Due to my bout with dysautonomia/POTS, I had to step down as pastor of First Baptist Moss Bluff, Louisiana, at the end of February 2013, and my family & I moved to Norman, Oklahoma.  While we are still very much in the process of getting settled, I thought I should post an update because of the dramatic improvement I have seen as a result of the move.  (NOTE: while there is probably ample opportunity for some “I moved to God’s country — the home of the Sooners”-type humor, I will avoid that — for the most part! 😉

Let me describe my condition before we moved.  I had been very ill with POTS for months.  I could not stand for more than 20-30 seconds without getting dry heaves.   Every week or two I would have one or two “better” days wherein I could stand for 5 minutes or so before getting sick.  The day before we moved, I tried to help with packing, since there was so much to be done.  I emptied one drawer of my dresser into a moving box, and promptly began getting sick.  I had to lay down on the floor (our bed had already been moved) and stayed there, feeling helpless, for the rest of the day while Cheryl and some good friends from church packed our belongings.  While I was very grateful for the help of these friends, I cannot begin to express how humiliated and helpless I felt laying there like that, so nauseated that I couldn’t even lift a finger to move my own possessions.  We wondered how I might tolerate the trip the next day.

We slept that night at the home of a friend.  Cheryl got up early to do a few final things at the house, and I got up just before time to leave, and did well, although a bit queasy.  With the seat laid back in the car, I was just fine on the all-day trip.  In fact, when we got out for a couple of meal stops along the way, I stood for a minute or two and seemed to do ok.

We found the same thing to be true when we arrived in Norman.  I was able to be up and about for a few minutes, and although Cheryl and our friends who helped us move would not allow me to do much, I felt like I could have helped.   But what would I feel like the next day?  Typically after a good day or two, I would “pay for it” with some bad days.

But after two-plus weeks in Norman, I have not had ANY “bad days.”  This is extraordinary, considering what I have been through for the past 6 months.  I have documented a continuous pattern of a couple of “better” days, always followed by days in which I was so sick I either couldn’t get out of bed, or if I did, I would get sick after 20-30 seconds.  But after months of that malicious pattern, I have not had a single such experience of that kind of sickness in Oklahoma yet!  In fact, after a few days of feeling so much better, I went out to walk on the trail in the park next to our condo, and promptly went just over 2 miles — further than I have walked in months.  I have since repeated that walk several times, with no “crash” the days after.

It is not that I am totally “well” after the move.  I wear a heart rate monitor, and I have seen that for the most part, my heart rate still elevates when I stand, so that basic POTS symptom is still there. Although I will say that even this has not been as severe the past week or so.  I went to worship Sunday, and visited with the pastor and some friends after the service.  I kept looking at my monitor, and my heart rate never got very high — it hovered around 100-105 or so, whereas it typically gets up to 120-130 pretty quickly when I am standing.  So I’ll definitely keep my eye on that the next few days.

And I still get tired very quickly.  For example, if I move a few boxes into the house, or even just sort through some files, I have to rest for a while.  I think some of that may be due to deconditioning.  I have spent the greater portion of the last year horizontal, so it may take my body some time to get used to being on my feet, and active, again.

But it is hard to think that there may not at least be some environmental element which was exacerbating the POTS symptoms for me in Louisiana: whether it was the low elevation and resulting higher atmospheric pressure, or the humidity, or the weather fronts which would often spur “bad spells”, or whatever.   In fact, when I looked up some articles on “POTS and altitude” today, I found this citation on the Wikipedia site about POTS:

Changes in environment

Some patients report that symptoms worsen with changes in barometric pressure (for instance, before a thunderstorm) and changes from outdoors to indoors (it is presumed that barometric pressure is higher inside) and depending on weight of clothes and coverage. These patients may find relief by moving to a new location where barometric pressure is relatively stable, e.g. San Diego

Southern Louisiana, where we lived (just north of Lake Charles) is a very low-lying area just off the Gulf coast; and we certainly had many fronts pass through.  And I did notice that often the fronts would precipitate a bad POTS spell.  So, it is more than a little comforting to know that I am not a total “mental case”, and that there is evidence that geography may well have an effect on the intensity of POTS symtoms.  The higher elevation, lower humidity, etc. in Oklahoma may be helping my symptoms.  But POTS is a relatively new diagnosis, and there is still much unknown about it.  And we don’t know how long this “good spell” is going to last.  Is it indeed a result of geography?  Or perhaps the excitement of being in what is truly one of my favorite places in the world, and it is going to “wear off” in time?  Will I still experience some more “bad spells” in the future?  All this remains to be seen.  All I know is that I am now starting week 3 of feeling markedly better since we moved to Oklahoma; I am grateful for it; and I will take it one day at a time.  The present day is all that any of us ever truly have anyway; POTS has aided me in learning to walk with God the proverbial “one day at a time”, for which I am thankful.  What tomorrow holds, has yet to be seen.  But I wanted to post this update, both to give my friends who are praying for me an opportunity to rejoice, and also in hopes that it might help those who are dealing with, or treating POTS to gain insight on what might help.  In my case, I do seem to have found some improvement with a change of geography!