My story.

Details of what I went through before I knew what was going on.

Ever since I was little I complained of heart problems. I always noticed it seemed as if my heart hurt. Well, time went on - I had a few accidents and I had surgery on both of my knees. I started thinking the reason I was always weak when I stood up for so long was because I have weak knees. I worked at Piggly Wiggly as a cashier so I was always on my feet for hours. I felt weak all the time and tired. But I never thought about it.

I ended up getting a wonderful job at a Veterinary Hospital. I worked there for two years before I started experiencing more severe problems. I worked long hours, only sat down an hour for lunch, always moving and doing something physical....well eventually I started getting dizzy and hyperventilating and I noticed my heart would race and hurt and it felt like a heart attack.

It got to the point where I was laying on the floor, kicking, unconscience, screaming, making awful noises, struggling to breathe, major hyperventilation, tingling in my throat, around my mouth, finger tips, feet, fainting, and this went on from October 12th 2006-Now.

I would have to be taken by ambulance to our local ER - every doctor that was there said they were anxiety/panic attacks and that I have to learn how to control them. I had to get on depression meds all of this crap. I knew I wasn't depressed or stressed out but I ended up going to lung specialists, a cardiologist, an ENT, I got checked for asthma and went to an allergist....getting blood drawn every other day..going here and there. And all they could say was "Anxiety Attacks". They also said I had Vocal Chord Dysfunction. I ended up getting a Bronchoscopy and they did find out my trachea is very small and compressed which doesn't help when I am struggling to breathe.

After months of dealing with this and feeling like I'm just one step closer from dying - we get hooked up with this AMAZING diagnostician, cardiologist.

He looked at all of my past records and diagnosed me before he even met me.

For years and years my blood pressure has ranged between 70-90. Nobody ever mentioned anything about it - never even questioned it. That was one clue.

The FIRST cardiologist I saw was a Chinese man. He was taught in China and this illness is very rare and isn't taught in China so he didn't catch it.

Well, anyway, I ended up having two spells in Dr. Iansmith's office and he said without a doubt I had Dysautonomia and Mitral Valve Prolapse.

He knew that by looking at my past heart rhythms, blood pressure, my ultra sound I had done of my heart (WHICH THE MAN DOING THE ULTRA SOUND SAID I HAD A LEAKY VALVE BUT IT WAS NORMAL!) and all of my labwork and paperwork. (We did do tests later which, obviously, revealed that he was right.)

He listened to my heart and heard a loud click, a loud murmur, floppy valve and he said the blood in my heart flows backwards.

He said Dysautonomia is basically a disconnect between the heart and brain.

Standing on your feet for too long with your heart leaking backwards will expand your heart and make your heart release extremely too much adrenaline. You could black out and have psuedo seizures and basically it feels like a heart attack. Your brain is getting NO oxygen or blood.

Therefore, when you get misdiagnosed with an anxiety attack they tell you to sit up......when all this time you are supposed to lay down and have someone hold your feet up in the air to get the blood flow back to your brain. Also, you may need to be hooked up to oxygen for a while. You also need TONS of salt. So much salt that it would make the average person sick...very sick. So, being hooked up to saline IV fluids for a few days/weeks will help. Eat salty chips, crackers, french fries, drink tons of gatorade, V8, water, milk....but you cannot have chocolate or caffeine, you cannot get hot, stand up for too long, take hot baths or showers, can't smoke or be around people that smoke, obviously you can't do drugs or drink, you can't be exposed to bright lights, flickering lights, you cannot drive or ride in a car for long amounts of time.

All of these things can set off your Dysautonomia psuedo seizures.

They had to put me on a lot of heart medications and brain stimulators and medicine to raise my blood pressure.

This usually only happens in women around milestones in their life such as puberty, around your period, turning twenty, getting married, moving out, going through menopause - anything that you really don't even think about or maybe you are thinking TOO much about. He said the youngest person was EIGHT years old.


They say you cannot die from this although you do feel as if you are dying and fighting for each breath - but if this goes too long untreated and misdiagnosed as anxiety attacks and whatever else...your heart CAN eventually STOP. As I did further research - I have read that people have died from this. So, this is something serious and people really need to get checked.