Black Outs?

amen to that. is there any more proof needing to be shown that the medical system sucks o h yes, gives us new public health care...Yup! That will bring the quality of health-care much closer to the average person or out-of-system patient! Most of are really up a tree now..but it's only just begun.

As for Canada, I've known several people with hard to diagnose issues that have to wait a l-o-n-g time for diagnostic tests or to get life-saving operations. It's a flawed system for many there, too.

All that health-care stuff aide. you seem like a bright lady. I truly wish you the best and for your mom, too. I hope you'll keep us updated.

Being truthful to ourselves here, no healthcare is ever going to be perfect and bug-free. I still feel that 'free' healthcare would be a big perk for many Americans. Even a revising of many healthcare policies might help some people.

Thank you, really. When I do get checked up by someone who actually knows what they're doing, I'll be sure to update.

and just to ram home the point my son complained about some small lumps on his chest and neck. turns out he had hodkins lymphoma.
He's been treated with chemo and radiation. succesfully.
I live in small town rural Australia so all treatment was traveled for. minimum distance was about 2 hrs. weekly treatment as well as nuclear scans
It ended up costing us very little, ended up being about $1000 out of pocket
When medicare was introduced here it added 1% to my taxes. I think its a little more now. I dont miss that 1or 2%
Private health care insurance is still available for thiose who feel the need.

Edit: I misread $1,000 as $10,000. I apologize. $1,000 isn't bad.

Wow, I'm not sure how much money you may make a year. My parents combined don't even make $35,000. We're paying off our house, as well as their credit cards, and my father's truck. $10,000 seems little to you, but to me, that's quite a bit. I've grown up in a house where you ask for nothing and expect nothing. I understand that if you had paid 100% from pocket, then $10,000 may have seemed very little compared to what it would have been without insurance. If your son doesn't have insurance and it stills seems little, I'm a little saddened. If only I could spare that much money toward college.

We dont have a lot of money either.
It's not easy to compare standard of living between two different countries. i'm a laborer and my wife works for the local council in social services.
If i took our annual income and converted it to US dollars I suspect we would be in about the same income bracket.

ok. i saw your edit.

It's okay, though. Money isn't everything and it certainly isn't happiness. It just helps you appreciate and enjoy the smaller things in life. I wish you, your wife, and your son the best.

Standing up can cause your blood pressure to drop (orthostatic hypotension). This may decrease the blood flow to your brain. That would account for your symptoms. A doctor should check your blood pressure when you are sitting, lying, and standing and note any changes when you change positions.

The heat of a shower can cause your blood vessels to dilate, which can also decrease the blood flow to your brain. The heat and stream may build up more in a small stall shower making your symptoms more likely to happen in that situation than in a larger shower.

Your rapid heartbeat may be related to the changes in blood flow in your body or changes in your blood pressure. This should be evaluated by a cardiologist.

Your symptoms are all consistent with syncope or syncoptic episode.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncope_(medicine)

But syncope can have a variety of causes. The symptoms you describe suggest you are having a vasovagal episode.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasovagal_syncope

It really should not require extremely sophisticated medical tests to evaluate your problem and determine possible causes. As long as you are near a hospital (as you apparently are, since you've been to the ER), they should have all the necessary equipment to check you out adequately. What you do need is a doctor who takes your complaints seriously and who will perform diagnostic tests in a systematic manner.

It is very possible that you have a reduced volume of blood circulating in your body. One cause of this might be dehydration, and you do need to be sure that you regularly drink enough water. However, you may also not be taking in enough salt to maintain blood volume. So, in addition to drinking enough water, you must also take in enough salt. You might try drinking sports drinks once a day and see if this helps to reduce your symptoms. A reduced blood volume will predispose you to experiencing syncoptic episodes. It is important you are adequately hydrated and taking in enough electrolytes (sodium, potassium).

