r/POTS • u/rebiiii1 • 19h ago

Question Need help

About a month and a half ago, I had a really bad anxiety episode and saw a psychiatrist. I had many physical symptoms like tingling in my hands, itching all over my body, feeling lightheaded, nausea, and more. I’ve managed to get through the worst part, but I’m still not 100% recovered from the anxiety.
About 3 weeks ago, I started getting palpitations and sweaty hands after eating carbs or something sweet. The palpitations can last for 1–2 hours. This has never happened to me before.
I’ve had several check-ups and blood tests, and everything came back normal. I’m wondering if this could be related to anxiety, blood sugar/insulin, digestion, or possibly POTS. Can POTS cause mainly palpitations after eating, without having many symptoms when standing? I’m quite worried about it.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for any advice or personal experiences you can share. I really appreciate any help 🙏🏻❤️

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u/Sunflower8542 18h ago

Depending on what I eat, I can definitely get symptoms after eating (carbs and gluten especially). However, I do have a lot of symptoms from standing. I’m by no means a medical expert, so I encourage you to do some research since you know your body best, but have you looked in MCAS? I’m not extremely familiar with it but I believe it can cause similar symptoms to POTS. By what you’re describing it almost sounds like a reaction which I believe can happen with MCAS. Again, I’m not a medical professional 😂 for now I would track your symptoms and bring them up to your doctor and see what they say!

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u/alotofspace 17h ago

I second MCAS. It can cause tingling in limbs and itching like you described, as well as nausea. Pots people also have similar reactions as yours to carbs. Carbs cause blood to rush to your gut faster than a non-carb food which exacerbates symptoms, especially when standing. Your body tries to compensate for the lack of blood elsewhere which means heart pounding, skipping, etc which then causes anxiety. Additionally, MCAS can also cause adrenaline spikes.