On February 8^th, I finally started care with a new cardiologist who was highly recommended to me by a spoonie friend with POTS: Nichole from Undiagnosed Warrior. Unfortunately, he’ll be moving to Kaiser in about 3-6 months… the one place I can’t possibly follow him to!

(If you aren’t familiar with the healthcare of America, we have private insurance companies that let you see almost any doctor. You usually aren’t tied to a specific hospital or network of doctors. Kaiser is different. If you have Kaiser insurance, you can only see the doctors in a Kaiser hospital/network; if you don’t have Kaiser, you cannot see Kaiser doctors or use their hospital. I do not have Kaiser.)

Why did I say “finally started” with a new cardio? Well, I’ve been having a lot of problems with my old cardiologist. I’ve been seeing him since my POTS diagnosis (he’s the one that gave me the Dx), and have always left each appointment with a “I don’t know about this” attitude. Dan also didn’t have much confidence in my old doctor, and we were struggling with my POTS a lot. Every time I went in, I felt like my concerns weren’t listened to. I would tell him I was still extremely dizzy and he would just reiterate that my “numbers are fine” and not come up with anything. A few times, he suggested that I get evaluated for ear problems. My ear specialist is almost positive that my ears are fine, and I’d tell my cardio that, and his responses always felt very similar to “it’s in your head.” The final straw was when I tried to mention my freezing toes.

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