Diagnosis

Transcript

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Today we're going to talk about how I got to my POTS diagnosis from my first symptoms back in middle school all the way up until I got diagnosed in 2023, which was when I was 19 years old. This is the Quiet Mom POTS Talks. I'm Robyn. I'm Zoe. And we are going to talk about POTS. I'm the mom. I'm the daughter, the POTSie. And we came to this diagnosis after a long road of trying to figure out what was wrong with you. I think that as a mom, I've always had a little bit of an intuitive sense that when something's going on with my kids, I know. And so if you're a mom, this is my Public service announcement telling you to listen to your gut that don't and don't stop until you get answers but the first symptom that you had that we Noticed that we started taking Note of was you had shakiness and we thought that I thought I was worried you had diabetes But I knew that there was something that we needed to pay attention to what is going on and Why is this shouldn't be happening and you were like, this is always like this I'm always I didn't even really notice it at first like until you pointed it out one morning while we were like sitting eating breakfast that I was shaking, I had never really noticed that I was doing that. I never paid any attention to it. Never thought anything of it. It was just normal for me. So that was the beginning and we started, I don't remember if we went to like yad had concussions and stuff, but we started paying attention. We went to the doctors, did some tests, nothing came out. We saw the neurologist. Nothing came out of that. They originally thought I was anemic because my iron levels were, like, a little bit low. So they put me on to iron medication, iron supplements, and that Didn't do anything the shakiness didn't stop I don't even really know if it like increased my iron levels at all or if they even really checked that but it didn't help The shaking at all. I don't I do remember they did recheck it But there was at one point we went back in because you also had dizziness. And your doctor was like have you been taking the iron medicine? And you said, no. So she said if you're not taking it and your symptoms haven't changed, it probably didn't matter. It probably wasn't anemia. So they did recheck it. And I don't think you were still anemic or maybe you were, cause I know that you have had some low iron. Low iron, but they decided that's not what it was. So we, did we go to the neurologist first? So after that, we went to the neurologist and he had said that, which I never liked that neurologist from the very first time we saw him. I was not a fan of his, I could tell that you weren't. And I remember him saying, I think you might have anxiety. And you're like, I'm not, I don't have anxiety. I'm not anxious about anything. And he said your body's telling you are telling you are and there was a lot of reasons for you to be anxious There's a lot of reasons for you to be anxious There was a lot of stress in our life and there was some random things that were going on And I'm like we've got some stress at home But I never felt anxious. Like I never felt uneasy about anything. I was never stressed that much about things. Like I was a dancer. I was very serious about school. It wasn't always the easiest life at home, but. There weren't any major reasons for me to be like having these crazy symptoms physically for them to attribute it to anxiety. And then it was like, I remembered you had your, I think this was your second concussion. And then You had, not only had you had your second concussion, you had taken an AP class that you had to study for, but during that AP studying, you had your concussion, so it was like between the concussion, then you were studying for your AP class, you were doing dance. And this is already two years after the initial shakiness began. Yeah. So you were doing dance, and then dance had. Finished like you got done with dance because nationals that happened and that was over so you had gone from being Super busy with dance super crazy studying for your AP tests and things like that and concussed And then you were concussed and dealing with a concussion and you were like, I don't have any I'm not anxious and I'm like I can see why you would be anxious Which obviously is probably what the doctor saw too. Like you have all of these things. when things in your life change drastically, you end a sports season, dance was over the, you would test it and been planning for this test. So that happened, which after Florida. Yeah. And after the first concussion, I was like completely out of school for two or three weeks. I couldn't leave my room. I had this. Stay completely in the dark. I was barely able to do much of anything just because of how bad my headaches were. I was extremely sensitive to light and sound and everything else. So it was just, it was a big change for me, but at that point I had recognized the anxiety, recognized why I could be anxious about things, but I still, I knew that there was something more going on because yes, I felt anxious. And yes, I didn't feel super comfortable with my life because there was so much going on and so many things that I was anxious about, but I knew that it wasn't just that because at that point I had been dealing with the anxiety diagnosis for two years and I had learned how to manage it, what I needed to do when I'm in anxious moments or having anxiety attacks or anything like that. And I think that when you're as So that kind of the