u/Lamake91

Like so many women who share their stories on here every day, I’ve had my fair share of experiences with medics not taking my symptoms or illnesses seriously. I could probably write a book on the last few years alone.

However, I’ve had such a positive experience the past 24 hours that I wanted to share it.

For the past while I’ve been unwell with chest pain, tightness, breathlessness etc. I put it down to my asthma and got on with it. Things have been gradually worsening, so I went to my GP yesterday morning. She really listened to me and considered what I had to say. I’m a POTS patient but I explained that these symptoms felt very different to what I usually experience with POTS.

She immediately became concerned and phoned my cardiologist, who managed to squeeze me in yesterday afternoon.

He saw me and straight away said, “I know you know your body better than anyone due to POTS, and I believe you when you say this is different to your usual symptoms.” It probably helped that I was already extremely breathless from the short walk into the clinic to be fair. However, that one sentence meant the world to me.

He ordered scans, tests and monitoring, called ahead and asked them to fit everything in urgently. By yesterday evening, all the initial tests were done and I was leaving wearing a Holter monitor.

He’s also urgently involving my respiratory consultant and consulting two other doctors in different specialties who recently started me on new medications, to make sure there isn’t an interaction or something else contributing to what’s happening.

Hopefully I’ll have some answers soon. My cardiologist has marked everything as very urgent, so for now it’s a case of waiting for the results.

I just wanted to share a positive medical experience from the last 24 hours. It’s been an absolute whirlwind, but I’m incredibly grateful to have doctors who listened to me and believed me. I didn’t have to fight to convince them that something wasn’t right. They took what I was telling them seriously from the very beginning.

What can sometimes feel incredibly rare can also be incredibly wonderful. I just wish every patient had the same experience with every doctor.

I’ve been diagnosed with POTS for 3 years now, although there’s evidence it’s likely been there since 2017–2018. It significantly worsened after I caught COVID.

I’m a fainter and pre-fainter. It happens often and it’s infuriating. During my last faint I experienced severe respiratory difficulties and I’ve been traumatised ever since. Thankfully it happened in a hospital setting so urgent medical treatment was immediate.

I’ve been through plenty of heatwaves, including last year after another injury caused further autonomic dysfunction on top of POTs. Yet somehow, this year has been the most challenging for my POTS symptoms.

I’m overheating, shaking, my heart rate is 120–150 when I’m moving and worst of all my leg pooling is insane. By the evenings, simply standing causes my legs to pool so severely they look badly sunburnt and they’re painful. I’m following all the usual POTS advice: light clothing, rest, tripling my water intake and drinking 2–3 electrolyte drinks a day which does help with all of the above symptoms asides from the leg pooling.

The only thing that has helped the leg pooling is ice cold baths. I have an incredible inflatable bath that I use outdoors, so I sit in cold water under an umbrella for a couple of hours in the evenings and it helps massively. But I had a really busy day yesterday and couldn’t do it. My legs were pooling so badly by last night that it was painful to walk around the house. It happens every time I have to skip the cold bath.

With Irish Water warning of potential water shortages, I feel really guilty using the bath and hosepipe. It needs fresh water every day to stay cold enough to manage my symptoms. I’m also concerned they’ll issue a hosepipe ban.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? Especially for severe leg pooling?

​Hi everyone!

We’re delighted to welcome Aoife Harvey, founder of Women’s Health Dublin, for an Ask Me Anything (AMA) this Friday 8th of July!

Aoife Harvey is a Clinical Specialist Pelvic Health Physiotherapist based in Dublin, Ireland, with over 20 years of clinical experience and more than a decade specialising in pelvic health.

Following her own experience with pelvic floor symptoms during pregnancy and postpartum, Aoife developed a deep passion for women’s health. She now dedicates her work to supporting women through every life stage—from pregnancy and postnatal recovery to perimenopause and menopause—providing evidence-based, practical care.

Aoife runs a busy women’s health clinic in Dublin and is widely recognised for her engaging and accessible approach to education. Through her active social media platforms, she shares expert guidance on pelvic health, helping to break down stigma and empower women to take control of their bodies.

She has featured on Ireland’s breakfast television,primetime radio and podcasts, and spoken at events to audiences of thousands, delivering evidence-based education with a signature blend of humour, honesty, and real-life insight.

The areas that Aoife and her colleagues in Women’s Health Dublin specialise in:  

• Pelvic floor dysfunction
• Bladder and bowel concerns
• Painful sex
• Pregnancy-related pelvic pain
• Postnatal recovery
• Prolapse
• Endometriosis
• Menopause
• Chronic pelvic pain
• Exercise and rehabilitation after childbirth

Many of you will already know Aoife as she has over 44k followers on her social media, where she shares accessible, evidence based information on women’s health and pelvic health with tens of thousands of women across Ireland. Aoife’s instagram, Aoife’s Tiktok

AMA Guidelines

Please remember:

• This AMA is for general educational purposes only.
• Aoife cannot provide personalised medical advice, diagnose medical conditions, interpret scans or test results, or comment on individual cases.
• Please avoid sharing personal or identifying medical information in your questions.
• Keep all discussion respectful and in line with our community rules.

Aoife will begin answering questions on Friday, so get your questions in below!

A huge thank you to Aoife for taking the time to join our community, we’re delighted to have her here.

Following user requests, we are now allowing members to create their own custom flairs to represent their location and/or illnesses.

