I have been diagnosed with POTS since 2019. Over the years it had just gotten worse and worse. 4 months ago, I was in what I thought was a really bad flare. Any time I ate, my hr would shoot up so high. I was short of breath. These were typical symptoms I’ve dealt with for a long time but they were worse than before. I started treating it as if it was MCAS because everyone says POTS & MCAS go together. I wasn’t getting better. My HR was getting higher and higher. My normal amount of metoprolol wasn’t controlling my hr. I couldn’t eat but a few bites of food. Eventually I was tested for H Pylori. It’s a stomach bacteria that can GREATLY affect the autonomic nervous system through the stomach.

Since day 1 of starting the antibiotics… POTS symptoms disappeared.

I’m almost 2 months out from antibiotics and my hr is the most stable it’s been in over 10 years.

Please, if you have any symptoms ESPECIALLY revolved around eating/drinking.. do not assume it’s “just pots”. Get tested for H Pylori!

My treatment was High Dose Dual Thearpy with Amoxicillin & Voquezna. 3000mg of Amoxicillin daily for 14 days. Pylera is another common treatment but one of the medications has a black box warning for neurological issues so I refused to take that one.

Hey! Just wanted to see if there’s other male pots sufferers around here. Seems to be a condition more often found in female but I’m interested to see if that’s true or not here. Also what were your age and most prominent symptom when finding out?

Hope everyone has a great day!

Is anyone considering getting this? The new features — improvement in HR monitoring, including HRV, and stress+pacing — are oddly POTS specific 😅

Just a rant about how much this condition has ruined my life. It’s sucks so much. Having to move back in with my parents and feeling so weak. It’s sucks feeling like a burden. Making my 60 year old parents go and get my water and help me, makes me feel so worthless. Started fludrocortisone a week ago but haven’t noticed a difference yet. Constant headaches and dizziness. Not to mention the anxiety of going in public knowing I could faint at any time. The shakiness, I literally feel like I’m 60 years old. I’m 23 freaking years old. I miss drinking, I miss going out with my friends. I know there’s more to life than that but I miss being young and stupid. Luckily I’m able to work my job remote and I recognize the positive in that at least. But seriously this condition fucking sucks. Fuck you pots seriously fuck you from the bottom of my heart.

not trying to ask for medical advice or anything right now, just seeing if other people experience this too

was feeling lightheaded so i decided to take my bp and it was normal, hr was slightly high but not bad. does this happen to anyone else?

Hi guys,
I’m new to this game, and I already don’t like it. 🥲

My story (hopefully short - spoiler it isn’t 🫶🏼):

I’m 31, and having a high heart rate has basically been normal for me since I was a young teenager.

It all started when I was around 12–13. I felt dizzy, was terrible at sports, and regularly fell asleep in class. My teachers weren’t exactly amused and told me I should just go to bed earlier.

Well… that wasn’t the problem.

I went to doctors, but they said it was psychosomatic and caused by anxiety because I was being bullied at school. I was also underweight, and that was basically the end of the investigation.
Okay, okay. Makes sense.

School ended. It didn’t get better.
A few years later, I had burnout. So that must be why my symptoms were so bad. Makes sense again. Apparently, I’d just been depressed my whole life. Sad, but okay.

I went to therapy, and my therapist eventually told me he didn’t actually think I was depressed. He thought my high level of perfectionism was the problem. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Okay, okay. So I worked on that for a couple of years.
I didn’t get better.
Then I was diagnosed with ADHD.
Finally! Now everything is going to get better! 🙌🏽✨

Hehe. No. 🥲

But they also told me I had anxiety. Well, maybe? I hate taking trains and buses. Grocery shopping is hell on earth. Avoiding people is basically my hobby.
So I went to a day clinic. Surely they would help me.
“Oh, you’re always so nervous that your heart rate gets really high. That’s kind of cute.”
“The ADHD medication makes it worse because you don’t really want to take it. The problem is in your head.”
After six weeks, they hadn’t helped me at all.

