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My name is Marc Laderriere. Born and raised in France. I lived in Paso Robles, for the
last 10 years.
I work a lot. You know, less exercise, you know, you paying less attention, and then,
the one day you realize, hey, I'm a little tired, what's going on, you know?
Also, we noticed, that I was sweating very, very little, and I was very susceptible to
heat, and I would basically get very, very tired and like hit a wall.
After multiple series of blood test through the local doctors, we decided to go to Stanford
to see what we could do.
Mr. Laderriere was referred to us really because of the fatigue, but also because his primary
care physician noticed that his blood pressure was changing quite a bit. When we examined
him in the clinic, a few things were striking. First, his pupillary reaction was not as we
expected and his skin was unusually dry and we happened to evaluate him here during a
very hot day. So, he clearly had issues with perspiration. And then, we measured his blood
pressure again and we had him lay down for about 10 minutes, stood him up and there was
a persistent drop in his blood pressure.
Dr. Jaradeh pretty much right away felt, it probably was something that had to do with
the autonomic nervous system.
The autonomic nervous system is the part of the nervous system that controls all the vital
functions and the organs that are independent of our own will. For instance, the reason
why your heart beats is independent of your will.
The range of the autonomic disorders can be fairly wide, as you might expect. The most
common problems we find are first problems in patients who cannot stay upright very long.
Sometimes, patients present with unexplained arrhythmias where the heart, you know, palpitates
like crazy, the other presentation usually, is patients who have major digestive issues.
Then, heat tolerance can be a problem, because if somebody cannot sweat, it's really difficult
for them to be out in the heat, they can develop heat stroke fairly quickly.
Testing these patients requires an integrated approach, which is not available in many areas.
During the first meeting, he asked, "Have you ever been treated for Lyme Disease?" and
I said, "Absolutely not." So, we went through that right away, and of course, we discovered
right then that, I had Lyme Disease for probably 5 to 10 years.
So, he, wanted me to be on antibiotics, to eradicate the different markers of Lyme Disease.
Now, I do not have any more Lyme Disease. But it was clear, however, that I did have
a autonomic nervous disorder of sorts.
We believe that we found the cause and we're trying to address it. And then, we basically
worked with him a regimen where we give him medication that could help him with the sweating
function, and in fact, he has noticed some benefit from that. We also started giving
him medication that, attenuate, or completely eliminate, hopefully, the drop in his blood
pressure, and we'll watch and see how he does.
He definitely has all the information and he deals with, obviously, more difficult cases.
I think we probably have stabilized his condition at this point. I seems pretty confined, and
in fact, couple of signs may be better.
I'm fairly optimistic I think he will regain more function in the next two years,
I feel in good hands, there's no doubt.