Mom! [Somewhat OT]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Fri, 26 Nov 2004 20:37:04 -0500, Howard Berkowitz
wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

mlbriggs wrote:

I also faint easily, although once I started recognizing the
symptoms
of a fainting spell, I knew to lie down or get my head low,
etc, and
it
would go away. Before that, though, I would faint out cold
from mild
fevers or the flu. People found it alarming, but to me it was
a very
ordinary occurence.

How is your blood pressure?

Very normal, actually quite good. 110-120/70-80 range. When I feel
sick to my stomach, it might be dipping down, as I will often have
symptoms: cold sweats, lightheadedness, weakness, pounding heart.

Joyce

That could be at several levels. In the short term, they all fall
under what is called a "vasovagal reaction", which can be a
response to
something disturbing, or just to short-term stress. For example, I
almost passed out the first time I was to draw blood from a newborn
(by a heel stick). When the new medical students start to practice
giving injections to, and talking blood from, one another, there
are always a few that faint.

Through a period of my ex-wife's illness, there were a number of
times when an outpatient procedure got a bit out of hand and I was
pressed into service as a circulating nurse or the like. The only
time I became faint was when I had been on me feet for 20 hours or
so and not certain when I last ate.

OTOH, these symptoms also can be a deeper-seated phobic or panic
disorder. That doesn't fit the rest of your description. I have
classic phobic reactions when filling in financial forms -- taxes,
expense
reports, etc -- that will go into some faceless bureaucracy. Simply
looking at the blank form can give terrible reactions, where I've
gone into fire, rescued victims, and then stabilized them without
being
especially upset.

These symptoms could also indicate hypoglycemia. I am a type-II
diabetic, and, if my blood sugars get too low, my blood pressure
drops and I get the symptoms listed above (cold sweats,
lightheadedness, weakness, rapid heartbeat).

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGPfreeware 7.0.3 for non-commercial use http://www.pgp.com

iQA/AwUBQafofTMYPge5L34aEQKKbACfXadyrtgue6SHW7XlVt+0KT wrKtkAoOGF
4f+ndF1YT6SodbUwASOt4uTy
=Kcm6
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--
John F. Eldredge --
PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria

"Howard Berkowitz" wrote in message news:hcb-
OTOH, these symptoms also can be a deeper-seated phobic or panic
disorder. That doesn't fit the rest of your description. I have classic
phobic reactions when filling in financial forms -- taxes, expense
reports, etc -- that will go into some faceless bureaucracy. Simply
looking at the blank form can give terrible reactions, where I've gone
into fire, rescued victims, and then stabilized them without being
especially upset.

Now to me that is hilarious! And of course why I can make a living filling
out such forms for others.

Try to remember that most if not all the bureaucracy that will deal with
those forms is not just faceless. Or as I sometimes have to explain to
clients, we are feeding information to a computer. We have to feed it in a
manner it finds acceptable. Or it will sic humans on us.

Jo

In article , John F.
Eldredge wrote:

These symptoms could also indicate hypoglycemia. I am a type-II
diabetic, and, if my blood sugars get too low, my blood pressure
drops and I get the symptoms listed above (cold sweats,
lightheadedness, weakness, rapid heartbeat).

Certainly another possibility.

In article , "Jo Firey"
wrote:

"Howard Berkowitz" wrote in message news:hcb-
OTOH, these symptoms also can be a deeper-seated phobic or panic
disorder. That doesn't fit the rest of your description. I have classic
phobic reactions when filling in financial forms -- taxes, expense
reports, etc -- that will go into some faceless bureaucracy. Simply
looking at the blank form can give terrible reactions, where I've gone
into fire, rescued victims, and then stabilized them without being
especially upset.

Now to me that is hilarious! And of course why I can make a living
filling
out such forms for others.

Try to remember that most if not all the bureaucracy that will deal with
those forms is not just faceless. Or as I sometimes have to explain to
clients, we are feeding information to a computer. We have to feed it in
a
manner it finds acceptable. Or it will sic humans on us.

Sure. I'm fighting a situation with the State of Virginia, in which they
created an estimated return based on IRS reporting, but will not accept
the IRS information on state withholding. The state has shifted it to
commecial collection agencies.