You are also underweight. You say that you have gained some weight, on a doctor's advice, so you must have been extremely underweight before. When you exercise you may be placing energy demands on your body that it just can't meet. You really should try to gain about 15 pounds more than you now weigh, and you probably should decrease your amount of active exercise considerably until you gain more weight. You need to speak to a nutritionist regarding your diet and how many calories a day you should be taking in. Any doctor you see should be able to refer you to a nutritionist, and there certainly should be one at your local hospital. If you tend to consume small meals or small portions of food, or an inadequate amount of carbohydrates, you might need to drink liquid supplements, like Ensure, between meals. But you need to speak with a nutritionist about a proper diet for you to follow. Doctors receive relatively little training in this area and they pay little attention to this issue. Consuming too few calories a day, for your height, and age, and activity level, can wreck havoc with your body and produce all sorts of problems, including some of the symptoms that are bothering you. See a nutritionist/registered dietitian and get proper dietary advice. They can help you construct a healthy diet plan that takes your food preferences into account and will insure that you get adequate caloric intake and nutriments so that you can gain weight, and then maintain a healthy weight.

You've have already had some diagnostic tests done and, fortunately nothing serious has revealed itself. Given your age, and fairly good health, you may well have no serious underlying medical problems. But you must see a physician to continue to check out all of the possible causes of your symptoms. As I said, I really don't think this will require ultra-sophisticated high tech medicine. You simply need a doctor who will take your concerns seriously and who will methodically check out all possible causes. Even a small town hospital should have all necessary equipment available.

Most states have low/no cost medical insurance plans available to cover minors. You should not be without medical coverage. It is your mother's responsibility to check out all options and make sure that you are covered. There is no reason for you not to receive adequate medical care.

I wouldn't be so sure that you are having true panic attacks. I think your symptoms might all be related and might have an underlying physiological cause.

The most immediate things you can do are to make sure you take in enough water and salt, and increase your daily calorie and carbohydrate intake, and decrease your level of active exercise. Just making those changes might help.

And, as soon as possible, make an appointment to see a good internist or pediatrician. That person can refer you to any other medical specialists you need to see.

Even though you say you have a healthy blood pressure, your blood pressure may fluctuate and, at times, drop too low. That's called hypotension.



You are experiencing some of the above symptoms. Low blood pressure will disrupt the blood flow to your brain.

You also report that sometimes your symptoms occur when you stand up from a seated position, suggesting that you have positional, or orthostatic, hypotension. It is fairly easy for a doctor to evaluate this. They take your blood pressure when you are sitting, standing, and lying, waiting 2 minutes between each change in position before taking your BP again. Then then note any changes in blood pressure and heart rate with each change of position. When the BP drops, your heart rate may increase, since that generally happens.

If they determine that your blood pressure might be dropping too low, and causing your symptoms, they then then look at some of the possible causes for this to be occurring. As I mentioned in my last post, you might have a low blood volume, due to inadequate fluid intake or low electrolyte intake. If that is the case, increasing your water intake, and making sure you take in enough salt, may solve the problem. If that doesn't work, they might move on to investigate another possible cause. But you did mention that you take in a high amount of protein in your food. A high protein intake, particularly coupled with a low carbohydrate intake, will increase your urine output, causing your body to lose more water. That does suggest you might be prone to dehydration if you don't keep a eye on your fluid intake and your salt intake. In addition, perhaps you need to decrease the amount of protein you eat, and increase your carbohydrates. Simple lifestyle changes can make a big difference. You do need to speak with a nutritionist/registered dietician. You probably need to eat better, you need to put on at least 15 more pounds, and you need to take better care of yourself.

My point is, investigating these sorts of things does not require high tech medicine. This is rather simple, basic stuff, that any internist or pediatrician is able to do.
Perhaps you have to be assertive, and ask the doctor to check your blood pressure in the various bodily positions, if they don't automatically do it, but any doctor should be willing to do it.

