List of My Health Conditions/Struggles

Since July 2012, you can now read about my journey of becoming a Born Again Christian and seeking the Lord for healing and health in my life. I don't know if God will ever heal me, but I still trust Him no matter what. In the beginning of my journey, I got caught up in some of the extremes within the Charismatic church. I am still trusting God for healing, but I now understand he doesn't owe it to me and can choose not to heal me if that is His will.

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness;“by his wounds you have been healed.”  1 Peter 2:24-25

Below I have written out what I currently suffer with, what comes and goes and things that have gotten better over time.

Links:
My Health Timeline- From Age 9 to the Present
Alopecia Areata Hair Loss Pictures

Symptoms on a Daily Basis

  • POTS-Postural Tachycardia Syndrome. This means my heart rate goes very high any time I stand up. For those who do not have POTS, it can be hard to fully understand what this means as far as impacting life. It makes doing normal activities like bathing, doing dishes, cooking, laundry and other simple chores very difficult or impossible. Life becomes a battle. 
  • Norepinephrine dumps due to sympathetic overdrive. This means my body feels a bit wired all the time. I also excessively sweat and cannot handle stress very well. This can cause some anxiety issues as well as OCD type symptoms. I thank God for giving me the strength to get through this though. A few years ago, I did not know how I'd live through it all. 
  • Patchy Vision Loss. I have blind spots in my eyes. I have one in my left eye that is at the 10 o'clock position on a clock, just above my center vision. More spots have shown up over time and my right eye is now worse than my left. If I am up on my feet too long, it causes blind spots to form.
  • Floaters and flashes of lights in both eyes, but not at the same time. It has been checked multiple times by multiple eye doctors. I have floaters, which I have gotten used to over the years. However I also get lights that seem to get stuck in my eyes. This can lasts from hours up to weeks at a time. One recent spot lasted a full 14 days and there is still some residual vision loss in the area, but in time it will likely come back. This thread at medhelp.org explains almost exactly what I have...Mine appears to be related to norepinephrine and blood circulation.
  • Heat intolerance. I think this is self-explanatory, but my heat intolerance is extreme. I can easily become overheated in 75 degrees F. I frequently have symptoms of heat exhaustion which causes me to have tremors, rapid heart rate and generally feel terrible. 
  • Pre-syncope or near fainting. This symptom has come and gone over the years, but it's been very bad lately and added it back up here. 
  • Headaches. I get lots of sinus headaches and other headaches. It seems like I have some sort of headache all the time.
  • Low BP. I go through phases where my BP gets too low. I went 3-4 years where it was normal/high, but now I'm in a phase where it's low again.
  • Exercise intolerance. I can only do short bursts of exercise and it cannot be done while standing or by moving positions a lot. All exercise has to be done sitting. Lifting heavy weights is out of the question too. It immediately makes my heart shoot up to 150+ regardless of positioning. There goes my dream of being a bodybuilder....Just kidding! lol
  • Tingling/numbness in my hands, head, feet and calves. Most of the tingling is limited to the left side of my body. Some days I can draw a line down the center of my body and feel tingling only on that side.
  • Inability to take supplements. I cannot take P5P (active B5), vitamin D, CoQ10, L-carnitine, folinic acid, Beta 1,3 Glucans and I'm sure many more.
  • Chronic sinus congestion/sinus infections. This is something I've had for as long as I remember and it can negatively affect my singing. :(
  • Keratosis pilaris. I made a post about this one a while back. It causes pimple like spots on my legs which always have an ingrown hair in them. If I let them go too long, they become infected. As far as everything goes, this is the least of my concerns.

Symptoms that Come and Go

  • PVC runs. I go through phases where my heart will skip beats constantly. I have not been able to figure out what is causing this and gave up trying!. It seems random and no amount of magnesium, potassium, salt or cortisol has been able to stop them.
  • Limbs feel heavy. This usually goes along with low BP and pre-syncope. 
  • Migraines with aura. These have been occurring once every 3 months or so.
  • Urinary retention issues. I have to make sure I relax when urinating to ensure my bladder empties completely. If I don't do this, it can lead to burning that mimics interstitial cystitis and eventually give me UTI's. Sometimes I have trouble starting to urinate too.
  • Alopecia areata. I had my first flare back in 2007. I lost most of the hair on the left side of my head. All my hair grew back by 2010. Oct 2013, I have a new spot on the back of my head near my neck.
  • Stiffness in hips and joints. This is a new symptom that started after having untreated strep throat. In the morning my hands hurt and I cannot bend them at all. I also have stiffness after sitting in a chair too long.

Symptoms I No Longer Have

  • Adrenal Insufficiency- Jesus healed me of this! YAY! I no longer take hydrocortisone and I do not have any symptoms associated with it either.
  • Frequent urination-I no longer suffer from diabetes inspidus! I have no idea why this stopped.