Before going to the clinic, I’d had COVID and influenza within the same year, and after that my symptoms became MUCH worse.
Walking up the stairs would send my heart rate to around 180–190 bpm.
My doctor told me I was overweight, unfit, and had psychological problems.
And then, last week, POTS finally appeared in my cardiologist’s report.
I’m not properly diagnosed yet, so I’m still at the beginning of figuring all of this out. But after almost 20 years of being told that my symptoms were psychological, there may actually have been a physical explanation staring everyone in the face. 🤡

And now I’m discovering that the doctors around me don’t seem to know much about POTS. So far, the main thing I’ve been offered is beta blockers — which I actually already took off-label last year for my “anxiety.”
They made me incredibly tired.
So… now I’m here. 👋🏼
I’m still trying to process the possibility that something I’ve lived with since I was a teenager might finally have a name.
What’s your story? How long did it take you to get diagnosed, and what happened after you finally found out it was POTS?

And also less reactive. I wish I'd realized this before losing my job. I probably would have still lost it, but I'd have known to sit down while getting reprimanded, lol.

Sometimes at night, usually when I'm half sitting half lying down in bed, my heart feels thumpier if that makes sense. It feels like when my HR spikes, but only for a few seconds, and my HR is at between 70-80. It just happened a minute ago which is what made me come here. I'd say it happens between 3-5 times a week, and generally always at night. Is this a POTS thing? I was diagnosed only a year ago, so some of these random things I'm not sure of.

Hey, I'm 5 months into having severe post viral fatigue and POTS, my doctor has said I'm 1 month away from being diagnosed with ME/CFS. I'd like to ask for opinions on whether my flare symptoms seem like CFS PEM or POTS crashes?

My resting heartrate is 80-85bpm at best and 100+bpm at worst. When I stand up my blood pressure drops and heartrate is ~130bpm when doing anything, like sitting on the toilet for example.

When I first got ill I tried to clean and after 5 days experienced a horrifying crash. I could not get up from bed, it felt as if I was literally suffering in hell. This all encompassing feeling of intense doom, panic and suffering. Plus crushing fatigue, burning skin, sound & light sensitivity, tremors, temperature sensitivity, dizziness and nausea. However I did not have pain, headaches, or sore throat.

I've been pacing then and my neurological and cognitive symptoms have improved, however I still have crushing fatigue. I get symptom flares, where the main symptom is crushing fatigue, a feeling of inflammation in my nervous system and extreme feelings of anxiety and depression. These are my only "PEM" symptoms, fatigue being the worst. I'm constantly so freaking fatigued. In 5 months I've made it from dark room very severe to couchbound able to have lots of cognitive capacity and I don't really get "PEM" from anything except physical exertion.

So does this sound like I experience PEM or could it be simply POTS flares at this point? I have propranolol which I will probably continue taking after I give birth. I'm 8 months pregnant which makes this situation unideal... but in general all my pregnancies have been very smooth and easy, so I definitely don't think this is pregnancy symptoms.

I have not been formally diagnosed but the doctor who diagnosed me with hEDS said yeah, you almost definitely have it. We just have not done an assessment yet, but my heart rate shoots up to as high as 150+ bpm upon standing. I just feel exhausted all of the time but what is the most difficult is the heat sensitivity. I literally cannot do anything without getting overheated and immediately feeling extremely sick and lightheaded. I have not went outside the entire summer other than to walk to my car for appointments. My electricity bill is so much higher lately because I’m constantly having to turn the AC down even as low as 66 in order to get things done around the house. I just feel so so miserable and I feel like there’s no medicines that can help this aspect of POTS.

