Hello lovely nuggets. Two questions:
Which episode had the Cymru Connection for the first time?
Which episode featured the marvellous Cymru Connection jingle for the first time?
I'd love to listen to each. Thank you. ❤️
Because why bow out gracefully when you could just throw your toys out the pram just one last time?
Does anybody have examples of funny/cheeky racehorse names that slipped through the net? I know those that weren't allowed by the BHA, but curious to know any that slipped through.
35m, previously very active, blend of POTS/IST presentation, with main symptoms being exertional fatigue, persistent headache and episodic shortness of breath.
A few months ago I bought a recumbent exercise bike. I love it.
Yesterday, I went out for a very gentle stroll in the park, then sat down for a couple of hours to have a nice relaxing lunch, read my book and have a cuppa.
My average heart rate during this 2-3 hour period was 131.
Today, I cycled for an hour and a half on the bike, watched TV while doing so, resistance level 3 of 7, managing 32km before I started to feel a little out of breath.
My average heart rate during this period was 94. And the cardiac output, stroke volume, and blood flow to working tissue are all coupled to real metabolic work.
I know they're not for everybody with autonomic dysfunction, but if you're in a position to do gentle activity or more but you struggle with active exertion (especially with a postural element) or with the wraparound environment of exercise (e.g. hot changing rooms, travel to a venue etc.), I would strongly recommend treating yourself to a recumbent exercise bike.
I wanted to share something that's been genuinely useful for me in case it helps anyone else.
I'm about 3.5 years into post-viral persistent headache and 1 year into very bad autonomic related fatigue. I've struggled, like plenty of us based on regular posts here, with explaining how I'm doing to doctors in the 90 seconds you actually get with them, especially if it's a first appointment with them.
I built myself some simple Google Sheets trackers and interactive versions of questionnaires like the COMPASS-31 and Fatigue Severity Scale. Nothing fancy, just tools that let me log data without it feeling like a chore.
What I do each day ( takes me 30 seconds):
- Enter in my resting heart rate and HRV from my wristwatch (a simple, second hand Fitbit)
- Rate my daily fatigue and headache (my two main symptoms) on a simple 1-10 scale
- Note any medication or lifestyle changes (e.g. dose adjustment, started recumbent bike, etc.)
Then every so often, maybe every 4-6 weeks, I log my blood pressure and redo a COMPASS-31 or FSS.
Because I built interactive versions of those questionnaires myself, it takes a couple of minutes rather than faffing about with PDFs.
What I end up with over time:
- Charts showing trends at a glance, with medication and lifestyle changes annotated on the timeline
- A simple visual trend chart I can hand to a doctor instead of trying to verbally summarise months of symptoms
The tracking has also kept me motivated. I can see that my resting heart rate has been trending downward over the past few months and my HRV has been trending upward and I can see a nice lag from some of the interventions I've tried.
I'd be really happy to share these tools with anyone who wants to use them. They're just Google Sheets and web-based questionnaires, and you can adapt them however you like.
Just drop me a DM any time and I'll send them over.
Most of us with POTS are running on too little blood. Multiple imaging and tracer studies put the plasma volume deficit at roughly 10 to 20 per cent, and the body’s usual hormonal fix for that misfires in ways that make the shortfall self-perpetuating. That is why sodium, a nutrient the rest of the population is told to cut back on, sits at the top of almost every international guideline for POTS.
Eaten with enough water, salt draws fluid into the vascular compartment and expands plasma volume. More preload means a gentler reflex response on standing, so heart rate does not need to rise as steeply to keep you upright.
I don't want to use tablets and we've a nut allergy in the house, but I struggled to find a few healthy, tasty and lazy ways to get more salt into my diet so I've listed below a few meals/snacks get me salted up.
One tin of sardines in brine (about 90 g drained, brine is important, oil-packed are much less salty) tipped onto a toasted slice of sourdough with a squeeze of lemon, black pepper, and a scatter of parsley or chives. Omega-3s, vitamin D, calcium from the soft bones.
About 2.2g salt
150 g of full-fat cottage cheese tipped onto a plate, topped with a sliced tomato, cracked black pepper, a few basil leaves if you have them, and 3 or 4 seeded rye crackers (Ryvita Multigrain or similar) on the side. Roughly 18 g of protein for very little work.
About 1.8g salt
Thin layer of Marmite on a slice of buttered wholemeal toast, 30 g of grated mature Cheddar melted under the grill for two minutes, eaten with a sliced crisp apple alongside. The apple cuts through the salt and adds a little fibre.
About 2.5g salt
Stor 1 heaped teaspoon (about 20 g) of white shiro miso into a small amount of warm water until smooth, then fill the mug with boiling water.
About 2.5g salt
A 15-minute storecupboard pasta in which anchovies melt into garlicky oil and stop tasting fishy. Serves 2.
Cook 180 g of spaghetti in unsalted water until al dente, reserving a mugful of cooking water. Meanwhile, warm 3 tablespoons of olive oil over low heat, soften 3 thinly sliced garlic cloves for a minute, then add about 10 chopped anchovy fillets in oil (about 40 g) and half a teaspoon of chilli flakes; stir until the anchovies dissolve. Off the heat, add the zest of 1 lemon and a splash of pasta water to emulsify. Toss with the drained spaghetti, the juice of the lemon, 60 g of wild rocket and half of 25 g of grated Parmesan. Finish with the rest of the Parmesan, black pepper and a final anchovy per plate if you fancy it.
About 2.5g salt
One pan, 25 minutes, smoky paprika oil from the chorizo doing most of the work. Serves 3.
Fry 150 g of cooking chorizo, skinned and sliced, in 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a deep pan until the orange oil releases. Add 1 diced onion and cook until soft. Stir in 3 sliced garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika and 1 sliced red pepper; cook 2 minutes. Add a 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes, two 400 g tins of drained butter beans and half a tin of water; simmer 10 minutes. Stir in 200 g of baby spinach in handfuls until wilted. Finish with black pepper and a squeeze of lemon.
About 3.5g salt, and plenty of protein and fibre
Everything in one roasting tin. Serves 2.
Heat the oven to 200°C fan. Place a 200 g block of feta in the middle of an oven dish. Scatter 300 g of cherry tomatoes, 60 g of pitted green olives and 2 sliced garlic cloves around it. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, half a teaspoon of chilli flakes, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and black pepper. Bake 20 minutes, then make four wells in the tomatoes and crack 4 medium eggs into them. Return for 5 to 7 minutes until the whites are just set. Serve with 2 warm wholemeal pittas and a scatter of parsley.
About 4.5g salt