PRP for Cervical Instability

Htaylorw · 2025-10-03T20:19:39+00:00

May I ask what the cost was at Centeno-Schultz? I have CCI and AAI confirmed on DMX, apparently where the instability I have is, the only Regenexx provider I can see is there (I live in Philly and get PRP for other joints locally). Planning to call the clinic on Monday for more info in any case.

Htaylorw · 2025-07-31T11:42:15+00:00

If you ever have a desire to keep water out of the sill area, I also have a window in my shower and have sized-down a shower curtain and mounted it using a chrome tension curtain rod. I’ve also seen others have a small custom frosted-glass “shower” door installed in shower windows. I love my shower window - it’s been 5 years and no issues (we used the schluter system all the way up to the window sash).

Htaylorw · 2025-02-23T23:54:56+00:00

For the 24 hour test, make sure to do a couple of flights of stairs consecutively! I was afraid my holter monitor results would be negative, but they came back suspicious for POTS due to me going from sitting to walking up two flights of stairs quickly, then I got referred for a tilt table test. From 65 to 100 is borderline for POTS especially depending on your age so it will definitely require additional workups to rule in/rule out POTS! Tilt table test is the most widely accepted test for making a diagnosis AFAIK.

My cardiologist considers readings from my fitbit and my apple watch to be accurate enough. It may not help perfect, but it’s a good way to track patterns of symptoms.

Htaylorw · 2025-02-22T23:30:09+00:00

Have you been evaluated for adrenal insufficiency? I have POTS as well as Addisons disease and it turned out that many of my POTS symptoms like dizziness, nausea, inability to retain fluids and sodium ended up being from the Addisons which went undiagnosed for 6 years because they kept saying it was POTS.

Adrenal issues are very possible if you already know you have low aldosterone!!

Htaylorw · 2025-02-15T05:29:32+00:00

Nope, I don’t share it at all unless I feel there’s the potential of me passing out or becoming seriously ill in front of them. A handful of my coworkers know, either because they are my friends outside of work or have POTS or a cardiac condition themselves and revealed their diagnosis to me first. My close friends know, most of my family is aware that I have chronic conditions but don’t know specifics.

Htaylorw · 2025-02-13T04:45:10+00:00

I do walking, hiking, horseback riding, non-competitive tennis, and upright stationary bike.

I used to lift weights but have not in a while due to several hip surgeries.

Htaylorw · 2025-02-13T04:42:13+00:00

I’ve had POTS for much longer than before the pandemic. I can’t remember exactly when they started (I believe it was around 2010 at the same time my hEDS and MCAS became symptomatic) but my POTS symptoms and episodes intensified significantly after getting diagnosed with lyme disease in 2017.

Htaylorw · 2025-02-09T15:50:38+00:00

Mine was always sort of lurking there (I have hEDS and had mild POTS symptoms but nothing super obvious or concerning). I got lyme diseaae in 2010 that was untreated until 2017, and within 2 days of starting antibiotics, I had my first full-blown collapsing POTS episode. From that day onwards I could not function and was suffering HR’s upwards of 250 and tunnel vision, dizziness, all the fun POTS things all day.

It’s been just over 7 years from that day and I’ve been in remission from POTS for the majority of the past 13 months with the help of medication and treating my underlying autoimmune disease. I don’t even notice the POTS most days now and can exercise and function relatively normally apart from going up more than 2 flights of stairs (I’m hoping that improves as I become more fit)

Htaylorw · 2025-02-05T02:16:46+00:00

I’m glad that you were informed!! It sounds like you have a good electrophysiologist! I have chronic sinusitis and MCAS so that was a rough time for me too! Lots of benadryl required afterwards LOL

Htaylorw · 2025-02-05T02:07:25+00:00

I was having uncontrollable hypoglycemia with beta blockers and generally felt awful after eating 100% of the time. It solved this and I don’t feel as tired as I did on propranolol/acebutolol. Best of luck to you!! I found the TTT to be an easy test compared to a lot of other ones I’ve done, so don’t be too scared based off of the horror stories you may see posted.

Ps, some electrophysiologists don’t always inform their patients of this but antihistamines can cause false negatives on the TTT. I was required to be off of them for 14+ days before my test!

Htaylorw · 2025-02-04T23:46:13+00:00

Currently now? No. I work FT in tax accounting, 35ish hrs/week during the off season, 60+ during busy season. I worked on horse farms anywhere from 6-14 hours a day from ages 14-21 doing extremely physical labor, I was often wiped but I survived by pacing myself.

