Hannah is Here! Haha.

Okay, I FINALLY remembered to post- but due to my crazy forgetfulness and possible increase in busyness coming up, me and Michelle are going to take turns posting on Fridays. One Friday, I'll post- the next she will- the next I will, and so on. I hope you guys enjoy that :).

The answers and comments I have for you guys are all over the place, please excuse that. I am so fatigued I can't stand it, so I just glanced through the other posts. 

Anywho:
Miranda, I'm sorry you've been so busy, but a HUGE congratulations to you on your nomination into the NHS. That's a big accomplishment for anyone, but, I think it's all the more awesome that you accomplished that with suffering from a debilitating chronic illness! I'm also excited for you that you get to see Dr.Grubb! Whoohoo! :)

Cheyanne, I will pray for you with flying hun :) Don't sweat it! I'm sure it'll be fine. I also hope you can make some progress with your Doctor!  Also, I know you had a question about if we took iron supplements and if they gave us stomach problems- and yes I have. When I first got diagnosed I was put on them- right now I'm not really anemic, or so bad that the Doctors let me in on what showed up on my blood work. The pills did mess with my stomach. Heart burn and nausea were the issue! If you do take them, never take them with something acidic. Like foods with tomatoes, or citrus or carbonated drinks. Also, if you want to drop the pills, you can try blackstrap molasses. I was taking about two teaspoons to a huge tablespoon. It's suppose to help with iron-anemia. Tastes nasty but it doesn't keep bugging your stomach. However, depending on how bad you are- you may NEED the pills, so just be cautious :).

Erin: I'm sorry to hear about your exhaustion, I'm there myself too. The only things I have really found to help at least a little is keeping up on my protein, eating tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, and making sure I take my B vitamins. As far as I know I am not deficient in B-12, but I have heard of that with other POTSies. I hope you can get it all worked out with what  way you need to receive the vitamin!

Michelle: Thanks SO much for posting for me, you're amazing :). Your question was, what are our top three symptoms that really affect our life (I don't think that was your exact words!), and...Man, that's a hard one. Probably fatigue, headaches, and... I think GI issues is a big one.

Rhianne: You wanted some tips for summer, but first YAY that it's summer you're way! :) Tips I have would be; Get a cooling vest- this was a major thing for me this summer, I was able to do SO much more with it. The second thing is, carry an umbrella to block out the sun- I didn't think of this til near the end of summer. Make sure you always have sunglasses for light sensitivity, and I carried around a two liter bottle of water a lot. I also don't like to wear sneakers when it's hot because they increase my blood pooling. Keep snacking as much as possible too, that you can even with your dysphagia. Even if you gotta juice a bunch of fruits/veggies, etc. ;-). Oh and you can carry around on of those battery powered fans that hang from your neck- I know they have both the little ones and the ones with fans attached to spray bottles!

Sorry if I missed anyone!
On to my week...

This week was CRAZY. I had a urology appointment on Tuesday (they want me to see another specialist in another expertise and come back to them), Wednesday I had a meeting with an organization that helps people with disabilities get employment. Here's where the busyness comes into play- they will help me pay my way through college if I'm eligible to get a degree in medical coding and reimbursement (you can work that from home), except they will only allow two part-time semesters, the rest have to be full time- which scares me. I'm only taking one class right now and I'm even struggling with just that. But, I know it'll all work out, and if I can't do it, well, at least I tried hey? :). So, that's what I'm shooting for right now- a good try. If I can do it then WHOOHOO! If I can't then...WHOOHOO for trying :).

I've also been having symptom changes between the weather and medicine changes. My heart rate is higher, my insomnia and fatigue is greater, my varying BP's are more often, my GI symptoms are getting worse than they were during the summer, I'm having these disgusting headaches, and my vision has been weird. So I'm a bit overwhelmed with the change from doing so well during the summer, to all of the sudden feeling like I'm on a downward slope physically, however I am still SO much better than this time last year. This time last year I couldn't walk up the stairs- praise be to God for the progress!

Alright guys, get excited for Michelle next Friday, then I'll be back the one after that ;-).

~Hannah~