#tilt table

Ah yes! Thanks for y'all's concern!

Even though fainting and going 48 hours without coffee (actually the worst) was not exactly fun, we do believe it gave us the data we needed for when we meet with our specialist. The tech and nurse we had were very nice and definitely made it feel like a productive trip.

Hi all! So on Tuesday, I had my first tilt table test to confirm my previous diagnosis of POTS (which was diagnosed through a Holter monitor), and also to check my blood pressure (Specifically, whether or not it dropped when I stand).

So! Here is how it all went down, for anyone who is going to have a test, or is just curious about the process:

So first, the nurse brought me to the room where the test would be. There was one other nurse there, too, to observe and help if needed. Nurse #1 asked me to put my things down on a different bed and had me sit on the tilt table. I kept my own clothes on, but I’ve seen accounts from others in which they needed to put on a gown. 

She explained the process and how the test would work. She also gave me an IV port in my left arm, but did not give me any medications or anything yet. The IV was for “just in case,” in the event that I needed fluids. This came in handy. After the IV, she placed some HR monitors on my chest, an O2 monitor on my finger, and a BP cuff on my right arm. Then I laid back on the table, and she strapped me in– the straps weren’t tight, just a safety measure in case I passed out (they don’t want you to fall), and my arms were over the straps not under them so it wasn’t very claustrophobic.

The test was /supposed/ to work like this: 10 minutes laying down flat, 40 minutes in the supine or upright position (at 70 degrees, so not quite fully upright but it feels like it), and then 10 more minutes at the end laying flat. I spent my first 10 minutes perfectly fine, chilling, laying down. The BP cuff monitored my BP every two minutes. Then the nurse told me she was going to turn on the tilt table. 

Right away, I felt a bit dizzy. It wasn’t too bad. The nurse requested that I tell her when I feel symptoms, so I let her know. I also told her when it passed, which it did in a few seconds. I stayed upright for a few more minutes, and felt dizzy again. I let her know, she noted it, printed an EKG reading, typed some things. The dizziness passed. This happened once more a few minutes later, too. I was able to see my own heart rate out of the corner of my eye, but I tried not to look at it too much. 

The third time I got dizzy, I let the nurse know that it wasn’t passing. I started feeling worse and worse, more and more out of breath. She took my blood pressure and printed an EKG, and I began feeling nauseated. I asked her if she could tilt me back down, which she did. Just before she lowered the table, my BP dropped significantly, and I felt like I was going to throw up. The other nurse brought a garbage can. When I was laying down, I was really out of it, breathing really hard, sweating, feeling terrible. One of the nurses unstrapped me and held my legs up while the other one started a saline drip into that IV I mentioned earlier. I’m not sure if I passed out or not, since I was laying down with my eyes closed. Eventually, the second nurse told me I should start feeling better soon as my BP had come back up. He was right; after a few minutes, I felt better, the IV was helping, and I could feel my limbs again.

We let the IV drip continue and finish, and I wasn’t allowed to sit up until I regained all the feeling in my hands and legs and my BP was steady. Obviously, they didn’t tilt me back up– once you “fail” the test, it’s over, so don’t worry about having to do it again. I was given a ginger ale (with an option of water too), and they double checked my vitals to make sure I was good before letting me leave. 

I wasn’t given any medications or anything to stimulate a reaction, but I’ve heard that some people are given artificial adrenaline or other similar medicines to force a reaction. This was not the case in my experience, it was a simple test overall. I felt much better after the saline IV. Overall, it wasn’t awful. Obviously, I could have gone without passing out, but it was necessary to get the data we needed. So yeah!