anxiety diagnosis made sense. Yeah, but once we got to that second concussion I started having chest pains, too I don't know if it was like directly after the second concussion or when that started came up. Yeah So you had the concussion the second concussion we dealt with that But I was still comfortable with the anxiety diagnosis because I'm like, yeah It's probably is and now she has an anxiety diagnosis A concussion on top. All of those things happened and you had a second concussion, but then you started having chest pains. Yeah. And then that's when you started like I was getting phone calls from you like we had gone to the emergency room a couple times for the chest pains. Added on top of all of your other symptoms and the headaches, the dizziness, the shakiness, and then I was like, Okay we're gonna go to the emergency room. They're gonna tell us that nothing is wrong because she's not having a heart attack. Just a teenage girl with anxiety. Yeah, so what's gonna happen? And I think that as those symptoms kept getting worse and progressing we just like we kept going with the anxiety diagnosis, but still, I think in the back of your head, probably in the back of my head, too. It was like there's something there's got to be something my like, she's not yes, maybe it is anxiety. And by that time, they had put me on anxiety medication to right. It's not like I was doing nothing about this anxiety that I was told that I had. Initially, when I just had the shakiness, they had put me on a beta blocker at a very low dosage to try and just control the shakiness, which it did help for a short period of time. But then, it was like, It started getting worse again, and especially after that second concussion, and then the chest pain started, the dizziness, the lightheadedness. I was a lot of the time standing up and then stopping for a second before I went and did whatever it is that I was doing because I would get lightheaded. And to me, I was like, oh, that might just be some of the anemia sitting there or whatever. One of the other things they told me that I had, however many years ago, but going to the cardiologist, I think, was what really helped because they started doing more tests and going to the ER helped because they did more tests and they did so many EKGs. I swear I've probably had a hundred EKGs in my lifetime. We found out that you weren't dying. Yeah. So that was the good part. But it was like when we would go sometimes, I don't know if you felt this, but I'm sure you did, but. It was disappointing. You feel like. Not that you're disappointed that you don't have okay, you're not dying, darn. Ut you have that thing like there's something going on and I'm nobody's figuring it out. Yeah. And I remember one day just sitting there and it just was so so stressful for you. And it was so much time for us that we had spent in an emergency room. And it's not like I want to go and sit at the ER all day. It's not like I want to go and get all these tests done and feel like a literal lab rat. I just wanted to know what was wrong with me. I just wanted somebody to tell me, like, why this was all happening. Because I knew That it wasn't my anxiety because I had been dealing with my anxiety and I knew what that felt like. And these symptoms my anxiety. And I think that when you go, like we had gone, so we had done the emergency room visits. Then there was a couple other concussions on top of it. You had I think it was a Superbowl Sunday or something. You guys were at the gym and you got a ball hit in your head. Then that was five. That was number five. You and Theron were walking down the hall and ran into each other in the dark, and that was one. And then the last one that you got, you had gone up to college, and you bumped your head getting out from under your bed. Yeah, I was literally just pulling my phone charger out from under my bed to come home for the weekend. Yeah. Which, good thing I was coming home because I ended up having to go to the ER the next day because I was majorly concussed. So between every concussion, especially that last one, your concussion symptoms got worse. The fatigue, like you had, not only did you have the normal things and the symptoms that you had, but you also had extra fatigue, confusion, like focus issues, my memory lost after, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. After the last two concussions I got, my memory loss was terrible my short term memory wasn't good, I stopped remembering things from when I was little, and to preface that, when I was younger, I had an amazing memory. Everyone would be like, Hey Zoe, remind me to do this. Zoe, remember this? Zoe, do this. And I would remember those things, and I wouldn't need any reminder on my phone or a notepad to keep track of everything, and now I do. I remember it would be like, Hey Zoe, do you remember seeing the, Yep, I would find all your stuff for you. I have ADD, which I've talked about before, and I'm, I have short term memory issues and I am forgetful and I lose things a lot. But Zoe would always know hey, do you remember where we were when I used that? Where did I put it? Oh, it's in the Where Whatever room on the second shelf on the right, like she had in this spot of the counter. Yeah And so after all of these concussions at a certain time you'd lost those which maybe those are concussion things But maybe they're pots things to you probably a little bit. So fast forward to about a year ago You were Yet again, going into the emergency room and probably like at least once a month, once