I don't keep good records and can't substantiate this. Unfortunately,
it's apparently impossible to get a certified copy of a Form W-2 from
the IRS or Social Security Administration that contains the state
informations. Employers involved are either out of business or refuse to
provide it, saying "go to the IRS"

John F. Eldredge wrote:

These symptoms could also indicate hypoglycemia. I am a type-II
diabetic, and, if my blood sugars get too low, my blood pressure
drops and I get the symptoms listed above (cold sweats,
lightheadedness, weakness, rapid heartbeat).

Yes, I'm unclear as to whether those symptoms (which I can get easily
when I feel nauseous or have diarrhea) are from low blood pressure or
low blood sugar. One time I had those symptoms for quite a long period
of time while I was having a bad reaction to antibiotics. It wasn't an
allergic reaction, just too many courses of different antiobiotics in
too short a time, and I'd killed off all the good stuff in my intestines.
Result was cramping and the cold sweat/lightheadedness/weakness/rapid
heartbeat thing. I finally got scared and called the EMTs, who said my
blood pressure was too low and they recommended taking me to the ER. But
that time I gave blood they said I was having a low blood *sugar* episode,
due to the sudden loss of blood.

Actually, I once got low blood pressure from a medication I was trying,
so that when I stood up, I got that sudden going-black thing that people
get when they stand up too fast - but very intensely. I couldn't climb
stairs or anything like that, and my resting pulse rate was about 140.
(Clearly that was the wrong medication for me!) However, I didn't have
any cold sweats or weakness. So maybe that's the difference.

Any comments? I'd love to understand this better. (Howard, if you respond,
could you try to use lay language, or define technical terms? I'm not in
the medical field. Thanks!)

Joyce

Howard Berkowitz wrote:

I have classic
phobic reactions when filling in financial forms -- taxes, expense
reports, etc -- that will go into some faceless bureaucracy. Simply
looking at the blank form can give terrible reactions, where I've gone
into fire, rescued victims, and then stabilized them without being
especially upset.

I worked for a therapist who had something like this. She's a great
therapist, but cannot fill out the billing forms for her clients'
insurance - she would have major anxiety attacks from it, which makes
it kind of hard to earn money. Because most of her clients are on
disability or public assistance, she could not require them to do the
paperwork - she had to do it. So that became my job - boring, but good
money.

Joyce

In article ,
wrote:

Howard Berkowitz wrote:

I have classic
phobic reactions when filling in financial forms -- taxes, expense
reports, etc -- that will go into some faceless bureaucracy. Simply
looking at the blank form can give terrible reactions, where I've gone
into fire, rescued victims, and then stabilized them without being
especially upset.

I worked for a therapist who had something like this. She's a great
therapist, but cannot fill out the billing forms for her clients'
insurance - she would have major anxiety attacks from it, which makes
it kind of hard to earn money. Because most of her clients are on
disability or public assistance, she could not require them to do the
paperwork - she had to do it. So that became my job - boring, but good
money.

Seriously, I am trying to work out a compromise with the IRS where I
agree to have someone else handle my records. Crossing my fingers, I
think my field is recovering enough economically that I will have the
income to support that overhead. The last three years were very, very
bad.

Howard Berkowitz wrote:

Seriously, I am trying to work out a compromise with the IRS where I
agree to have someone else handle my records. Crossing my fingers, I
think my field is recovering enough economically that I will have the
income to support that overhead. The last three years were very, very
bad.

Wouldn't they let you hire an accountant to do all that?

Joyce

wrote in message
...
Howard Berkowitz wrote:

I have classic
phobic reactions when filling in financial forms -- taxes, expense
reports, etc -- that will go into some faceless bureaucracy. Simply
looking at the blank form can give terrible reactions, where I've gone
into fire, rescued victims, and then stabilized them without being
especially upset.

I worked for a therapist who had something like this. She's a great
therapist, but cannot fill out the billing forms for her clients'
insurance - she would have major anxiety attacks from it, which makes
it kind of hard to earn money. Because most of her clients are on
disability or public assistance, she could not require them to do the
paperwork - she had to do it. So that became my job - boring, but good
money.

Joyce

I had a chiropractor like that. The only one I ever really trusted to mess
with my back. She finally limited her practice to cash or check only. $25
per visit. No insurance forms etc. She just could not deal with it.

And Howard I owe you an apology. When you said it was a phobia I should
have given you a little credit. I've tried once or twice without success to
help someone who was truly phobic with their taxes. Unfortunately they
could not tolerate even enough to provide me with the information I needed
to help them. They would lose W-2'ss promptly on getting them, etc. A
rough thing to have to deal with.

Jo