Living with POTS: Beginner's Guide to Adjusting

5 Quick Tools to Use for Symptom Relief Living with POTS

Recently diagnosed with POTS? Here are a few tips I wish I would have known when I was first diagnosed. Based on the medical community's tactics, I thought I would have to find the right medication to ease symptoms. Finding a doctor familiar with POTS can be challenging. It can take weeks or even months to get into a specialist or to enroll in a POTS training program as a guide to getting your life back. In the meantime, these tips will help alleviate some of the symptoms you are experiencing, and can help make symptoms more bearable during the process of trying to find the right doctor to come up with a treatment plan designed specifically for you.

It took me a few years to figure out tools to become functional, but here is a list of items I wish I had known about at the beginning of my journey.

Tip #1 for Living with POTS -- Drink lots of Water

Staying hydrated is important, especially among those with POTS. Doctors recommend 2 liters/day. Studies have been done to show that water intake decreases the POTS patients' blood pressure response when standing after sitting. It especially helps those with severe intolerance (autonomic failure) to maintain blood pressure. For a scientific explanation: Water intake activates the sympathetic nervous system, in that it increases muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) [1].

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Tip #2 for Living with POTS -- Increase Salt Intake

Salt is beneficial for POTS patients because it helps us increase blood volume. With an increase in blood volume, the heart rate decreases. Stabilizing blood volume can help alleviate POTS symptoms.

When the levels of minerals in the body reach levels that are either too high or too low, an electrolyte imbalance takes place. Consuming salt helps stabilize the electrolyte imbalance.

There are many different types of salt available, but I will share a couple types of salt that I personally have experienced to be the most beneficial with my POTS symptoms.

Real Salt, originating in Utah's salt flat, along with Himalayan salt are my recommendations. Both originate from ancient sea beds when the ocean covered different areas of the earth, which is important to take into consideration because the use of these particular types of salt avoids ocean pollution and offers additional traces of minerals.

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Tip #3 for Living with POTS -- Maintain Consistent Temperature

Maintaining consistent temperature helps prevent flare-ups. Heat, especially, can cause our POTS symptoms to increase since our bodies struggle with temperature regulation.

I live in Texas and the summer temperatures are brutal. I avoid going outside unless I absolutely have to because the summer weather does a number to my body. If you must be outside in the heat, make sure you wear layers. Also, try not to take hot showers because those can cause POTS flare-ups. Maintaining a consistent temperature is key to living with POTS.

Tip #4 for Living with POTS -- Compression Socks

Compression socks is an easy, visible way to prevent blood pooling in feet. Blood pooling in feet is a common symptom of POTS. Without knee high athletic compression socks, the feet of a POTS patient tend to acquire a red or purple tint after standing due to the blood pooling. The compression socks have the ability to directly prevent the severity of this symptom and may indirectly improve other POTS symptoms.

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If compression socks give you positive results maybe take it a step further and try a compression device that inflates to maintain more blood closer to your heart. I found this to be super helpful when I am in a POTS flare.

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Tip #5 for Living with POTS -- Allergy Test

Gluten sensitivities and dairy intolerance is not uncommon in POTS patients. Once POTS diagnosis is suspected, it would be beneficial to schedule an appointment with an allergist. As POTS patients we have four times the likelihood of being sensitive to gluten. Minimizing foods that our bodies are sensitive to, will reduce POTS flares. After allergies are addressed you can have a more definitive process of trial and error in developing new life routines that will be effective in minimizing POTS symptoms.

Sidenote: I would suggest getting tested for mycotoxins. Mold exposure can cause our bodies to develop random new food and environmental sensitivities.

Journey of Adjusting to Life with POTS: To Be Continued

The journey of adjusting to life with POTS can be overwhelming at first, but it is important to remember you are not alone. In fact, "Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is fairly common, but is rarely discussed in medical school, rarely highlighted by the media, and rarely the focus of pharmaceutical industry interest. POTS patients are rarefied in every way possible...except for the fact that there are over 1 million of us in the US alone," said Lauren Stiles, Co-Founder of Dysautonomia International [2].

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is fairly common, but is rarely discussed in medical school, rarely highlighted by the media, and rarely the focus of pharmaceutical industry interest.  POTS patients are rarefied in every way possible…except for the fact that there are over 1 million of us in the US alone.” -Lauren Stiles, Co-Founder of Dysautonomia International [2]

Lastly, it is important to utilize the power of what variables you have the ability to control. These are 5 quick tools that I wish someone told me when I received my diagnosis, and maintaining habits of using these can go a long way in your ability to push forward in finding a better quality of life.

Living with POTS is challenging, but it is possible. These tips are important for those new to the journey. These can help make symptoms more bearable during the process of trying to find the right doctor to come up with a treatment plan designed specifically for you.

References

[1]https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1113/EP087095#:~:text=Water%20drinking%20increases%20muscle%20sympathetic,not%20in%20young%20healthy%20subjects

[2] https://www.megpotsinfo.com/single-post/2016/03/11/one-of-my-favorite-quotes-on-pots