every other month, and it was getting to the point where it was like, Oh my gosh, it was feeling excessive. There's one time specifically, I remember you took me to St. Anthony's. And I remember they were doing all these tests. They did blood work, urine tests, EKG. I think they even did an ultrasound while we were there that time of my heart. And Everything came back completely normal and I remember walking out of there and we hadn't even made it like Out of the entrance to the hospital, we were just about to be walking into the parking lot and I just started bawling because I was like, I just want to know what's wrong with me. I know that it's not my anxiety, like there is something wrong and no one is paying attention to it. Yeah, and I remember that day too because it was just, and as a parent, like it's bad enough when you have kids who have issues, whether it's injuries or illness or anxiety. Or something that you just don't know what it is, which I was still pretty sure that you probably had anxiety and I was still pretty sure that they were, but I was also pretty sure that there's got she knows her body. Like I remember when I was your age, I was pretty sure I knew my body and I didn't, I wasn't super confident in it. at that time, but I remember thinking, I have something going on with me and nobody's going to tell me that it's nothing until I know for sure that it's nothing. I needed to have that extra do that test. Yes, I want you, I, yes, give me a mammogram when I'm 22 because I have a lump in my breast and I'm going to die. I freaked out that I'm going to die. And that was, I think it was after that time that we went to the ER and they did all those tests. That my cardiologist finally was like, Okay, here's another heart monitor. Because I had already done one. And for some reason, I didn't finish the full 30 days of it or whatever. You were just tired of wearing it. This is dumb. It's not. And the first week, or the first couple, Times that we, whatever, they weren't finding anything. Yeah. Cause we had done like a 24 hour monitor and then a week long monitor. And then I was on like to the 30 day monitor. And that was probably like freshmen, maybe sophomore year, right before COVID hit. And so they didn't have as advanced monitors as they do for adults for me as a Aft trip to the ER when I just walked out crying, I went back to the cardiologist. They were like, okay, we're gonna do an event monitor. Every time you feel something, every time you feel your chest hurt, or your heart palpitations, or anything, push the button and we'll record what happens. So that was probably Almost exactly a year ago. And they also did a stress test where I was on a treadmill for an extended period of time and I felt like I was literally dying the whole time. I've had one of those and they're brutal and I don't have POTS or SVT like you do. And I remember while I was getting my stress test done, the nurse was like, your blood pressure is doing some really weird things. It's going in complete opposite directions. Which, if you know anything about blood pressure, it is supposed to your systolic and dystolic blood pressures are supposed to go in sync with each other. If one raises, the other one will raise. If one lowers, the other one will lower. Mine were doing the opposite direction. My dystolic would raise and my systolic would lower. That was not normal. The nurse had never seen that before, so that was automatically something that I was like, Oh, great. That's a red flag. That's, at least there's something that they can see that's different or not normal. But after we got all of that testing done, when I went in for the follow up after the heart monitor, they were like, you had some super ventricular tachycardia moments. the SVT that we were saying. So that is just literally an abnormally high heart rate, a randomly high heart rate. And that was before I got the POTS diagnosis. After that, I continued to have really bad symptoms, continued to get worse fatigue wise, chest pain, palpitations, weakness, shakiness, everything else. So I ended up in the ER again. And After that trip to the ER, I went straight to my primary doctor because I was lucky enough that they had an opening literally right after I was going to be getting back into town. And that was when I got the POTS diagnosis, because they had finally done enough testing and everything had come back normal for them to rule all of the major conditions out and say, Here's this chronic illness, you have it. Do some research on it, figure out what you relate with, if you feel comfortable with the diagnosis, if you think this is what's going on, and I did, and I related to basically everything that I found. And that's how we got here to have this podcast, but so basically the thing with POTS is, and this is similar to a lot of other chronic illnesses, is that there's not a test. To test positive or negative for POTS. Yeah. There is like the tilt table test, which my doctor, before giving me the diagnosis, my doctor had done like a. Semi tilt table test because they don't have a tilt table at their office but they had had me lay down for a certain amount of time and then stand up and Test my blood pressure and heart rate and see how it changed and they did notice the like drastic changes in that so Once I went to the ER again, made sure everything was normal, I wasn't dying, whatever else, then they felt comfortable enough to give me that POTS diagnosis. And so it's it's a combination of elimination. It's a what, in the medical world, it's what's