Blood carries oxygen around our bodies. When blood gets "stuck" places, other areas of our body stop getting enough oxygen.
One of the reasons we faint is because not enough oxygen makes it to our heads.
A few more pictures of blood pooling:
POTS is caused by blood not moving around my body properly. It gets "stuck" in places (like my feet, legs, and hands) because my blood vessels don't constrict properly. Blood carries oxygen around our bodies. When blood gets "stuck" places, other areas of our body stop getting enough oxygen. One of the reasons we faint is because not enough oxygen makes it to our heads. Sometimes my hands do this when I have them by my side. The picture isn't the greatest, but if you can see - my hand has red and white blotches, and is slightly swollen. I took a video of how gravity affects blood pooling. For a clearer video, click on Settings (the small gear icon on the bottom right) after hitting play. Then change the quality to HD. You'll notice my head goes from pink and blotchy with my blood vessels sticking out slightly, to pale with no blood vessels sticking out. I take pictures of my hands and feet to help show doctors what happens throughout the day, as it doesn't always occur while I'm at an appointment. It can also help friends and family better understand what POTS is.
A few more pictures of blood pooling:
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This past month I've met some awesome people online. People who have POTS but have spent years training their bodies to exercise, jog, and even run marathons! How is that possible? As long as a person with POTS is walking or running, the contractions of leg muscles can help force blood back up. However as soon as that person stands still, they can pass out. How bizarre is that? People I've talked to say it can take years of very slow hard work. It also isn't possible for everyone with POTS, but I am determined that it will be possible for me. Meet Cathi. Cathi has POTS. She runs 5k races while pushing a wheelchair, in case she feels too dizzy part-way through. Talk about inspiring! Meet Caroline. Caroline has POTS but has managed to run half marathons! She still deals with dizziness, fainting, and all the other fun symptoms associated with POTS, but she has learned to adapt to living with POTS. Caroline developed POTS 11 years ago, and it wasn't until she had POTS for 7 years that she was able to start running again. She has an awesome blog called www.thelittlethingsblog.com . One day I will be the POTS patient who runs marathons, JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE! I've had a few friends ask me if I could be more open with how I'm feeling day-to-day, to help others better understand my illness. Sometimes I forget that people don't just automatically know how I'm feeling. While I think there's a fine line between complaining and being open, I am trying to communicate a bit better. Having Gastroparesis means I'm often woken up in the middle of the night with stomach pain and nausea. This is because the food I ate the day before didn't digest properly, and is still sitting inside my stomach. Food can only stay in your stomach before your stomach gets angry... Last night I woke up with nasty stomach pains and nausea. I find the best thing to do is to take Gravol and then sit up for a few hours (to help gravity pull the food down). So last night, after several hours of sitting up, I started feeling a bit better and was able to fall back asleep until noon. This is usually a weekly occurrence for me. It makes me thankful I have the ability to catch up on sleep when I start to feel better, and don't have to go in to work or school. Lack of sleep is a huge trigger for Gastroparesis so if I don't catch up on the sleep I missed, it perpetuates the cycle. And of course, I can always count on Archie to make me feel better by sitting on my face.... I had a day surgery last week to remove a 5.5 cm dermoid cyst from my ovary. I was very nervous going into it because of my POTS and Gastroparesis. Here are some helpful things I learned through my experience. Painkillers at Home Many people with Gastroparesis are fine with pain killers, but for some reason I can't take any painkillers without getting an upset stomach. Suggestions:
IV Saline If you have POTS, it's a huge help to be receiving saline through an IV. Suggestions:
Keep it simple Many people haven't heard of POTS, and gastroparesis also isn't always well known. Suggestions:
Take your time and sit up very slowly in bed after I can't remember how long it took me to go from lying down to sitting up, but I think it was around an hour. Take your time! When I was finally able to sit up all the way, I was able to walk to the bathroom and car on my own. If I'd tried to walk too quickly I don't think I'd have been as successful. Keep your eyes closed when waking up from General Anesthesia I was really dizzy when I woke up. My eyes were very blurry and everything was moving slightly. As long as I kept my eyes closed I didn't get too nauseous. Also, make sure they give you nausea meds like Ondansetron BEFORE you wake up. Make sure you let the anesthesiologist know if you have Acid Reflux, Regurgitation, or Gastroparesis There is a risk that some of your stomach contents could come up and go into your lungs. Therefore the anesthesiologist gave me a medication that would tighten my esophagus during surgery to prevent things from travelling up. Make use of a red allergy bracelet
Allergy bracelet doesn't have to just be allergies. I'm not allergic to Maxeran (Metoproclomide) but the side effects of it make me feel awful. I did NOT want to be experiencing those side effects when waking up from surgery. So the nurse wrote Maxeran on my allergy bracelet. She also wrote "No Oral Meds". It doesn't just have to be allergies. I'm not sure if all hospitals use the same red allergy bracelets. I've also seen yellow bracelets that say FALL RISK which might be helpful in reminding people you can't sit up too fast or you faint. It took me probably over an hour before I could go from lying down to sitting without feeling like I was going to pass out. They just kept raising the bed really slowly. |
AuthorMy name is Lisa and this is my life with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) Categories
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