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From: clgarland@yahoo.com
I have been afflicted with episodes since I was a child. These attacks would be fainting (usually at the sight of blood).I had never seen the doctor. They were getting worse until 2 years ago.I would leave my nice warm car,stand in the cold to wait for a bus, then get in the warm bus, out I would go. I went to my doctor. She put me on a heart monitor, I went through ekg' and multiple other tests. She couldn't find anything wrong. I think do to the stress the attacks were getting worse. My doctor refered me to a cardialogist. I consulted with him. He told me of a tilt table test that could simulate my condition. He said that it would be a definitive test to see what my condition was. He said that after the test I could drive home and I would be fine. I went in for the test. It was administered by 2 technicians. They also told me that it was an easy test and that I would be fine. I had been injected with something (I don't remember what). They strapped me to the tilt table. On the first tilt nothing happened. On the second, I had one of my episodes. My heart rate dropped. My heart actually stopped. The technicians "freaked" a little and called for help. They hadn't seen anybody's heart stop on this test. I never lost consciousness. I was very light headed. After they lowered the table to horizontal I was fine within 10 -15 minutes (as usual for me). I was rolled to a recovery room and monitored for about 2 hours.The doctor came in and told me that he didn't want me to drive. He also told me that he was going to put me on a pill called Theophylline. He said that it was an allergy pill for heart patients (if I'm remembering correctly). The pill would help regulate my heart rate. He said that I could no longer have anything that would stimulate the heart rate. Folks, I have to tell you that it was hard to give up caffiene. It also hurt to give up chocolate. The first couple of months were hard. I started taking Theophylline on 5/10/2002. I have had 2 very minor spells when I first got up in the morning.According to the doctor, after I described the severity (or lack) of the spell. He thought that was great. I'm writing this to pass on what I have learned. I haven't actually had a spell (even minor) since 08/2002.