called a differential diagnosis. Yeah. Which is basically they rule out everything else. And then they're like, oh, here's this one thing, and there's this one little test that we can do that if you have it, it does this. But some people do that anyways, which is why they don't just go straight to doing that. But POTS is a rare condition. It's It's common, but not POTS diagnosis is rare. That's what I've realized. There are a lot of people who have Almost 100 percent of the POTS symptoms, they just don't have a diagnosis because, like in my case, it took me six years to get a diagnosis. A lot of people, it can take months to years. And it's getting more common now because a lot of people will end up with long COVID, which Essentially causes POTS or because of a illness they get POTS, COVID being the illness. My POTS just happen to come from the concussions because it can be caused from physical trauma, illnesses like COVID and A ton of other things really, but those are like the two big ones that stood out to me Just because that is what was relevant in my life at the time my concussions and covid Which you had covid but you never had covid right when I had covid I was completely fine I was just miserable because I couldn't do anything Stuck in the room. Yeah, I think that so When it comes to what we could have done what we could have done differently or what like people can do in their own journey, like one of the biggest things that we've talked about a lot is being your own self advocate. Yeah, really? We were not good at that at first. No. And we, and I I hate to say that and admit to that as a person who feels like I'm a really good self advocate and I take charge of my own health and I take charge of my own kids. But it's hard to do that with a doctor especially when you're talking about a child I was still a child, and I didn't really know what was going on. I was completely clueless in the situation. I just knew that I didn't feel good, and I didn't feel right. I went to the doctor, and I listened to what the doctor said, because that's what everyone always is telling me listen to the doctors, do what the doctor says. I was, and I was like, And dance as a kid, so I was always, not always, but I was hurting myself sometimes. I would go to the doctor, they'd say, ice, rest, this, whatever, go to physical therapy, and that's what I would do. So I'd listen to my doctor. Yeah, tough it out. And I think that as a parent, Especially a parent of a teen and during, now remember this is this was in and out of COVID time too. So it was a little bit before COVID, your diagnosis was after COVID and your second concussion was after COVID. It was during COVID. It was, but it was still, it was like. It was like right after the. Not isolation, but right after a lot of the restrictions had finally lifted, like the mask mandate had just lifted and things like that. So it was, there was just, there was a lot going on and there was a lot going on in that timeframe. So there was a lot of reasons for us to think that it was, Could have been anxiety, right? And it was just like, okay, she knew he was moving up to high school. Yes. Dealing with concussion. And I remember going okay, she just needs to learn how to be like, you need to learn how to be resilient. Like when you are a, a daughter of, A mom who's their own, like a stay at home mom, a business owner, a dad who's really busy doing things. People we expect a lot from our kids because we wanted you to be independent, but not too independent. And I know there were definitely a few times where I would call you from school or text you from school and be like, I don't feel good, things are going bad again, and you'd be like can't you just tough it out? Can't you just deal with it? Like I, I remember talking to one of my clients who's an EMT and he's she's probably not dying. That happens a lot. This happens with people who have anxiety a lot. And I remember I do remember saying to you sometimes Zoe, like you have anxiety. Maybe you're going to need to learn to just deal with it. Just tough it out, like the people have to just do that. And so I remember saying things like that and really believing that you felt what you felt. And I really wanted you to learn to be an adult about it, to be resilient. But also I. Also, didn't want you to just push aside your feelings either, like as a, like a person who really cares about learning your body and how to treat your body and listening to your body. And something that's probably important to mention about the anxiety aspect of it is once we got my anxiety diagnosis, that was in August, I started seeing a counselor in January. So yes, it took us quite a few months to get me into a counselor. But it was a few months later, right? And this had been years that I'd been dealing with this anxiety and Yes, I had gotten better at dealing with it. I had significantly decreased my panic attacks and significantly, not significantly, but I had improved my symptoms and learned how to manage when I'm getting anxious and recognize when I was getting anxious and that still wasn't taking care of the symptoms. I was still getting the dizziness, the chest pain, everything else. The shaking, the physical symptoms that you were feeling. And as much as sometimes just sometimes people can have anxiety that manifests physically. Like I say this to my clients when I was doing massage all the time, like sometimes the things we ignore our feelings and our thoughts and what's going on inside of our body. And sometimes even inside of our