“I finally have validation for the host of seemingly unrelated symptoms that I deal with. Thanks to Dr. Driscoll and POTS Care for uncovering my illness and providing me with an accurate diagnosis.”
Update (1/2023):
I lived through 33+ years of no answers to physical crashes and symptoms. Then in 2019 one doctor, who was also a medical researcher, tried to help by giving me a cortisone shot to lower inflammation the same way Himera does. That was ALMOST the nail in the coffin, because in my case, it did the opposite! After 5 months completely bedridden, with even worsening results from local specialists, my husband arranged to get me to Dallas to a clinic that specializes in uncovering the conditions of those with unknown invisible illnesses. That’s when I met Dr. Diana Driscoll, the POTs Care Team, and found answers and explanations to what was happening. I’m using the Driscoll Approach for treatment that has been discovered through new studies and scientific research. It revolutionizes the lives of all those living with POTs, giving HOPE of recovery in place of a life-sentence of suffering. 👏 ❤️ 🙌
Even though I know my underlying conditions causing POTs, there is nowhere I can go for help. Not the ER, local doctors or specialists. (I know this is hard to believe. It’s been hard to live.) Besides it being a relatively unknown condition, those who treat it only use the standard approach of salt loading, beta-blockers to lower Heartrate, hydration, compression, and anxiety medication to try to deal with the fall-out from nervous system dysfunction. The standard approach makes me scary worse! Now I understand why: salt increases pressure in my head (intracranial hypertension) and beta blockers, in addition to lowering my Heartrate, they decrease the amount of blood oxygen I get (can’t think, memory issues, breathing issues). And the specialists I’ve seen locally since going to POTs Care are “unimpressed” (their words) with my experience & what I know about myself and what’s proving to bring me improvement. I’m hoping things change asap with the awareness of those getting post-viral POTs after having Covid. Until then, I understand my condition better than they do.
It’s time that the new science reaches the medical communities. 🙏🏽 In the mean time, a little more kindness! Doctors, friends, families… let’s choose to believe, be sympathetic, supportive, and kind towards those on the fringes going through hard-to-believe things. Suffering is isolating, kindness is the gift that counters it. 🎁
(4/2020):
Tami had been extremely ill since June 2019 and was housebound and unable to go from laying down to standing or even sitting without everything going wrong internally!
“A few months ago doctors thought I was having heart trouble because they found I was having tachycardia (racing heart) but since found out my heart is structurally healthy. After months of too many blood tests to count, 2 different doctors, 3 different specialists, 2 emergency room visits, CT scans, ultrasounds, and still, I found no help whatsoever. The doctors were perplexed. I was getting worse and now we were swimming in medical bills. Some doctors even suggested that I may want to consider going to the Mayo Clinic or University Hospital to try to get answers. My GP sent me to a cardiologist to have them test for something called POTS after I presented symptoms. But since they consider it rare, not fully understood, and believed to have no cure, they decided to test for everything but that. Since this wasn’t my first rodeo with racking up medical expenses where no answers were found, I didn’t want to insist on this test.
A couple of weeks later, when I was resting in my bed, I heard God tell me that some of what I’m dealing with is in fact POTS, Postural Tachycardia Syndrome, (which has @200 symptoms). And that’s when something shifted within my spirit and a deeper peace settled over me. The next day, He miraculously led me to Dr. Driscoll and her clinic’s website. She was disabled and suffered for ten years with this invisible and ofter misdiagnosed illness. The amazing thing is that after her children also became ill, her family funded their own medical research to find the underlying conditions that contribute to POTS. They did this after the normal protocol that the MAYO Clinic prescribed wasn’t helping but actually making them worse. They were successful in their research, able to get the treatment they needed and all made a full recovery. She has never needed her wheelchair since-but is working full time at the clinic she opened to treat others suffering from similar illnesses!
At the POTS Care Clinic, they are successful in identifying and treating people that suffer from symptoms of dysautonomia and POTS at her clinic (also CFS, EDS and hypermobility, ME, RA, autoimmune disorders and chronic Lyme disease to name a few). POTS symptoms come from the misfiring of the autonomic nervous symptom. It has been widely believed that there is no cure for it, but Dr. Driscoll and her medical research team have found that not to be the case.
I’m so thankful I was led to their clinic because they are about 15 years ahead of the medical community in understanding and treating POTS. Every case is different but they make it their mission to find the underlying medical conditions that are causing it. I’m at the beginning of my treatment and I am very hopeful for this journey back to health. They have uncovered several underlying conditions that are contributing to my POTS symptoms and dysautonomia. I am following the individualized treatment plan they laid out for me and I am hopeful to be able to make a full recovery. I look forward to being able to shower and get ready for the day, without issues, stand in the kitchen and cook, clean my house, drive, meet with friends again, walk through the grocery store and have the normal, or maybe new and improved, Tami back!
Soon I plan to write more of my story of living undiagnosed for most of my life. I learned so many lessons living life with these unseen limitations that it’s what motivated me to write my first book, Soft Spot in a Stone Wall. The best part of my story is that I felt God’s heart was always toward me, never forgetting about my physical issues. He saw every tear I cried and heard every prayer I prayed the last 35 + years of dealing with this invisible illness. I finally have validation for the host of seemingly unrelated symptoms that I deal with! Thanks to Dr. Driscoll and POTS Care for uncovering my illness and providing me with an accurate diagnosis. When I’m totally back to health there’s going to be some seriously sweet celebrating going on at our house!!!”
