What came first?

I'm not functioning too well at present.
I'm still feeling really fluy and "sick" and very fatigued.

On top of it, I'm having major issues with OI (Orthostatic Intolerance).
I'm wondering if the OI is causing me to feel worse or if the OI is worse because I'm so sick as of late.

What came first, the chicken or the egg - right?

I'm trying to figure out how mainstream an understanding of OI is with clinicians.

There seem to be many conditions where people experience a drop in blood pressure after standing (pregnancy, certain drugs, long periods of bed rest) so it's not unknown.

I saw a GP at my local clinic about black outs and a fainting episode yesterday.

I told him my specialist had told me it was OI at one point. She had done a supine and standing BP quite a few years ago and had seen at least a 30pt drop in systolic BP.

He checked my heart.

Then he had me laying down and took my heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP).

He had me stand up (I was leaning on the table a bit but he didn't say anything) and after 2 min of standing he took my BP and HR again. I was already dizzy but he said my blood pressure hadn't dropped at all. However, my heart rate had gone from 70 to over 120 in just two minutes with the effort of standing.

He speculated it's just my body working hard due to M.E./CFS.

Sue from:
http://livewithcfs.blogspot.com/
sent me some literature from Dr. Rowe at John Hopkins on OI and having read it I realize that this is something called POTS, which is a form of OI. And while the GP said that the over 50pt raise in HR probably wouldn't cause light headedness, the literature said otherwise.

Now I've got to decide what to do.

Canada's medical system is different than some countries. We all have equal access to care, but to see a specialist or to receive testing that is non-emergency you wait - often months.

At the end of the appointment I asked the GP if he'd heard of tilt testing and he looked it up. He said he wouldn't consider it (there is none in this city) unless I went through a bunch of other tests first. I'm often hesitant to do a bunch of testing that takes time and energy only to tell me nothing has been found. Also, from the pamphlet Sue sent me, it seems that a tilt test isn't really needed to diagnose OI anyways.

So, it seems that I could go through a bunch of cardiac testing that will take months, or wait for my specialist appointment in August. She is familiar with OI and could treat me with no tests at all. It just means I have to deal with fairly severe symptoms for 2 1/2 months with self treatment until then. (Although hopefully they improve on their own).

I'm guessing either route will take about the same amount of time, but one route will involve a huge energy output on my part at a time when I'm quite ill and limited.

So this is where I am at present.

I'm going to think about it for a few days.

As for blogging, I may take a break for a while. I will still check in on the blogs I follow from time to time and I expect I will eventually return to blogging. I hope everyone is doing OK these days and thanks for your support over the couple years I've been part of this blogging community.