u/wahlburgerz

My dad lives in a small, one bedroom upstairs apartment and his immediate downstairs neighbor smokes like a chimney inside her unit and the smell travels up to my dad’s living area and imbues all his clothes and belongings with the smell, and he hates it.

I’ve read a few threads about which models are best for cigarette smoke (specifically looking out for thicker carbon filters and true HEPA filters) but most of the discussions are around smokers trying to find an air purifier for their own space, which seems to call for pretty heavy duty purifiers that are definitely out of my dad’s price range. I wonder if we could get away with a more mid-range unit since the source of the smoke is not in his actual space?

I appreciate any recommendations, the situation really upsets my dad, he’s not in a position where he can just leave and the apartment complex has no interest in enforcing their no smoking policy with his neighbor.

Edit: Located in the US, I don’t have the exact square footage of his apartment but it is very small, he wants two air purifiers (one for living room/kitchen, one for bedroom), looking to spend around $80 per unit

I’ve never noticed any visual cues of blood pooling in my legs, but sometimes my hands get noticeably red/purple and my veins protrude a bit, most regularly after a shower but occasionally when I’m up and moving around too strenuously.

I’ve had symptoms for three years, but the blood pooling is new and prompted me to go to urgent care, which finally got the ball rolling in seeking a diagnosis. I got referred to a vascular specialist and they wanted to check my upper body for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and my legs for any blood clots (leg pain was another complaint of mine,) so they ordered upper and lower ultrasounds: “US Lower Extremity Veins Bilateral” and “Extremity Arterial Study Including Digits.” Both tests came back totally unremarkable and the vascular specialist said I could see them as needed, but that was the end of it.

So, out of curiosity since I only see people mentioning blood pooling in their legs, does anyone else only experience blood pooling in their hands/arms, and not their legs and feet?

Levi & Korsinsky want me to submit a downloaded report of my Facebook data to show what information Facebook may have gained from third-party websites, specifically Coursera in this case.

They want an export of “all available information excluding data logs” from the Information and Permissions section of Facebook, but doesn’t that also give them access to a lot of additional information that’s not relevant like my post history and private messages?

Any reason I shouldn’t provide them the information to “strengthen my claim?”

This post is partially a vent/rant and partially looking for support.

I finally got to see a cardiologist today and I have mixed feelings. I felt horrible directly after my appointment and I cried in the parking lot. I’ve had symptoms for three years after having had Covid and was just finally able to get the ball rolling in getting my symptoms taken seriously. I went into my appointment super prepared with notes and heart rate data and my preparation just felt pointless.

The intake nurse was a bit callous to start and it totally threw me off my script for the rest of the appointment. I kept asking her to take my vitals while I was still standing so the doctor could see the postural effect, and it was like pulling teeth because I guess that was throwing her off her own script. My standing heart rate was 159bpm and my BP was actually only 112/78, which surprised me because normally my sitting BP is around 140/90 at my annual physicals (nerves, it comes down to normal 120/80 when they re-check further into the appointment.) I was feeling very shaky and unwell, partly from standing and partly from nerves. My HR only went down to 100bpm once I laid down and she did the EKG, which is higher than normal because of the nerves. My resting HR when lying down is normally in the 60-70bpm range. EKG was overall normal.

So, by the time the doctor came in, all my preparation was out the window. My mouth was dry, I was shaky, I couldn’t think when he asked me questions. Based on what I was able to tell him, the first thing he mentioned was indeed POTS, but I’m not sure he’s actually very well-versed on the condition beyond that because while he did say there is no cure, in terms of symptom management he only mentioned medication and drinking enough water; when I asked about increasing sodium, he said “most people get enough in their diet and it’s not a concern.” No mention of compression, at all. I had heart rate data from my Apple Watch to show him (I get these episodes during tachycardia where my HR dips significantly lower for one reading and then bounces back up, sometimes more than once, and I was asking if that was indicative of skipping heartbeats,) and he basically brushed it off and said the watches weren’t very reliable. I didn’t bother showing him the multi-week activity log I kept of my HR and symptoms.

There’s a few other things (he wanted to blame my blood sugar at first, but I’m not even prediabetic and the insulin resistance I do have is well managed by Metformin,) but ultimately, I felt pretty dismissed by his demeanor and I’m not sure how equipped he specifically is to continue my care because he didn’t even know about supplementing sodium, but I did walk away with orders for more tests and he affirmed my symptoms present as POTS, so that’s definitely not nothing.

I’m going back tomorrow to get a 24hr Holter monitor put on and then he also ordered a stress echo with dobutamine and a tilt-table. He also prescribed me 50mg of Toprol XL (metoprolol succinate) to be taken at bedtime.

I’m a little apprehensive to start the medication; I told him my resting HR while asleep is already in the 50s and he said it could be “30 or 40 and that’d be fine.” Can anyone share their experience with extended-release metoprolol? Specifically starting at 50mg? Is that high or normal?

I’m hesitant about the stress echo with the dobutamine too, I’m not sure why he ordered one with the medication instead of having me on a treadmill. Does anyone have any experience with that, that they could share? I’m not sure whether or not the tilt-table will have medication too, I have to wait and hear back from a bigger hospital further away.

I’m grateful to at least walk away with the tests/prescription you’d expect, so at least my symptoms were taken seriously and I’m on the right track, I just felt buffeted by the whole experience being so in-the-door/out-the-door and not feeling like he really cared to listen. I always walk away from appointments feeling like I came across as such a foolish, nervous wreck and I feel so stupid after. I guess I just needed to vent to people who get it. My dad drove me to the appointment and he was not very supportive of me being upset and it just made me feel more like shit.

I posted in a medical subreddit looking for advice interpreting some bloodwork and every single comment mentioning POTS gets immediately downvoted, even the ones where I linked scientific studies. I’ve seen other posts in that sub where the same thing happens.

Comments I received included: “Loose weight, exercise, and start eating better. There's no smoking gun in your blood work for why you're exhausted all the time. That isn't going to make you feel better without making serious structural changes to your routine. POTS is a bullshit functional diagnosis, like many other bullshit functional diagnosis. You gain nothing for being "diagnosed" with POTS. You will feel better when you modify your habits,” and “Yeah POTS is bullshit and I roll eyes at people with it in their medical record. Along with all the other tiktok diseases. If you think getting a diagnose of POTS is going to make you feel better and have more energy and whatever else the fuck you're stupid. It's just going to be another scape goat you use to avoid real change. That's what it is.”

Their utter distain and vitriol is so disgusting.