Mayo Clinic Day 2

Day 2 was definitely not as long as Day 1! I woke up a few times last night and looked at my pulse-ox monitor and my heart rate got up to 107 just from sleeping. I guess when your heart rate is over 100bpm that will wake you up. My first test this morning, at 8am, was my echocardiogram. The technician did a sonogram of my heart to look for anatomical abnormalities, which took 45 minutes to do the actual test and 30 minutes for the doctor to evaluate the scans. The technician who did my echo had a lot of the same symptoms as me. When she walked in she said that when she read my records she thought she was reading her own, and said that lifestyle change is the best cure.

After my echo, I went for my autonomic test. I tried to get a picture on the tilt table, but the technician wouldn’t let me (apparently it’s copyright infringement to take pictures of the equipment…who knew). The moment I got in the room the technicians had me take my shoes off, pull my pants up over my knee, and attach a heart monitor. The first test they did was attaching electrodes to my left leg to test for my sweat response. Syringes were attached to the electrodes with acetylcholine. The acetylcholine was applied to my skin to see if those areas of my body will sweat. After the acetylcholine was applied the electrodes were turned on. The technician said it would feel like your leg fell asleep, if his leg feels like that when it falls asleep he should get that checked out. The electrodes were not pleasant and stung. The electrodes were on for 5 minutes, but the painful stinging continued after the electrodes were turned off. The next part of the test they had me breathe in and out slowly to see how my heart rate was affected. The next breathing exercise I had to do was blow air out as hard as I could and continue for 15 seconds. It is harder than you think, especially when you have POTS. After the breathing tests, I had to do the tilt table test. They tied me down to the table, and they took vitals with me lying down. Then they lifted the table and left me like that for 10 minutes, and every 2 minutes or so they took vitals. I was expecting them to constantly change the position of the table, but I guess if they did that I would have passed out.

After the autonomic testing I had blood work to check my thyroid levels, to see if I have Hashimoto’s disease (just another disorder to add to my lengthy list). A few weeks ago, my antibody levels were high, so they wanted to recheck them, and see if the antibody levels have gone down. The next appointment my mom and I went to was to get my blood pressure monitor and heart monitor. I currently have a heart monitor on, and a blood pressure cuff around my arm that goes off every 10 minutes, which is very irritating. When the blood pressure cuff goes off I can’t talk or move, and I have to make sure my arm is relaxed. When my mom and I were walking to the elevator my cuff started to take my BP and I stopped in the middle of the hall, my mom did not realize I stopped and kept going. These monitors are on till 1pm tomorrow afternoon. At least tonight the timing changes to every 20 minutes. Sleeping will definitely be enjoyable tonight with a blue cuff constantly constricting my arm every 20 minutes.

I was supposed to have a hormone test today, but I didn’t read the directions so I ate an hour before, and you’re not supposed to eat for four hours prior to the test. I really need to start reading the directions. When we got back, I slept for two hours; between yesterday, not sleeping well last night, and today I needed a long nap. Tomorrow we have some classes to learn more about POTS and how to manage living with POTS and I will update you tomorrow night about all the new information I learn!

P.S my BP cuff is currently going off J