A Story of Success

Her name, Lindsey Lockhart. Her story, inspirational and heartwarming.

Lindsey moved from Eugene to Drain about two and a half years ago. She had never heard of Aviva Health and discovered the organization’s North County Clinic while searching for a provider who accepts both Oregon Health Plan and her husband’s insurance.

It only took one visit with Dr. Dilcher for Lindsey to know she was in the right hands.

Lindsey has dealt with anxiety and rapid heart rate her entire life. Symptoms can strike at a moment’s notice, whether she’s laying down to standing up. If the temperature becomes excessively high, her symptoms become erratic. When her heart rate elevated, she would not feel good and be forced to lay down. Nothing helped – Lindsey was bed-ridden, unable to live a healthy, happy life. She had been to many doctors before who always told her the same thing: “Your heart is fine. You just have anxiety.”

During her first visit to the North County Clinic, Lindsey explained her symptoms to Dr. Dilcher who said the issue might be postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). Dr. Dilcher is the first who really listened to her, Lindsey explained, and cared about what she was saying instead of just prescribing a pill.

Dr. Dilcher told Lindsey she wanted to run a few tests and bloodwork, both of which came back normal. Undeterred by those results, Dr. Dilcher sent Lindsey to OHSU for more testing. Dr. Dilcher’s persistence and experience paid off: The results came back positive for POTS. Lindsey said she cried when she got the news because it was such a relief to finally know the problem.

“Dr. Dilcher knows what she is doing, and I knew I was in great hands. I’ve had this issue my whole life and never knew what it was. POTS was the first thing that came to Dr. Dilcher’s mind and she acted on it.”

There are medications for POTS, but Lindsey prefers natural remedies. Dr. Dilcher said to increase water and sodium intake. She also encouraged Lindsey to exercise and avoid excessive exposure to the sun because the heat adversely affects heart rate and blood pressure, forcing the body into overdrive when trying to regulate.