“They say that words can be impactful, change one’s view of things, and help you to see in a way that maybe you haven’t before. Therefore it is so important that I get this right even knowing words will never suffice.
However, I am writing down my experience to not only tell you that Dr. Driscoll has literally saved my life, but that you can feel better too and you have to be your own advocate to do so sometimes. DO NOT stop believing you can get well. I promise, you can.
I saw Dr. Driscoll and her amazing team at POTS Care only a month ago after suffering terribly for 4 1/2 very long years. I believed I had POTS (I had done enough research to know it was at least a possibility), yet I had also gone the way most of us do initially – to the doctors we know and hope to trust. Unfortunately, with this condition, most of the doctors simply don’t understand that one person could actually suffer from so much and daily. Additionally, you are shuffled from one specialist to another and they often are not communicating between each other about their findings. They check their box and send you yet again… on your way.
I spent thousands and thousands of dollars to try to get well. I was put through a blood patch procedure in my spine because my doctor “thought” I had a CSF leak. No real evidence of one, he just “ thought” so. I had seen every doctor in my town and doctors at UCLA and Cedars Sinai. Cardiologists, neurologists, ophthalmologists, ENT, nephrologists, GP’s, rheumatologists, and more. Not one of them was able to help me at all. I was prescribed many beta blockers and other drugs that in the end made me much worse. Hence? I even developed a fear of taking medication.
That was 4 1/2 years ago and as I mentioned, I do in fact have that condition in conjunction with Inflammatory POTS. My life was literally taken away from me as I knew it and it could have been helped and saved that day. I was terribly ill chasing about 100 symptoms daily. I had read about Dr. Driscoll for years and there was something special about her. Something pulled me to her. A connection, understanding, warmth. I couldn’t nail it at the time but they ALL turned out to be true once I met her. As I mentioned earlier, I had hoped my doctors would help so I waited 2 1/2 years to reach out to her. I IMPLORE you not to do that. These are days you will never get back.
One day I took the leap because I couldn’t live my life the way it was anymore and knew I no longer had anything to lose. I am so blessed and grateful that I did!
Dr. Driscoll and her team work so carefully together for YOU on YOUR case and do not shuffle any tiny piece aside. They put every symptom you have ever had, examine clearly your MRI’s, CT’s, blood work, eye exams, and put it all together in a way any one of your doctors can’t and probably will never do. Not because they don’t want to or don’t care – It is because they don’t understand the entirety of the disease and how it can be helped.
I would be remiss if I did not mention Sarah. She is a huge part of my success, extraordinary at what she does, and is always there for me during this time of recovery. Together they are literally changing people’s lives and hopefully one day, having done so enough times that the knowledge of IIH and POTS has made its way to every doctor’s office in the country, possibly the world. We as the patients who are suffering so much deserve that.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart Dr. Driscoll and the team at POTS Care! You will forever be in my debt. “
