Posts by Nicole Hernandez9

Man, I never thought I’d be the one posting on this forum, but life doesn't exactly ask for permission. Someone incredibly, incredibly close to me is dealing with a renal cell carcinoma with metastases—it's everywhere. Anyway, he went through surgery, he was actually feeling great, and then he gets prescribed Votrient. After just the first dose, he hits bradycardia; his pulse dropped to about 30. He ended up in the hospital, currently in cardiology, and they’re going to install a pacemaker (whatever the right term is, sorry). So, here we go. I really need to know, what has your experience been with this specific drug? The cardiologists are completely baffled that he was even prescribed such a heavy hitter given his heart history, and the oncologists are stunned by how violently he reacted to it. Honestly, I'm losing my mind. When they first approved the medication, he was actually ecstatic—which, aside from the fact that he isn't in pain right now, is the most important thing to me. Please, if you have any stories or experiences, share them!
To everyone else who has lost loved ones to this horrific disease, I am sending my deepest, most heartfelt condolences.

I honestly can’t stand doctors who immediately write everything off as being "all in your head." It is incredibly difficult to convince someone struggling with anxiety that their physical symptoms aren't real just because they've been labeled as anxious.
I went through hell with actual, tangible physical symptoms, and nobody even considered anxiety as a possibility.
I saw an ophthalmologist, a cardiologist, an internist, an ENT, and even a neurologist for a brain MRI, only to have them eventually tell me, "Oh, don't worry, you're physically fine, you're just anxious..." which is ridiculous, especially since I've only had about five panic attacks total.
My stance is always that a person needs a full medical workup before anyone dares to say it isn't physical. For me, the anxiety is psychosomatic—it's constant and manifests physically.

I know a girl who was constantly dealing with dizziness and passing out for several minutes at a time, and people just told her it was psychological. She ended up paying for an MRI on her own, and they discovered an aneurysm, or whatever the term is... So, please, take care of yourself. If your body is actually healthy after testing, then sure, go see a psychiatrist.