head, so much that it. makes you like, it's okay, you're not paying attention to the fact that I feel like crap and you're, I'm not okay. I'm going to give you some physical things to focus on so that you can really pay attention to that. So there was part of that in my brain was like, okay you've got anxiety. She's got to learn how to breathe through it. She's got to learn how she needs to learn some coping skills. We even did biofeedback and all these different things to try to teach you coping skills to deal with your anxiety. When in, in the big picture, what it really was is this other illness or chronic disease that there wasn't really you can't just breathe it away. Like you can like, yes. And you can breathe it away, but breathing it away. Isn't going to make it go away. It's just going to make you be able to deal with it. Yes. So when you are trying, if you are in his position that we were in right now really focusing in on some things like get your blood sugars tested, make sure that you do the heart things and see the cardiologist and follow the trail of all the specialists because sometimes that's what it takes to find and a lot of those specialists are like, nope, not me, not my, nope, not my specialty. Nope, not me. And until you get to that one, And honestly, I think that pots, maybe it's just cause we are dealing with pots now, but I feel like even as things are changing in the world, like Long COVID is being investigated. POTS is starting to be seen a little bit more maybe. And that might be because you now have a diagnosis and that's why I think that. It's like you buy a red car and all like everybody, there's so many people with red cars now, but so that might be the case of what's happening here, but I do also believe that people are starting to realize that there are other things other than COVID and anxiety. And. other than other medical things, so it's really important to do your research and do the testing and the testing. It's hard to sit there and to be like, okay, I'll wear a heart monitor, okay, I'll do a stress test, okay, I'll do this blood work, okay, I'll do this, okay, I'll try this medication, okay, I'll switch medications, I'll try a different dosage, I'll do this, I'll do that. It's really hard when you seriously feel like there's something wrong with you to sit there and just accept all of the testing and the questions and the procedural things that you have to go through to get there. But it's also important while you're doing that to make sure you're being informative to your doctors. I know there were a lot of times that we probably didn't say as much to a specific doctor as we should have because like when we would go to the neurologist we would think, oh it's for my head, it's for my headaches, it's for that stuff. and not acknowledge all of the other symptoms I was going through. And if we did do that if we talked to the neurologist about my chest pain or my heart palpitations or everything else, or we talked to the cardiologist about my headaches or the shakiness or everything that was going on neurologically, maybe that would have helped get to a diagnosis sooner. But, Really just say everything. Make sure you are being super over informative about what you're going through and what your body is dealing with and how you're feeling, because the more information that you can give them, as much as you might feel like you're being annoying, the better they're going to be able to understand what you're going through. And everything is connected. A good doctor. Yep. A good doctor will know that and they will take the time to listen to that. And that's really the hardest part right now in our day and age is that there's so many of the specialists that are so focused on their specialty. And sometimes that's why I feel like that the reason why we got her diagnosis from a primary doctor is because sometimes the primary doctors or the more general practitioner doctors, they're looking for the bigger, the kind of the bigger picture. In like everything in your body is connected, like all of the symptoms have some sort of play on each other. And I've had doctors tell me for myself and for my kids, Oh, those two things aren't related. And I'll be like, I think that they are like personally, like I was a massage therapist. And so I knew enough about medical stuff to know that a little bit about medical stuff and know the names of things and not really know I came from it, from a different point of view than a doctor. I'm not sitting there listening to you to tell me what's going on, thinking about the medicines that I can treat you with to fix that problem or that symptom. I'm coming from it from a point of view of what's causing this and that's how I've always treated myself. like I can deal with this pain or this symptom if I know what's causing it and then you know, we're doing something to fix that. Yes, whether it's a diet change or. Positional change or whatever it is. I want to fix the problem, not the symptom. And I think that's really important when you're going to looking for a diagnosis is to tell your doctors your intention, right? Some people go to the doctors just to find a magic pill. pill that will fix their problem and they don't care what's causing it. If you can give me necessarily anything wrong with that's what you want. Like I remember talking to a friend of mine and she takes, or she used to take Tylenol PM every single night. Cause she had pain. I don't even remember what her pain was, but I was like, don't you want to figure out what's causing