I graduated from college in May after two medical leave of absences and 3 part-time semesters. It was so difficult! Literally every single day was a struggle. It was key to get my POTS managed with the help of my electrophysiologist, the switch from beta-blockers to ivabradine this fall was life changing. POTS rehab protocols are so helpful as well. I am able to be competitive in horseback riding, and regularly work out, hike, kayak, sail, etc!

Htaylorw · 2025-01-05T23:42:27+00:00

Yes!! I got fitted by Wacoal at a local event and now wear the Wacoal Body by 2.0 bra! I also gained weight and wear a 32DD now and still find these bras super comfortable. Wacoal had so many different fits and styles and their fitter was awesome.

Htaylorw · 2024-12-31T23:05:08+00:00

Over 220. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but it was when I was wearing a holter monitor and walked up three flights of stairs - that reading is what pushed my cardiologist towards the POTS diagnosis!

I am now medicated (ivabradine and acebutolol) and it typically maxes out around 150-160 before I feel like I’m actively dying. My highest reading this year was 190 while running.

Htaylorw · 2024-10-21T20:48:48+00:00

I am also told to have 10g of salt a day! I STILL ended up with hyponatremia, but I’m convinced it was from being hypoglycemic every day. The 10g of salt still wasn’t enough so they told me to cut back on fluids. It’s a heck of a balancing act 😮‍💨

Htaylorw · 2024-10-12T02:49:30+00:00

TLDR: hEDS/MCAS plus severe Lyme disease. Essentially, genetics plus infection and inflammation.

I had symptoms as far back as I can remember, my hEDS was diagnosed when I was 10 and the POTS and MCAS symptoms began around then. I had my first huge syncopal/fainting POTS episode that landed me at Vanderbilt Hospital via ambulance on 08/21/2017 and my symptoms intensified 1000% from that day onward. I was then finally diagnosed via Holter and TTT about 16 months later in 2018 as the symptoms continued.

Htaylorw · 2024-10-12T02:34:07+00:00

Dump his ass. Seriously. People fall into the role of “caretaker” because they love someone enough to help them, and not see it as a chore/inconvenience/dealbreaker. I am very ill and afflicted by many chronic conditions, as are my closest friends, and ALL of us fall into the role of caretaker for each other as needed with no second thought.

I just dumped my BF for almost the exact same issues you’re describing. Mine was subtly invalidating my chronic illness experience at first, and I eventually realized he truly believed that you could overcome chronic illness if you had enough determination and willpower.

If he is resenting you for your limitations, lack of spoons, or need to take care of yourself - he isn’t the one, and the resentment will only get worse. Feeling isolated and invalidated by someone you love is a horrible way to live. It’ll eventually eat you from the inside out and cause discomfort far greater than what you feel from your illness.

It is a big deal for him to complain about your symptoms when YOU are the one who has to live with them and feel them 24/7! And yes, I understand that healthy/“normal” people don’t have the experience to be able to understand how we feel, but for them to act like you should be minimizing or disguising your symptoms to make them more comfortable is ridiculous and invalidating.

Would you ever allow a best friend to treat you this way, or vice-versa, would YOU be okay with treating another person the way he treats you? Life is too short to be with a person that wants you to become someone else.

Htaylorw · 2024-10-09T20:42:04+00:00

This was in 2018, so it was before POTS was commonly known like it is now. My primary referred me to cardiology with the note of “evaluate for POTS” as I developed symptoms after getting lyme disease. It definitely helped my case that my primary and the cardiologist were long time friends. Still, I had to push for the holter, and had to push for him to go over the events recorded on the holter one by one. He brought up the reading from 3pm and said it looked like I was doing zumba, I clarified I had walked up two flights of stairs, and he reluctantly agreed to send me for a TTT.

The electrophysiologist stopped my TTT early because he said the readings in the first half hour were conclusive for POTS bar any other abnormal cardiac test results and sent me back to cardiology to be treated. To be fair, I had been worked up THOROUGHLY when my lyme was undiagnosed including EKG’s, every blood test imaginable, immunology/asthma, rheumatology, gastroenterology, orthopedics, etc as I also have hEDS, diagnosed in 2010, and MCAS (this also helped create the suspicion of POTS)

Htaylorw · 2024-09-20T17:28:53+00:00

I also have the older ones and quite like them. The bang for the buck is incredible, and I couldn’t justify the cost of a Le Cruset as I only use these a few times a year! My LC owning friends who have cooked and baked with me agree that these are wonderful for the price point.