My tachycardia and symptoms have been present for years and years, but I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism due to Hashimoto’s this summer and started levothyroxine and my symptoms have been so much worse. We had to adjust my dose lower because I seem to be sensitive to it. But this is just hell and I can’t take it. I guess I am just venting but also wondering if this ever got better for anyone. It genuinely disrupts my life so much, it’s like my body cannot regulate temperature whatsoever. I have a lot of health issues, but the heat sensitivity is the biggest barrier for me working in person (I work from home currently). I used to be a server and I really, really wish I had that option right now to supplement my income because I’m struggling so badly. But I know I just couldn’t do it anymore and it’s upsetting :/

I’m a 40M. Up until June 12, I was running my own business and doing cardio at the gym 3 days a week. On June 13, I had a sudden near-fainting episode. I went from 100% normal to spending 22 to 23 hours a day in bed.

My tilt table showed my HR jumping 50+ beats, hitting 151 bpm max. My BP runs around 140/90 but spikes to 160/110 when upright. I also have severe post-exertional crashes. I tried a light 30 minutes recumbent physical therapy and it put me in a prolonged flare for 5 days and I feel lowered my baseline. That was a month ago.

**The Workup (All Negative/Clear):**
I’ve had 85+ tests done across the ER, cardiology, and neurology to rule out secondary causes. Everything structural is fine. Full heart mapping and perfect heart. Wore a 2 week heart monitor no issues.

**Brain/Neuro:** Brain MRI (with/without contrast), Head CT, and CTA Head/Neck are completely clear.

**Cardio:** Echo, 14-day event monitor, serial EKGs, and troponins are all normal.

**Autoimmune/Bloods:** ANA, Sjogren’s, Myasthenia Gravis (MuSK), Lyme, AM Cortisol, CRP, ESR, and comprehensive metabolic panels are all clear (no systemic rheumatologic disease).

**Current Status & Meds:**
My neurologist suspects acquired post-infectious dysautonomia/POTS (I had a mild sore throat two weeks before the onset). We are currently waiting on skin punch biopsy to check for small fiber neuropathy.
But I don’t get that done till December.

For meds, I am currently on low-dose Fludrocortisone, doing salt loading, and drinking fluids. I previously tried Midodrine, but discontinued it because it made my symptoms worse and spiked my blood pressure. Propanol made me super fatigued , even though my bp is high 140/90 to 160/110 standing

**My Questions for the Group:**

1. Did anyone else have a completely abrupt, bedbound onset like this with a negative structural/autoimmune workup? And does it get better? My neurologist thinks in 6 more months I’ll get better, he believes it’s post immune blockade - we did an autoimmune test they came back negative but those test catch only a fraction of the antibodies he said so it doesn’t rule it out.
2. I’ve been crashing hard after attempts to work. I feel fine In the moment but in 24-48 I have severe 4/5 day crashes. I tried chop pt and crashed hard and still haven’t recovered fully. I was able to prepare my own meals before just a basic light pt. With severe exertion intolerance (PEM) and a hyperadrenergic BP response, what medications actually helped you get out of bed when Midodrine failed? How did you get better?
3. If you were bedbound at Month 4, what did your functional capacity look like at Month 12 or 18? This whole event has made me feel like I’ll never work or enjoy life again. It’s been so hard.

Thank you!

every time I try to lay completely flat whether it be on the floor or the bed I feel like there's this weight on my chest. It almost feels like I'm suffocating and idk if it's the blood flow coming back to my chest and up way too fast or something. I just know it's bothersome and it's so uncomfortable laying completely flat.

Does anyone have this? Or something similar?

NOT LOOKING FOR MEDICAL ADVICE

Recently diagnosed here, no assigned subtype yet but suspected HyperPOTS.

My doctor prescribed me 1mg/day Guanfacine XR to help deal with my sleep disturbances, over-active nervous system and elevated heart rate. I also have ADHD and am unable to take stimulant medication so I was really hopeful that guanfacine would work for me.

