I have in my medicine cabinet. So anyway, I was crazy and thirsty. And klutzy. It took me until a virus knocked me out and caused multiple hospital visits, hundreds of dollars and a ton of doctors to finally start researching what was wrong. I was missing work and not able to get off of my couch. I'm used to being pretty social and active, so the couch was not exactly where I wanted to be. Plus I have a dog who really likes to run, and I couldn't even make it down my stairs. I was worthless. Anyway, I somehow found an amazing person with identical symptoms. After going to a diagnostician and an A+ cardiologist, I finally got the diagnosis: POTS. More on this in another post (I need things to post about), but here I am, still on the couch but with a mission to get better, walk my dog, be with my husband and do it in style. As much style as possible.