Mayo Clinic Day 1

Day 1 of my Mayo experience is finally over. I feel like this day would never end. My day started out with being woken up at 6:15 am, and by 7am, waiting in line for blood work. When I walked out of the elevator, I saw this long line of people waiting to register for their blood work, and felt like I was in the airport security line again. Surprisingly, the line went quickly; I was shocked how efficient and quick this hospital is. After waiting about fifteen minutes, a kind, cheery woman took me into the room to take eight vials of blood and administer my urine collection container (gross….). This preliminary blood test was just a basic blood panel checking to make sure my iron levels, electrolytes, body cells, etc… are all normal.

After the blood tests, I went on to my pulmonary and exercise test. After signing in, the pulmonary technician took me in the back to do preliminary breathing tests to see how my lungs are functioning. I sat in a clear box with a machine in it that connects to the technician’s computer. The machine had a mouthpiece attached to the end where I took a deep breathe, and blow as hard as I could into it. I repeated this test about four times. Next, I had to breathe in and out quickly into the mouthpiece. I had to repeat this process four times, which made me lightheaded. After the preliminary breathing tests, I went in to do my exercise test, which was exhausting. They first hooked me up to a heart monitor, which had wireless transmitters sending data to the technician’s computer. Next, they had me sit on a bike and attached a pulse-ox to my temple, a blood pressure cuff, and a mouthpiece; the mouthpiece made me look like Bane. The doctor came in and decided on what level I should start, and since I do exercise regularly the doctor decided to start on 60 watts and increase the resistance by 20watts. I made it to 140 watts, but by then I was extremely lightheaded and had some chest pain. I defiantly pushed myself, and my heart rate got up to 186 beats per minute. It took a while to start feeling better, but it made me feel tired for the rest of the day.

The consolation with Dr. Fleming was very informative. He let me speak and explain all my symptoms along with giving his initial thoughts. The consultation started with his nurse and then he came in; the whole appointment took about two and a half hours. An interesting thing he told me was that my brain fog could actually be me sleeping or dozing off. I guess if I want to take a nap in class I can now just blame it on POTS! Since I have insomnia and sometimes I don’t sleep the entire night, my body might be going into stage 1 or 2 sleep during the day causing me to get foggy and forget. He also believes that my past forms of dysautonomia (RSD and gastroparesis) are also connected to the POTS, and I am just predisposed to autonomic dysfunction.

After my long consultation I had an electrocardiogram to check my heart rhythm. I then went to go pick up my pulse-ox monitor for the test I am doing tonight. I have to sleep with a monitor on my finger to see if my heart rate increases while I sleep, which could contribute to the insomnia, and to monitor my oxygen levels. While I sleep, I may actually be high on adrenaline, which would cause my heart rate to spike and wake me up. My body just refuses to function properly. My last test, at 5:45pm, was a brain MRI with contrast. When I was first getting diagnosed with POTS, a small pituitary cyst was found so the doctor ordered an MRI to make sure the cyst has not grown in the past year. Personally, I think the MRI was the worst test. Whenever I go into an MRI I feel like I am in a coffin, so I made the technician put a towel over my eyes and I sang “Shots” by LMFAO in my head to get through it.
 It has been an extremely long day, but it will all be worth it in the end. I have already learned so much more about POTS and possible reasons why my body is not functioning properly. Not many people or doctors know a lot of information about the disorder, but the medical staff at Mayo definitely does!