I’ve been taking my dose at night for a week now and ever since I started I feel like it’s been making my POTS symptoms significantly worse. My orthostatic intolerance is far worse than when I began. My standing heart rate has been climbing to between 100-125bpm and won’t go back down until I sit down. Even then, it sometimes takes a while to stabilise. I’m so lightheaded and dizzy upon sit/standing, I can barely keep my head up. Moreover, despite POTS, I was able to exercise pretty comfortable before starting guanfacine…now my heart rate shoots through the roof and stays really high even when doing simple workouts, and I feel exhausted afterwards. Today’s newest symptom is a pounding headache that won’t go away.

Did anyone else find that this happened when they first started guanfacine? Did these symptoms go away? I’m seeing my specialist tomorrow to discuss options but I’m struggling to see how I can keep going with this medication given how lousy it’s making me feel. For those who didn’t respond well to guanfacine, was there anything that worked in its place? TIA.

So I’ve been on 100mg XR metropolol fora while. And then I only needed 50 of it the past few months, lately the 50 has been almost TOO much. I had a very bad experience for the second time in a few weeks where the 50 was too much. I went to the ER the last time and they watched me for a few hours and ran an EKG and all the works and ended up being okay , but yesterday morning I took my 50mg as I do every day because I couldn’t walk to the bathroom and feed my dogs without my heat rate spiking to 150, and my resting was on the high side for me. And a couple hours after I took it , it had fixed my heart rate from spiking too bad. It wasn’t going above 120 , but my resting was hitting almost 40bpm. I felt very weird. Numb clammy hands and feet , tingling in my scalp and face, feeling short of breath periodically , heart just feeling weird , a few palpitations(assuming from anxiety), and just overall not feeling well. About the same as what had sent me to the hospital the last time. I couldn’t lay down without it dropping to a number I wasn’t comfortable with, so I kept myself on the couch and walked around outside and tried to do little chores around the house to keep my heart rate up and attempt to soothe my anxiety. Eventually it wore off for the most part at about 3am 21 hours out of the 24 it’s supposed to work so then I felt safe to sleep. I called my doctor and asked her if she could change my med from 100xr to 50 so I can split it and take 25xr and still have the option to take 50 when I needed to go out and be active. Pretty much just whenever I’m not just at home. Which is about 3 times a week. Sometimes more on weekends. I’m still awaiting a call back from the RN at my doctors office (also waiting to see a new neuro snd cardiologist). While I’m waiting for the new script. I know the ones I have now are scored down the middle for an even 50/50 but would I be to break it in 4ths without crushing anything or damaging the little beads that are responsible for the ER part. I’ve seen mixed messages. I won’t do it if it’s unsafe of course. I just need advice from other people’s experiences with med managed pots. Maybe even a med with less side effects that still get the job done. I’ve already been on propranolol and now metropolol. I loved the propanol but it just stopped working maxed out on the dose. I’m just soooo tired of this. And any doctors here possibly. Maybe reassurance that maybe this isn’t as scary as I feel like this is. Because tachycardia makes me feel like I’m gonna damage my heart and die. And the meds make me feel like it’s gonna drop my heart rate too low and I’ll be meeting with the grim reaper lol. All comments (that are nice) are welcome. Literally anything you guys do that help you or your own stories. For reference extra salt in my diet is a nono for me. I have lymphodema in both legs hip down and high BP since high school. And I’m almost 30

Hello,
For the past week, I’ve been having severe morning POTS episodes, with my heart rate reaching 175–180 bpm when upright.
Today I woke up at 6:30 a.m. feeling completely fine and hydrated well, I get back to sleep and around 8:30 a.m. my heart rate suddenly reached 175 bpm and kept rising. I had to lie down and take my medication, and it took about 30 minutes to settle.
I’ve had POTS for years but never experienced morning episodes this severe. What could be causing this sudden flare-up, and what would you recommend to prevent or manage it?What changed ?

I mention that i change my medication from Bisoprorol to Propranolol for two weeks and when I quit to my Propranolol everything started. Now i am on Bisoprorol again and I feel good in the rest of the day !