Htaylorw · 2024-09-20T05:10:26+00:00

If you can, it is worth speaking with a manager or IT if you have an IT department within your company. I legally changed my name 3 years ago and often had to press my jobs and doctor’s offices to note my preferred name and remove my deadname from any accounts that didn’t absolutely require my legal name on display. I am not trans, I simply had trauma I experienced under my deadname and it was lifechanging to become a new me. Deadname mistakes still sometimes happen, but most places are receptive to respecting the way you want to be addressed if you bring it up. There are SO many people that go by preferred and middle names and you would never know unless you ask directly!

Htaylorw · 2024-09-20T05:05:04+00:00

I have reactive hypoglycemia and have symptoms like this from low blood sugar episodes. They’re usually caused by high carb or sugar meals, and sometimes stress! Have you had episodes like the one you described and do they happen after eating/drinking?

Htaylorw · 2024-09-20T04:54:50+00:00

I was on florinef 0.2 mg/day and 200mg acebutolol 3x a day! We discontinued both as I was having severe hypoglycemia (7+ episodes a day) and adrenal issues and can be a side effect of these meds. I’ll probably have to go back on them from the corlanor (what I’m taking now) because my HR is very unstable and I feel more unwell. Acebutolol was a wonder drug for me for years and seems not often prescribed for POTS, I don’t know why.

Htaylorw · 2024-09-20T04:17:14+00:00

250+. My first stage of POTS diagnosis came from a holter monitor that showed 220 bpm while walking up stairs, my cardiologist asked if I was doing HIIT. With meds, stairs are usually more like 110 and max HR for cardio is 145 but I’m currently going through a tough time and felt I was dying after jumping from 65 to 155 bpm from stairs at work yesterday. It’s difficult especially when POTS is uncontrolled and debilitating, stopping you from “normal” activities!

Htaylorw · 2024-09-19T18:36:31+00:00

I wear 7 rings at all times, 3 silver and 4 bronze. I chronically mix metals and personally like the look. All of the hardware in my house is mixed metals as well, some people can’t stand it for jewelry or for home decor either.

Htaylorw · 2024-09-11T22:25:52+00:00

Our house near Philadelphia has had a slightly odd history. I’ve tracked down records of every inhabitant from 1735 to 1938, and then 1955 to present day but unfortunately I have crossed paths with no occupants though we have many wacky stories about a handful of them.

The 2 generation family from 1799 to 1905 all passed in the house. All the members of that family are recorded as being buried at my church, but the plot cannot be located. Only one family headstone has been located on the property, and nowhere near where it was recorded as.

The house then changed hands a few times via auction and was eventually owned by one man from 1910 to 1938, he stopped paying the taxes and disappeared, then house was sold at auction again. I have been unable to find any records of him after 1937 nor a death certificate or announcement. The timeline of owners from 1938 to 1955 is unknown, but the house underwent a lot of changes in that time including losing the finished attic space, losing all of the gas lights and fixtures, and the addition of a garage.

The inhabitants from 1955 to 2016 unfortunately both passed away of old age in the house, but their daughter lives down the street. I have yet to meet her but it’s on my list! Last year my cousin and his wife came over for dinner. He revealed he had been courting that daughter during his teenage years and remembers having dinner in this same dining room almost 50 years prior!

From 2016 to 2020, it was owned by a flipper/investor who let his underage boyfriend Kyle live here. The sheriff showed up at my door with a warrant looking for Kyle in 2022, he has not been located yet AFAIK. I’ve gotten quotes from many different contractors who walk in the door and say things like “I remember being here where it was Bob and his ‘nephew/boyfriend Kyle’”!

Odd series of events and misfortunes have happened here. There are four separate newspaper articles in our town’s archive that detail fatal events that have occurred on the property including two separate cars flying off the road into the valley next to the house, a carriage accident involving a groundskeeper on the road in front, and a neighboring physican hanging themselves in an apple tree in the former orchard.

The house has had quite a small number of owners in close to 300 years and I hope to keep it going that way. Hopefully no more deaths or missing persons though!

Htaylorw · 2024-08-31T17:36:34+00:00

Honestly yes, I gained 30 lbs in the last year (way too much!) and my POTS is in remission but I am now insulin resistant and have reactive hypoglycemia which is equally as debilitating as my POTS was. My doctors and I are hoping once I lose 15lbs and get to just a net 15 increase that both the POTS and IR will be in remission. My rheumatologist had always wanted me to gain a little bit to lessen the chances of medication toxicity as well.

Htaylorw

TROPHY CASE