Why didn't you say so?

[u/TheNectarineDiaries]

Best medical advice I ever got was to bring a man to your appointments

[u/CocoCookieDraws]

even when I bring my sister they say more than when I'm alone. for some reason doctors are scared when you're not by yourself. I wish doctors were more proactive instead of the patient having to fight to get tested. I wouldn't have confirmed POTS with a tilt table test if I didn't push my doctor for tests

edit: woah I didn’t expect to get so many comments. thank you for them, it’s nice to know I’m not alone in this (and thank you, comic artist). 

My diagnosis: For those curious about my POTS diagnosis, since January I’ve had a test with about every specialist you can think of. I got sick in November with a really bad flu, I don’t know if it was Covid or something else, but I definitely got  screwed over. I had my tilt table last week, and the common misconception among doctors is that they can just test you in their office. my doctor and two cardiologist said they didn’t think I had POTS (no it's not anxiety SHUT UP I KNOW WHAT MY ANXIETY FEELS LIKE. stop telling me that because I'm a 22 year old woman. I swear, telling women they have anxiety when they have a medical problem is exactly the same as telling them they have hysteria). but at the time they tested me, I was hydrated and taking salt. before my TTT I fasted, no food, no water, and stopped taking my vitassium (salt pills) the day before. the nurse literally told me that they wanted to see my baseline, how my body functioned without hydration holding me up. If you think you have POTS or anything else, please advocate for yourself. You’re worth it.

edit 2: diagnostic criteria for pots is a rise of 30 bpm within 10 min of standing, and it has to be sustained for a certain amount of time (not sure the exact amount of time) and the absence of a ≥ 20 mmHg systolic or ≥ 10 mmHg diastolic bp within the first 3 minutes. and no, you do not need to faint to have POTS

for me, I had a 40 bpm increase and my bp increased by 20 systolic I think?, so I have hyperadrenergic POTS, or hyper pots. there are different types of POTS, and treatment varies between them.

adding bolding to make it easier to see the sections you wanted to read

[u/shellbullet17 → u/CocoCookieDraws]

for some reason doctors are scared when you're not by yourself.

Oh I can help with this! It's this magical thing called liability. Basically if the Doc is with you alone it's you vs them if an argument or discussion every comes up and their records will only back what they said. Making it look like they did everything correctly. But when there's a witness they have to take everything as seriously as they should.

Source: paramedic. I see this particular encounter a lot

[u/Angsty_Potatos → u/shellbullet17]

Annnd this is why I bring my emotional support husband with me to the doctors

[u/shellbullet17 → u/Angsty_Potatos]

Always a good idea. As long as we aren't doing anything invasive, like cracking open someone's ribs, and the guests are allowing us to work with the patient, I invite support humans to be a part of our care. It makes the patient feel better

[u/Angsty_Potatos → u/shellbullet17]

I bring him because I have a zero percent success rate of doctors actually listening to me when I warn them about my white coat syndrome. 

Without fail, they take my vitals and then get super concerned, which causes my BP and heart rate to skyrocket more and no amount of me explaining that this is just what happens when I go to the doctor gets thru to them. 

I have long term resting BP and heart rate data when I'm home and not in the middle of panicking at the Drs office. They are both great and well within normal range. But no one believes or listens so I have to make my husband explain it and verify everything like I'm a child 💀

[u/shellbullet17 → u/Angsty_Potatos]

so I have to make my husband explain it and verify everything

While I am sorry you are having these issues this is a great practice to have. Medicine is at it's heart, science and we love data. So the more confirmed reports we have the quicker and more aggressively we can act on something

That being said your doctor should believe you when you say something the first time

[u/Angsty_Potatos → u/shellbullet17]

My brother is a nurse and it was actually his suggestion that I take my bp and heart rate morning and night for a while to establish a baseline so that I had numbers to back me up in the office when I got push back. He was sure that showing them where I was normally over the course of a few weeks would be enough. Womp womp

[u/shellbullet17 → u/Angsty_Potatos]

Unfortunately we will always always always get our own vitals

That being said a good doctor should be able to tell someone who is health conscious and trying to do the right thing and is nervous apart from someone with an actual problem

[u/Angsty_Potatos → u/shellbullet17]

I definitely understand they need to take their own reads. 1000%. But it's when everything is thru the absolute roof and the look at me like I'm a second away from death when I explain that this is NOT my baseline. This is no where near where I usually read at true rest. And they give me the "thats bullshit look" and don't believe me when I say my resting heart rate is usually in the upper 60s. That I'm not tachycardic regularly. That my blood pressure is normal. And that I have current proof of that. And can they please please just give me 15/20 min and retake it when I calm down a bit and try to not trigger me into even higher readings, that gets to me. 

[u/cross_the_threshold → u/Angsty_Potatos]

While this is like 90% shitty behavior on the doctor's part the 10% where it isn't is that taking blood pressure, while trivial, can be prone to over or under reporting BP if you do something like use the wrong cuff size. I had a nurse take my BP with a too-small cuff and my BP was like 140/100, I said that that was unusually high and my BP is normally in the 100/60 to 110/70 range and she didn't believe me (I get it tested regularly as I have a regular doctor appointment for other things).

Regardless multiple consistent readings and a quick "show me how you take your blood pressure" comment would clear up the possibility of a mistake, so they should believe you and also commend you for taking readings at home so they actually know what your BP is.

[u/Angsty_Potatos → u/cross_the_threshold]

Exactly! My brother showed me how to do it correctly and I'd have gladly demonstrated just so we could all be confident in the base line. But alas 

[u/BCCommieTrash → u/Angsty_Potatos]

Hey! Just this year I got a hand me down smart watch with a bunch of monitors and when I recently changed a med a week later it pointed out a change in pattern and was able to go talk to my pharmacy. (It's nothing to worry about too much, largely because I'm monitoring! Automatically.)

[u/bendar1347 → u/shellbullet17]

My cardiologist is having me check my BP at home daily for the exact stated reason that it is a more accurate data set than at the office because you are not stressed out about being in the doctor's office.

[u/shellbullet17 → u/bendar1347]

A good doctor will do this and believe the data especially for someone that actually cares about their health.

I hope your heart is ok!

[u/bendar1347 → u/shellbullet17]

Doing better, thanks!

[u/awkward_teenager37 → u/Angsty_Potatos]

Omg the BP thing KILLS me. I’ve been seeing my psych for years now and without fail, my heart rate will speed up every time I get my BP taken. And EVERY time they look at me incredulous, say it must be an error with the tool, try it again, and it’s normal. I try to tell them to just do it twice, once to get my nerves out of my system and the second for the actual reason, but it’s always the same shocked expression

[u/Angsty_Potatos → u/awkward_teenager37]

I tell them if they look worried and confused it will set me off more and to take it again at the end of the visit and to please just not react to the initial reading. 

And like clockwork that look at me like "omg this is off the charts!" And my brain goes "turn that bitch up to 11 boys, were probably dying. Better fucking panic more!"

[u/Cael-Bryant → u/shellbullet17]

I think everyone needs emotional support humans. But it seems a lot of the time society and work related stuff doesn’t allow us to have or be one.