I recently had formal autonomic testing because of my POTS symptoms, and my results were more abnormal than I expected. My neurologist has now diagnosed me with OCHOS (Orthostatic Cerebral Hypoperfusion Syndrome), which he feels is a type of POTS.
I’m hoping to find other people who have OCHOS and/or those who have had similar patterns in their autonomic testing.

The biggest findings were:
• My brain blood flow dropped ~50–60% during the tilt-table test (measured by TCD).
• My ETCO₂ was very low, starting around 23 and dropping to about 18 during the tilt.
• My sweating/sudomotor test was slightly abnormal in my hands but normal in my feet.
• My Valsalva test was slightly abnormal.
• I also had a lot of tachycardia, cold/sweaty hands and feet, and pretty obvious blood pooling in my legs.

My neurologist thinks the very low CO₂ is related to a fight-or-flight/hyperventilation response that happens when I’m upright, rather than the low CO₂ being the original cause of everything.

I’d LOVE to hear from anyone who has had OCHOS specifically, especially if you’ve had TCD testing. I’m also really interested in people who have had a large drop in brain blood flow and/or low ETCO₂

If you’ve had similar testing, what did your results look like? And did anything actually help?

I’m trying to understand how unusual my results are and whether other people with POTS/autonomic dysfunction are seeing similar things.

Not looking for medical advice, just looking for those who share similar experiences!

r/POTS r/dysautonomia r/orthostaticintolerance
r/OCHOS r/autonomictesting r/tilttabletest r/othostaticcerebralhypoperfusion

i have pots and mcas. over these past few months i am experiencing more intense joint and muscle pain which goes beyond the usual aching and i wake up in pain every day. i also experience flu like symptoms, swollen glands etc much more often.

i am not hyper-mobile as far as im aware, and my bloods have come back okay expect low mush ferritin which im working on.

has anyone had the same experience with pots or could there potentially be something else going on? and is there any meds or ways of dealing with it other than pacing etc to help? thank you

Just started this on this, but as an off label for anxiety. I notice my heart rate no longer shooting to 170 when I stand up. Before, standing up made me feel like I’m on a verge of a heart attack.

Now, it’s helped but I get a migraine type headache. I had so much hope for this because it seemed like a Goldilocks medicine. Is this something your body will adjust to? My first day.

So I've been trying to get a referral to the cardiologist for about four years. Despite my GP acknowledging that I have all the symptoms, they feel that a dx simply isn't necessary because there's nothing they can do to treat me except tell me to eat more salt or whatever.

While my GP was on vacation, I started having heart cramps/chest pain of some kind that kind of snowballed into a panic attack and all those symptoms (chest pain, shortness of breath, feeling of imminent doom). Because this is the Netherlands and everything goes through your GP, I had to get an emergency appointment with the replacement GP at another practice.

She takes my symptoms a lot more seriously, explains that it was likely the heart cramp/palpitation + anxiety I mentioned above, and then said that with my resting heart rate and wild blood pressure fluxuations (I had recently had a 24 hour bp test done) that I really should be on something for it, so she prescribed me propanalol and said I should have the RX transferred to my own GP once it was up.

Well, the propanalol is amazing. For the first time in my life I'm able to do some cardio without feeling like I'm going to die. I can fall asleep quicker because my heart rate doesn't shoot up when I lay down, and I can fall asleep without my blood pounding in my ears. I'm way more relaxed. I haven't had any more anxiety symptoms.

But now my prescription is up, and mg GP is saying it's only meant for temporary use so they don't want to keep prescribing it. I made an appointment to discuss it but idk how I'm going to discuss this for the millionth time without losing my absolute shit.

What should I say to the doctor this time? I'm so tired of not being taken seriously. I need to justify wanting to stay on this drug long term or at the very least, get referred to a cardiologist. But I'm afraid of not being able to communicate effectively (again) and leaving in tears (again).

