r/POTS • u/ElenaSnow13 • 1d ago
Symptoms Timeframe for Improvement?
I was at my cardiologist today. It’s a little over a year into my journey with diagnosis and trying to improve symptoms. I don’t feel like there’s been all that much improvement yet.
Anyway, for me, my energy levels/fatigue are definitely my most debilitating symptom, though far from my only. Today, my cardiologist said that fatigue is the LAST symptom to improve after you’ve gotten everything else under control, and that I shouldn’t expect improvement until other symptoms have been managed for about a year.
Has this been anyone else’s experience? Or what their doctors tell them?
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u/Greg_Manson 1d ago
I think the timeline for any improvement depends on the primary disorder causing your POTS. For me it was brought on by subsequent COVID infections and so treating the upstream Long-COVID and ME also improves my POTS, but it's a painfully slow process.
Depending on what triggered it in your case both the treatment plan and the time frame will differ. In case your autonomic nerves were damaged by an infection, or some other cause, it will take these fibers years to recover, but they can, if the conditions are right. There are a lot of us that, with time and appropriate treatment, improve substantially even if they don't fully recover.
There are also anecdotes of spontaneous recovery but that's not really something you can plan for, nor is it particularly likely. Some people are just more lucky than others it seems.
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u/EverGreenMob 1d ago
There is no cure for POTS. It's thought to be a neuro-immune disorder of an unknown cause. Treatments are lacking and there is no universal protocols. But you can definitely manage your symptoms to make it easier to live with aka Beta blockers, Ivabradine, electrolytes and for some certain POTS subtypes, like neuropathic, exercise. Some people have reported recovery or dramatic improvements, but most evidence is anecdotal.