I just wanted to let everyone know I had a CT scan with oral and IV contrast done yesterday of my abdomen and pelvis. That barium “apple smoothie” (YEAH RIGHT!!) was soooo nasty. I’ll write more about this test at a later time in case any of you ever have to get it. I should get results by the end of the week, but it might not be until early this week. I talked to my doctor at Mayo and he suggested I try a beta blocker called Nadalol. This prescription can’t get approved quick enough — my sitting up resting pulse today is 122. Imagine how your heart would be beating if you were extremely nervous or excited and running a marathon at the same time. That’s how it feels today just sitting. It’s impossible to ignore and also makes it impossible to do anything to distract yourself. Yuck! I’ll let you guys know more when I hear from my local doctor! I’m pretty worn out, but I’m trucking along. 
Also, my beautiful sister is engaged! Yay.
16 ounces of nasty
My husband had to drink one of those recently for a test…his was banana flavored. He said it was pretty lousy
So gross! I think banana possibly sounds even nastier than mine. I had to drink 2 of those bad boys. I’d almost rather they stuck a tube down my throat and got it into my stomach that way!
ugh, i have had to drink WAY too much barium in my life. gross! i feel for you
congrats to your sister!
thanks
and that’s no good about all that barium you’ve drank!
Congratulations to your sister. Hope your test results are good.
Thanks!
My barium swallow liquid was blue and aniseed flavoured. AWFUL. Hope your test results are speedy and helpful!
Okay, you win with the aniseed! What the heck?
What did he say was different about this beta blocker? I didn’t like metoprolol for sure! Atenolol is my current one but have goose bumps size of Texas most of the time and some other strange things. I haven’t been on it long enough to say too much though. Are you on one now? i can’t remember if you were…
Nadalol is long acting so I’d only need to take it once a day. He suggested I start at 10mg. I guess they only come in 20mg pills though, so I’d need to split one in half. I LOVED propanolol, it just may have caused my internal bleeding. If it did, I’m literally 1 in 100,000 or so according to the clinical trials. I had energy and my heart rate was sooo well controlled! Midodrine (not a beta blockers — it increases blood pressure) gave me goose bumps for a good 3 weeks before it finally stopped! What didn’t you like about metoprolol?
Metoprolol did an awesome job controlling my sitting heart rate. Brought my standing heart rate down and controlled it much better than without. But it was still high enough that I was still experiencing pre-syncope, palpitations, etc. I still had a headache every day and all the other grand symptoms of POTS. Only thing it really did was help me sit a little longer but that just let my abdominal issues get worse. The real problem is that when I laid, it brought my resting heart rate down too. I don’t know if the pill caused my circulation issues or not but IF I woke up on my back, I couldn’t feel my legs or my arms nor did I have control of them–paralyzed and mentally panicked because of it. I got to where I slept with my body propped up by pillows and my cell phone in my hand. Woke up many times like this and if I happened to be alone it was quite scary. I took half of 25mg morning and night. I cut it even in half of half trying to see if that would help but I still seemed to loose some circulation. Laying is a place I should be able to get peace so this did not work for me. Maybe I should have paired it with something else I don’t know. But the cardiologist and I decided to just try a different one first. So far, this one allows me to sit. Doesn’t help with pre-syncope too much I got to hit the floor/sit far too often, still can’t stand still. Seem to do ok with brief standing as long as I am moving. Get tired quickly though. Overall so far atenolol is better than not taking a beta blocker. I do have frequent loss of feeling in a couple of toes or fingers but it is not entire limbs. I haven’t woke up feeling paralyzed. I’m not entirely sure both the beta blockers are the cause of the itch you and I have discussed. Both cause those nasty goose bumps and colder extremities than without a bb. Trying to track symptoms and possible correlations is just hard!!!
That has to be so scary waking up without feeling in your limbs! It’s insane you just have to accept parts of your body will occasionally go numb.
I’m sure eventually a doctor will find the right “cocktail” of meds. Lol
That sounds very challenging–I’m thinking of you!
There is nothing to make barium palatable. :p
So I’ve learned! I’d almost rather they just gave me a shot of extremely gag-worthy barium than trying to mix it with all that stuff and prolonging the agony of drinking it. I guess then it might not coat the stomach the same though.
Yeah, they need to volume to get into all of the nooks and crannies. I’ve had the plain stuff…. it is bad. I’m not sure I would ever have thought of apple though… *cringe*