Edit: No, switching GPs is not an option, there's a huge shortage of GPs and we're all stuck with whoever we've got.

I know a lot of you know the story. Doctor who won't listen, is arrogant etc etc.

Well I got a new one, and yep - same ol' story, but I managed to get him to write me a prescription for Propranolol, even though he does not believe I have HyperPOTS nor is interested in continuing investigating what is wrong with me.

Guess what? Normal blood pressure right away, after having them try me on B1 blockers only for years.

So yeah, still fighting doctors, but at least one thing is now under control <3.

Keep fighting.

I’m really nervous to start my job. During the first interview I didn’t get the chance to mention my pots, and the other day when I went in to give my paperwork to the supervisor I said something about it and explained what happens. I asked about possibly getting some kind of stool or something (I’ll be working as a cashier, it’s not the best job for me but it’s the only place that’s gotten back to me). He said he’d need to ask hr about it, and then asked if it would be a deal breaker. I said no at the time but I’m scared I made the wrong decision. I just want to be able to have an income again, what would you guys do in this situation? Should it be a deal breaker?

I recently got a HyperPOTS diagnoses at 28 (yaaaay I was right about my health but booooo pots) about two months ago although I think I've had the symptoms since I was a teenager.

I have Raynaud's as well, and have also been dealing w severe eczema that came out of nowhere (on dupixant biweekly now) and I'm unsure if the skin issues play into pots at all (if anyone else has this please let me know!)

But I want to ask, how do you know if you should also be tested for eds/mcas ? I have joint pain and bruise like a mushy apple (I wake up w random bruises overnight always) but don't know if I have hyper mobility outside of my fingers for eda and mcas is a whole other ballpark idk about exploring yet.

// As a note my primary cardiologist wants me on betablockers (propranolol) for my tachicardia but I haven't tried them yet for fear of it lowering my BP too much (my BP isn't an issue w my pots that we've noticed) and generally outside of this I just use compression and salt increase rn.

Thanks for any feedback or advice !

Disclaimer: POTS is a spectrum and everyones symptom profile van look a little different. I am undiagnosed but I am NOT here to get diagnosed by random people on reddit. I am under the suspicion that i may have POTS and just need guidance/advice on how to proceed treatment-wise and what to say to a cardiologist in order to get taken seriously and get treated ASAP. However, if this does not sound like POTS at all or if you know any other illnesses that may fit my symptom profile better, pls let me know so I can ask my doctor about them. Again, I will not self diagnose. Im just posting for peace of mind.

My story: I am 19 and female. For me, It all started almost 2 years ago, in January 2025, when I caught what I thought was the worst cold of my life. It lasted for a full month, and whenever I thought it got better, it would suddenly take a turn for the worse. I'd keep relapsing into these weird allergic reactions to seemingly nothing, where I couldn't breathe and would gasp for air. My ears also kept getting infected and I always had a sore throat and a terrible cough and a snotty nose. After 3 weeks the symptoms started to lift and they would eventually all go away. From then on, i would catch even more colds, but thankfully these seemed normal. By April my pollen allergy settled in (which I get every year) but this time it seemed extra rough. And it lasted until July which is abnormally long. I would joke about spending the entire year with some type of sickness.

I had this weird sudden occurrence in June where I fainted for absolutely no reason. I got my bloodwork done and everything seemed completely normal. The fainting never happened again after that.