that and fix that? She's Nope, I'm totally fine drinking my red wine and sloshing down my Tylenol every night. And I'm like, I don't know. I would figure out what's causing the headache and not have a headache every night and not have to take the Tylenol and wine, but that's just me, but some people, they don't want their life interrupted. They don't want to think about taking care of themselves or what it takes to be healthier or do those things on. They want to keep moving on, which is why our pharmaceutical industry is so so. Overpopulated. Yes, and so and makes so much money because honestly a lot of people are looking for that Yeah And but it does take that persistence to really like you need to know you need to know what your goals are Right treatment. Like why are you and I remember I said this to you a couple times like what's the goal in? Going to the emergency room and I would always say to figure out what's wrong with me, right? and it's like I You know, so there was some, there was a couple of times that we talked you out of going to the, or maybe talk to each other out of going to the emergency room. It's what's our goal? Okay. What are the goal in an emergency room is to make sure you're not dying. Like they're there to make sure that you don't die. And so once they realize that you're not having a heart attack, they're done with you. And not that they don't want to be done with you, but they're done with you. And there were some doctors. figure out that we're like, okay maybe if you go, that's when we got a lot of referrals to the cardiologist and to different neurologists and stuff like these people might be able to help you and but it's really important that you know why you're going like, what am I getting? Get out of it. One thing too, about getting the referrals and going to the specialist is finding someone who has that same viewpoint as you is finding what's wrong with you. Treating what's wrong with you rather than medicating for symptoms because when I was going to my original primary or not primary, when I was going to my pediatric neurologist, he just wanted to give me the medication and get me the hell out of his office. And I did not like that. I didn't like him to start with. And I didn't like that. We would go in and we would sit there and we would talk to him. And. He would barely even ask any questions. He would basically just ask for an update on everything that we had talked to him about before. And not ask anything else. Barely even give us a chance to say anything. And then he'd sit me on his examination table, he would test my reflexes, look at my eyes, look at my ears, and that was it. That was all he asked. ever did. And I remember saying to him I don't want to put her on medication. I don't want to treat my kid. I never wanted to do too much in the form of anxiety or depressive medication for either one of you, because I know some of the it's being, I didn't want to be on medications either. Being a massage therapist. You tend to be a little bit more anti medication anyways, you're a little bit more natural. We tend to be, we're accused of being a little granola. sometimes, but a little oo, but I'm like, I don't want to give her, when he started in on the medication, I'm like, okay, we got to figure something else out. We got to figure out what's going on. We got to figure out how to treat this because I don't want to do this with her. So moral of the story when it comes to diagnosis, let's wrap it up and put it in a nice little pretty package. Make sure that you are explaining all of your symptoms. Everything that you're going through if you need to keep a log and be honest Yeah, like that honest If you're feeling like you're out of breath when you take two steps, say that. Don't be like, I could walk across the room and I'd be okay. Don't try and make yourself seem stronger than you are. Don't try and make yourself seem weaker than you are. Be honest about your symptoms. Be complete with your symptoms. And, Don't I don't want to say don't take no for an answer, but don't take no for an answer because if you know Obviously I knew something was wrong with me. I knew there was more than just my anxiety Make sure you push that push the issue if you want something to happen You have to make it happen. Absolutely, and that doesn't have to that's not just with a diagnosis or with chronic illness That's with literally everything If you know what your goals are and your intentions and make sure that your intentions and your goals match your action steps and what you're actually moving forward to. And if you think you may have POTS or if you think you may have some other chronic illness, do your research about it. Maybe even Print up a website or an article or something bring it with you to the doctor and be like Here's this article that explains what this is. Here's a list of my symptoms that match exactly with this article Can we look into this and maybe do some testing specifically for this diagnosis? And you might need to find a different doctor and right some people are gonna say no a reputable doctor will be like You know what? I'm not really very familiar with this condition I will either do some research, I will ask some colleagues or maybe you should go see this guy across town because he knows it better. So really make sure that you're going, that you're going to the right, you're going to somebody who knows and somebody who will listen to you and listen to them. The other thing too is that a lot of times we do a lot of research, you find a lot of