A New Year of Hope for Me!
Some of you may know that I’ve been very ill since June, so I thought I’d give an update. I have been house bound and mostly unable to go from laying down to standing (at times even sitting) without everything going wrong internally. It’s been a tough symptom to deal with on a daily basis. 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 a 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 at an appointment, but since they consider it rare, not fully understood, and believed to have no cure, they decided to test for everything but that. And since this wasn’t my first rodeo with racking up medical expense where no answers were found, I didn’t want to insist on this test.
A couple weeks later, when I was resting on my bed, I heard God tell me that some of what I’m dealing with is in fact POTS, Postural Orthostatic 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 10 years with this invisible and often 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 wheel chair since — but is back to working full time at the clinic she opened to treat others suffering with similar illnesses!
At the POTS Care Clinic they are successful in identifying & treating people that suffer with symptoms of dysautonomia and POTS at her clinic. (also CFS, EDS & Hypermobitity, ME, RA, Autoimmune disorders & chronic Lyme disease to name a few) POTS symptoms come from the misfiring of the Autonomic nervous system. 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 am very hopeful for this journey back to health. They have uncovered several underlying conditions that are contributing to my POTS symptoms & Dysautonomia. I am following the individualized treatment plan they laid out for me and am hopeful to be able to make a full recovery. I look forward to being able to shower & get ready for the day without issue, stand in the kitchen and cook, clean my home, drive, meet with friends again, walk through the grocery store and have the normal, or maybe new & 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 & 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 & POTS Care for uncovering my illness and providing me with an accurately diagnosis. 🎁 When I’m totally back to health there’s going to be some seriously sweet celebrating going on at the Gaupp house!! 🎉