Most likely, the changes in your heart rate are connected to changes in your blood pressure, or changes in the dilation of your blood vessels. If you had a problem with heart rhythm it probably would have shown up on your EKG. If there is any concern about your heart rhythm, the doctor can have you wear a Holter moniter for 24 hours to try to detect any irregularities. Even in a very small town, I am sure there is a Holter moniter available. Again, this is basic stuff, not high tech medicine. But it really is unlikely you do have heart rhythm irregularities--I think they would have noticed them on your previous EKGs. Mitral valve prolapse can sometimes be heard by the doctor when he listens to the heart, or it can be seen on a simple sonogram. But you said they have eliminated that in your case, and MVP does not affect heart rhythm, and really doesn't fit with any of your symptoms.

I really think that your problems may turn out to be due to your lifestyle--your eating habits, not eating enough, eating too much protein and not enough carbs, not drinking enough water and taking in enough salt, exercising too much given your body's energy level (which does, in turn, depend on your calorie intake). If you are 5 foot 4 inches tall, and you had to gain weight to get up to 94 pounds, and you only did that after a doctor told you to do so, you have not been taking proper care of yourself. You may be starving yourself and this may be the crux of some of your physical problems. Perhaps there are psychological issues you need to look at in terms of how you feel about your body.

You certainly do need to see a doctor. I really don't think you need a high tech state-of-the-art urban medical center. Pretty much anything you need done in the way of diagnostic testing can probably be done right where you are. I'm sure the people in your neck of the woods aren't dropping like flies due to primitive medical care. I doubt that you have anything really tricky wrong with you that they have never seen before.

But, while you are waiting to see a doctor, and a nutritionist, start making some positive life style changes. There are plenty of good sites on the internet where you can calculate the number of calories you need a day based on your age, your height, and your activity level (I suspect you need something in the neighborhood of 2000 calories a day, which must be a lot more than you are now eating), and they can break down how many grams of protein, carbohydrates, fat, etc. you need to take in, so you know how to divide up those calories. Start reading about nutrition, start educating yourself. Most of all, start taking good care of yourself. You can, and should, take charge of your health. If you start now, you will help to insure yourself of a lifetime of better health.

i have not read the pages inbetween, only the first and the last one, so apologies if i'm off the mark, but i am wondering if it might not be related to panic attacks. i've had a friend with symptoms as you describe and he's being successfully treated. if medical checkups show nothing, it could be something of this sort.

My mother and I had considered orthostatic hypertension about two years ago. The cases that I've heard were much more severe than mine and mine come and go. I felt it just wasn't the right fit at the time, and my mother stopped taking the idea seriously after a few days. Testing my blood pressure would probably be more helpful than anything else at this point.

I know my blood vessels dilate extremely. My feet turn red and swollen on rare occasions, especially when I shower. The inside of my knees also hurt to be bent after I shower because they swell. My mother thought it was strange, but after having it for so long, I don't really notice anymore.

I'm pretty sure I drink enough. I drink enough water and milk, and I have green tea about every day. I have gained weight previously, but after it didn't help me, I stopped trying to gain weight and I slowly returned to the weight before it. That's where I am now. My mother basically gave me a ton of meals a day, which worked, but ultimately made me feel miserable. I'd rather rest at a lower weight than engorge myself. I haven't had a significantly demanding workout routine for a couple months now. I previously took Ensure a couple years ago and it didn't help anything.

I have a card for low health-care costs. I have coverage, so to speak, but no doctors are accepting new patients. I had a physical this month, and my mother had tried many, many doctors in the area. I was ultimately stuck going to a doctor I had as a child because they had my records. To give you an idea of how advanced this place is, their building is about the size of my one story house.

Where exactly is this? What is the name of the town/city and state?

Like I said, 94 - 97 are about my average weight. I know to many, the general idea of being 5' 4" and 94 lbs sounds sickly underweight. Personally, I feel given my body type, that I am comfortable with how I look weight-wise. If I gained 15 pounds, I'd be decently chubby.

http://tinypic.com/r/1z6s67q/6

That's me. I'm little, I'm skinny. I know this. I don't feel I look sickly or that I'm unhealthy because of my size. I'm aware of what foods to eat, what not to eat, and how much to eat. I know portion control. I eat about 3-4 meals a day, and I snack also. I'm sure that a decent amount of the time, I reach 2,000 calories. I know generally that my weight can affect my body in drastic ways. I feel this is something physically related, but not to my weight or size. Even when I gained weight, it didn't change my symptoms. They didn't change when I drank more, either.

