I'm an official POTSY!

They were BRILLIANT. I didn't have to do the tilt test as I stood up for 2 minutes after laying for 20, my heart rate climbed to 142, they told me I could sit back down as I'd already "passed" the criteria for POTS and so there was no need to go on the table. I was diagnosed in an hour and a half. (I did other tests, standing and sitting with my arms folded 5 times, some cognitive tests joining numbers dot to dot, then numbers to letters, squeezing a device every 10 seconds as hard as I could and a valsalva- that got my heart racing and I could NOT get it up to 40 whatever on the machine, let alone keep it there! [I just about kept it at 20]).

Everyone was so nice and friendly- I bought some creme eggs (mini ones in a packet) from a vending machine after and they got stuck, a lovely young nurse came out and bought some herself, just to get mine to dislodge! I've never been to a city where people are so genuinely friendly and helpful- everyone we encountered was like it, from buying a dress (I must be the only POTSY who goes shopping post tests, but really it was only because it was so bright I NEEDED sunglasses, so we called in a shopping centre, and I passed this gorgeous dress in the window and thought it suitable for my cousins baby's christening hehe)and asking the shop assistant for directions to people I 'met' in the hospital when using my phone to text/get online (a woman in a wheelchair who was being friendly and making sure her hubs didn't wheel it over my toes lol).

We walked down to the quayside and had a lovely lunch, then we found a settee tucked away round a corner in the place and I had a little snooze as I felt so exhausted. Then we walked back to the train station, sitting on a bench by the river on the way to while away more time.

I'm so glad to finally be diagnosed! I've KNOWN since I was 19 that there was 'something wrong'. Finally, at 27, I've had it confirmed what it was. And it's all thanks to two people on the butyoudon'tlooksick facebook group, who told me about POTS when I posted a vent about being frustrated with my overactive bladder and constant thirst. Were it not for them, I'd have never even heard of POTS and I'd still be in the dark.

I even hugged the Dr and the nurse when I left. It was just so nice to be treated like a HUMAN BEING instead of a patient, and on top of that, to be BELIEVED and taken seriously!

I need to get myself into bed and to sleep now though before my eyes can't stay open a moment longer!!!