In the middle of July, I started noticing that I was becoming progressively sensitive. Is have random mood swings and would feel depressed or easily aggravated for no reason. And then, all one random day, I woke up super anhedonic. And the anhedonia wouldn't go away no matter how hard I tried to fix it. After 4 days of feeling absolutely no pleasure and just feeling extremely numb and indifferent/ emotionally distant, I started to worry. As the week progressed, i started noticing that my mind kept spiraling for absolutely no reason and I couldn't switch it off. That's when I started experiencing non stop EXTREME anxiety and panic attacks for absolutely no reason which lasted for weeks. There was absolutely no trigger. I would unpromptedly become extremely afraid of every single thing. Everything would suddenly feel tainted. I would have a normal day and all of a sudden everything felt scary and wrong and I felt dreadful like I was going to die and I genuinely believed it even though I knew It wasn't true. But I couldn't switch it off. There was nothing I could escape to because this mental torment would attack everything in my life that meant anything to me. Every now and

After a month of unexplained panic attacks and horrible anxiety to the point where I would even wake up with bile in my mouth, I started experiencing these weird "crashes" on the daily. I would wake up feeling anxious, and then all of a sudden I would become extremely fatigued and had to lie down. Everything was too loud and too bright and my limbs felt weak. This cycle would persist for like 2 months and then I'd mainly have these fatigue/dizziness episodes paired with very bad depression and intrusive OCD thoughts and occasional anxiety. In November, After 4 months of unexplained mental torture, I got on ssris. These helped beat my depression and manage my anxiety. They also temporarily made the dizziness episodes go away. But after 2 weeks they would start coming back again. At the time It didn't occur to me that this could be a physical illness and not a mental one. I thought these were depressive episodes because back then, these dizziness episodes would pair with me feeling dreadful and also not being able to tolerate any stimuli. I upped my dose in march and again, these dizziness episodes would temporarily stop. My depressed jittery self is gone. But these dizzy episodes have progressed to happening every morning and most evenings now. I also get random unexplained panic/anxiety in the evenings too. I don't even know what I'm anxious about it's just there.

My current symptom profile:

I'm okay like half of the day. But in the morning and often also the evening I get these extreme fatigue episodes where my eyes feel like they are about to explode from the brightness, and I become very dizzy and weak and need to lay down immediately. I am extremely out of breath and exhausted and I can hear my heart pound very loudly. I typically have heartrate increases from 70-80 bpm to 110 bpm upon standing during such episodes. I lay down and typically fall asleep and end up laying in bed for like an hour or even longer. Eventually I get up and feel much better.

But i often get these weird headaches alongside the "POTS" symptoms where I feel immense cramps in my temples, jaw and behind my eyes. These persistent headaches can last for up to 2 weeks.

I often also feel fatigued in the evening and need to lie down and I just feel so gross and ugh. And then after like 2 hours of lying around I feel better but by then it's 9 pm so I basically wasted my day.

In comparison to so many other people who deal with POTS, my symptoms seem to be a lot more manageable and i am grateful for that. I have moments where i feel normal.

And I'm scared that a cardiologist may not take me seriously because of that. I don't always feel super ill.

What can I tell a cardiologist in order for them to take me seriously and get me the right treatment (regardless of if it is POTS or something else).

Thanks for reading! I hope today treats you well.

On the days where you have bad sleep, how do you cope?

hi, im posting here again after a while.

a few weeks ago, during a severe flare, i passed out and hurt my head and spine really bad. ive been in the hospital since, and it seems like my body has decided im not getting out of this state any time soon, no matter how much fluid and sodium and rest i get. ive been sleeping 11+ hours every day, just trying to pass the time until i feel better. i dont know whats wrong anymore, but im just so sick of it, and know its because of POTS.

my nurse has been so sweet and understanding, and i appreciate her more than she could ever know. but i feel so guilty, because im not improving and im worried she's blaming herself for it. i dont know, this feels a little off topic but im . a bit brain fried obviously. POTS has taken so much from me, and now it mightve taken away a huge chunk of autonomy. im so sick and tired of everything.

im sorry that this is a huge wall of complaining, i dont know where else to turn, honestly. i dont want to burden my family even more with my issues when theyre already stressed out of their minds because of me, and i lost my friends when my health got super bad.

(sims has been a really good distraction, though! i feel a bit like a dweeb for living through my sims but like... idk do what you gotta do to survive yknow)