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Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)

Postural- Referring to one’s posture

Orthostatic- When one becomes upright

Tachycardia- An excessive heart rate

Syndrome- A collection of symptoms

When a person with POTS changes his/her postition or becomes upright, he/she will experience an excessive heart rate increase and possibly a multitude of other symptoms. A small few of the other symptoms are visual disturbances, dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea, or a feeling of faintness. In a few cases, the patients can actually faint.

In order to be diagnosed with POTS, a person is given what is called a head upright tilt table test (abbreviated HUT or TTT).

If the person has POTS, the TTT will prove an excessive heart rate increase.

* a heart rate increment of 30 beats per minute within 10 minutes of upright posture

or

* a heart rate of at least 120 beats per minute with the first 5 minutes of upright posture with florid POTS

***Usually there can also be a slowly dimishing systolic blood pressure reading as well. 

Please keep in mind that POTS is more than just tachycardia, POTS is a syndrome meaning it is a collection of symptoms. 

Symptoms may include but are not limited to:

• tachycardia

• syncope or near syncope

• low or high blood pressure

• chest pain and/or discomfort

• dizziness

• lightheadedness

• weakness

• flushing and/or paleness

• palpitations

• tremulousness

• nausea/ vomiting

• breathing difficulties

•      - shortness of breath

•      - hyperventilation

• clamminess, excessive sweating, and/ or lack of sweating

• headaches/ migraines

• fatigue, sleep disorders

• excercise intolerance

• heat intolerance

• orthostatic intolerance

• postprandial hypotension (low blood pressure after eating)

• gastrointestinal problems

•      - gastroesophael reflux disease (GERD) 

•      - irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

•      - gastroparesis (GP/ delayed gastric emptying)

• weight loss or gain

• diarrhea and/ or constipation

• abdominal pain

• polyuria (excessive urination) and/ or other bladder dysfunction

• pupillary dysfunction and visual disturbances

•      - tunnel vision

•      - blurry vision

•      - seeing spots

•      - gray outs

• hypovelmia (low blood volume)

• cognitive impairment, brain fog, forgetfulness, memory loss

• neuropathic pain and/ or myofascial pain (regional muscle pain accompanied by trigger points)

• numbness and/ or tingling sensations

• light, noise, food, and/ or chemical sensitivities

• shoulder, back, and neck pain

• muscle aches and/ or joint pains

• swollen nodules or lymph nodes

• restless leg syndrome

• feeling detached from surroundings

• feeling "wired" or "high"

• disequalibrium

• easily over stimulated

• loss of sex drive

• irregular menstrual cycles (worsening of symptoms during that time)

• low grade fevers

• chills, cold hands, feet, and nose

Other Links Include:

www.potsplace.com

http://home.att.net/~potsweb/POTS.html

More Information on POTS Coming Soon

*** The purpose of this website’s information about dysautonomia and related conditions, is to inform and educate. It should NOT be used in the place of a medical professional’s advice, diagnose, or treatment. If you think you are suffering from any type of medical conditions within this website or any other website, you should consult with a physician. Dysautonomia Reaching out for Education Awareness & Moral Support (DREAMS) will not be held liable for any sort of consequences either direct, indirect, special, exemplary, or any other type of damages from use of this website. If you feel as if any of the information in the website is misleading or incorrect you should contact DREAMS (sarah@helpdreams.org). ***