information, but it might not all be credible. It might not, it's either not credible or it's Or there's a reason why it's really not connected to you. So you have to also be open to hear from your doctor what they're saying. Cause if it is I was certain she had diabetes and I'm like, she has that. There's nothing left. There's some I just had all this this is what I think it is. And and I don't know, I don't, how many times I've I have. Cancer. My kids have this disease and the doctors like over their lifespan. I remember my, our first pediatrician, Dr. Heron, he said, who was amazing. He said he like even would flip back into their talk you off the ledge. He would flip back through their chart and say, see when you were here, this happened when you were here, this happened, you were here, this happened. So he would say, you were here a lot of times for a lot of different reasons. And a lot of like there, you were never here for no reason is what he would say. First of all, you know what you're talking about. You have the mom intuition and third, this is why I don't think she has this condition that she's going to die in six months. And if they're a good doctor, they're gonna explain that to you, and they'll answer questions, and if you have questions, if you're confused about a certain symptom you're having, or a certain thing that they're saying, ask the questions, because then, one, you're gonna know more about what it is that you're going through, and two, you're gonna get their point of view, and their reasoning for what they're saying. Yes. So be open, but do your own research, be your own self advocate, and don't stop until you get the answers that you really want. And not necessarily want, but get the answers that are true. So you get the Until you get the question that you want answered, I guess is what I should say. So make sure that you know what that question is and sometimes it takes time to develop that. Like, why am I doing this? Why am I continuing? They're just going to tell me, it's just all in my head. Cause sometimes when you hear the diagnosis of anxiety, although anxiety is a real condition and some people do just have anxiety, and that is, they have to, you have to learn how to deal with it. You might need to take medications to manage it. You might need to learn strategies of managing your anxiety, and it is a real condition and it is something that really affects you. However, sometimes when you hear. Anxiety, you hear it's all in my head, and it's not. Even if you just have anxiety, I want to say that it's not all in your head. There are still very real symptoms of anxiety. I still, to this day, have very real symptoms. I'll be driving down the road, and some stupid person will cut me off, or try and get in front of me or something, driving stupidly. And my heart rate spikes, and I feel tingly in my hands and there are still very real physical symptoms of anxiety, but if you were in the position that I was, and you're feeling like, this is not just my anxiety, this is something more, Be persistent with it, ask the questions, do the research, go to the doctors, do the testing, and then you will end up getting the answers that you need. Yes, be your own self advocate. And then, when you learn what it is, do the things that will make you healthier. Yes, do more research, talk to different, not necessarily talk to, but Look for people who have the same condition as you do learn watch the tick tock videos watch the Instagram reels See the Facebook groups watch the different things that people have to say about their experience use your own Strategies, but use your own discernment. If you're like that's not gonna work for me Some of those things you should try, because maybe it will. A lot of it is trial and error. But if you, if it's not, if it doesn't work for you, that doesn't work for you, and that's okay too. Anything else that we need to cover about diagnosis? I think we covered it all. Yeah. I feel like one of the biggest things that I want people to understand and hear is just to be their own self advocate. And don't give up. Don't just think I'm just, it's all in my head. There's nothing wrong with me. Yeah. Don't get tired of looking for the answer. Because there were definitely a few points where I would be like sitting there in a ton of pain, curled up in a ball on the couch. And this was like after I had moved out. So I'd be sitting with my boyfriend on the couch and I'd be just like holding my chest or like something would hurt or I would be really weak or really shaky. And he'd be like, are you okay? And I'm just like, no, do you need to go to the hospital? I don't want to, but I probably should. So do your research, be your self advocate. Take care of yourself. Take the time to take care of yourself. Yeah, you are your first priority, always and forever. You're the one that's always gonna be there. My dad used to say, you gotta take care of number one. That's an old school saying, mom. It's not just your dad. But that's one thing that I remember my dad saying. Yeah. Anyways. We'll see you guys next time. Thank you for coming in. So thank you for coming in. Thanks for listening to us. Talk over here at Quiet Mom Pots Talk. if you enjoyed our podcast, please share this with somebody who you think might be interested in it. That is downloading and sharing and listening is what really helps us and it helps us get our word out. So thanks for being here. Go take care of yourself and ask the questions and don't stop until you get the answers. We'll see you next time.