We ask that you please stick to the following format:

Location - Illness/Condition(s)
Example: Dublin - POTS, Migraine, PMOS

This helps keep flairs consistent and makes it easier for members to connect with others who may share similar experiences.

How to add or customise your user flair:

1. Go to the subreddit homepage.

2. Tap the three dots (•••) in the top right corner.

3. Select “Change user flair.”

4. Select “Add your own flair”.

5. Enter your chosen location and/or conditions using the format above.

6. Save your flair.

You can update your flair at any time if your circumstances or preferences change.

We’re delighted to announce that Aoife Harvey, founder of Women’s Health Dublin, will be joining us for an AMA on Friday, 10th July.

Women’s Health Dublin is a specialist physiotherapy clinic dedicated exclusively to women’s health, supporting women through every stage of life. From pelvic pain, bladder and bowel concerns, painful sex, pregnancy and postpartum recovery, to menopause and beyond, the clinic’s mission is to educate, support and empower women to live a life without limitations.

Many of you may already know Aoife from Instagram and TikTok, where she has built a community of over 45,000 followers, using her platform to share evidence based information and break down the stigma around women’s health.

We’re really looking forward to having Aoife with us and hope this AMA will give our community the chance to learn more, ask questions and have open conversations about topics that often don’t get enough attention.

Keep an eye out for our AMA thread in the next few weeks, where you’ll be able to submit your questions.

Please note: This AMA is for general information only. Aoife won’t be able to provide personalised medical advice, diagnose medical conditions or comment on individual cases.

With the recent approval of the bill to remove the mandatory 3 day waiting period for abortion care and with an increase in posts seeking advice and information about abortion services, we’d like to remind everyone of our subreddit’s stance.

As per our subreddit rules, we are firmly pro choice.

Abortion is healthcare. Every woman has the right to make informed decisions about her own body and healthcare and should be able to seek information and support without judgement, harassment or misinformation. No matter what healthcare situation a user needs advice on, all users are expected to engage in a respectful and judgement free manner, in accordance with our subreddit rules.

If you see anti choice comments, abusive remarks, misinformation or users attempting to shame others for their healthcare choices, please report them directly to the moderation team. It is important that you report these comments to us, as we may not see every discussion.

We will not tolerate users being disrespectful, hostile or ignorant towards another person’s right to choose the healthcare option that is best for them. Comments or behaviour that seek to intimidate, shame or harass users seeking abortion information or support will be removed and a permanent ban will be issued immediately.

This community is committed to providing a safe, supportive and respectful space for anyone seeking information about their reproductive healthcare options.

Kind Regards
r/IrishWomensHealth Mod Team

We’re implementing DEFCON 3 overnight as an emergency measure due to a very high volume of activity.

The situation in Belfast has generated exceptionally high and rapidly increasing traffic to the subreddit, alongside the usual brigading. We ask users to engage respectfully and to please utilise the report button where needed. The volume of activity has been extremely demanding and the mod team needs to get some rest.

Current DEFCON 3 restrictions:

- All posts will be sent to the mod queue for approval

- Commenting is restricted to well-established users only

We’ll review the situation in the morning and provide an update then.

Thanks for your patience and understanding,

r/Ireland Mod Team

Good morning everyone!

Céad míle fáilte and a warm welcome to our Dutch friends!

Today we’re participating in a cultural exchange with the lovely people over at r/thenetherlands

This thread is for the folks from r/thenetherlands to come over here and ask any questions they might have about Ireland, Irish culture, life here, our history, traditions, food, sport or anything else that comes to mind.

Our Dutch friends have their own thread for us over on r/thenetherlands, where we can ask questions and learn more about the Netherlands and Dutch culture. Here is the thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/thenetherlands/s/Spu7yEEf5h

These exchanges are a great opportunity for both communities to chat, share experiences, compare cultures and have a bit of craic along the way.

The Netherlands is just one hour ahead, so we’ll leave this thread up throughout the day to give everyone plenty of time to join in.

Please engage respectfully and within the rules of both subreddits! So welcome one and all and enjoy the exchange!

Go raibh maith agaibh,

The mod teams of r/ireland and r/thenetherlands

I’m on partial bedrest for health reasons and bored. What are some good podcast recommendations? I like murder mystery or something along those lines that grabs your attention. I also like audiobooks. Don’t mind something to have bit of a laugh, not being able to move and dealing with a lot of pain in this weather is a load is crap so I could do with cheering up.

Not necessarily malicious advice, just the kind that makes you stare into the distance afterwards.

I’m asking because a friend of my parents was over today, she’s in her 60s, and joked that “a good ride would sort out” my back issues.

For context, I have a severe back injury that causes extreme pain and neurological issues in my legs. I’m on high levels of morphine and it still barely touches it.

I’ve had some really fucking insulting and upsetting things said to me over the past few years about my health but that misogynistic comment genuinely takes the cake. I’m so drained by comments like this.

Ever since that up date happened the majority of the lots on the gallery are corrupted. Every single one of my mods is up to date and I check weekly, I’m a little OCD and use an excel sheet to keep track, I’ve done every check and trick including repairing the game. Nothing has worked!! Any suggestions? I despise marketplace.

Also to add, it’s intermittent. It happened a few minutes ago and now it’s back working but if I scroll down a fair bit it’ll become corrupted again. It’s very odd.

Edit to add: When I try to save my own lot it says “timed out during upload”. please check internet connection or try again in a minute”

My internet is fine and it’s all connected as normal.