I'd explain everything again, but I think it would do you more good to read in between a little bit. We basically ruled out panic attacks. Thanks though. (:

Why does where I live matter? I'd rather not openly expose where I live to all of A2K.

It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things... With that knowledge, perhaps some of us could help you locate a source near you for the medical help you need, or at least a way of paying for it.

If you don't want to post it in public, you can use the private messaging system we have. Just click on a person's user name and that takes you to their profile page where you can click on the Send Message button.

IceBox, in light of everything I have said in my other posts, I think you must consider whether you suffer from some degree of anorexia.

You fit into the general diagnostic criteria for anorexia because:

1. Your body weight is 15% below the normal weight for your height
2. You report irregularity in your menstrual periods
3. You have a previous history of nutritional deficiencies--i.e. anemia
4. You report some history of excessive exercise, at least when involved in sports such as track and field.
5. You are worried about looking "chubby"

All of the above strongly suggest you have been severely restricting calorie/food intake and are suffering some degree of anorexia nervosa. Anorexia would account for lowered blood pressure, diminished blood flow, some degree of dehydration, and your episodes with loss of vision. In other words, it can be the cause of all your symptoms. And you did see at least one doctor who told you you were not eating enough.

Interestingly, you do not seem overly concerned about your low body weight, or your irregular menstrual periods and this, too, is characteristic of anorexia. One would expect an obviously very intelligent 16 year old young woman to be very concerned about such things. Either you are in denial about this or you are choosing not to discuss here, and possibly choosing not to fully discuss it with doctors either. It's not important what you share with us in this forum, but it is important what information you share or withhold from doctors.







To not discuss the possibility that you have an eating disorder, at least subclinical anorexia, if not yet full blown anorexia nervosa, is like not talking about the elephant in the room. It is impossible to ignore the suspicion that you have some degree of an eating disorder.

It is fairly easy for a physician to check your hormone levels, including reproductive hormones, thyroid hormones, and stress hormones. These can be measured by simple blood tests. They may provide the explanation for your irregular menstrual periods, as well as some of your other symptoms.

Increasing your weight to a normal level, through a healthy eating pattern and adequate caloric and nutritional intake, should reverse all of the physical symptoms associated with anorexia. However, depending on the psychological factors which might underlie the anorexia, this might be easier said than done. These are not always easy conditions to treat, but the sooner you seek treatment the better. The longer the problem persists, the more out of control it tends to get, and the more difficult it is to treat as a psychological disorder.

I cannot urge you strongly enough to see a doctor, and to be completely honest with the doctor about everything, including your eating behaviors. Anorexia is the only psychiatric disorder which can be potentially fatal if left untreated and unrecognized. It can damage your health in the short term, and severely damage your health in the long term if it is not addressed and reversed.

I think your "panic attacks" might indicate general anxiety problems which also contribute to an eating disorder. You should seek medical treatment, as well as psychological treatment in the form of psychotherapy, for both your physical symptoms and psychological issues.

I think I have tried to address your physical symptoms, as well as your possible psychiatric problems, in all of my posts. It is possible for you to deal with all of your problems with the appropriate help and support. Please get yourself that help, whatever help you need.

I genuinely hope that I have been of some help to you.

My experience with good teaching hospitals is that they all have many different clinics and some have low fees. All of these hospitals have financial departments to discuss financial matters with.

Sorry, IceBox, you are kidding yourself, or rationalizing a possible eating problem. If a decent amount of time, like regularly, you ate 2,000 calories a day, you would not be at least 15% below a normal body weight for your height. You shouldn't be worried about "portion control"--you are too underweight. And you are worried about looking too fat.

The more you describe yourself, the more you sound like a very typical anorexic.

You aren't being honest with yourself about this problem.

Butrflynet, all IceBox has to do is check her state Web site for no cost/low cost health care plans available to minor children. The situation with available medical insurance is different for minors than adults. She should be able to get coverage.