One of the most important things when given any medical diagnosis is to develop a paradigm on how to think about this problem that you have.
For POTS, the signs and symptoms include:
- Dizziness
- Light headedness
- Anxiety
- Heat intolerance
- Exercise intolerance
- Brain fog (forgetfulness and trouble focusing)
- Exhaustion
- Heart palpitations
- High heart rate (The “T” in tachycardia)
- Air hunger / shortness of breath
- Bloating and other GI distress
- Disrupted sleep
- And so on…
On the POTS-specific chat groups that I take part in, I hear people all the time wondering whether this or that symptom is due to their POTS, and I think this is the wrong question. The fact is, no sign or symptom is due to your POTS since the diagnosis simply describes the problem.
Descriptive diagnoses are quite common in medicine. For example most people who have back pain are diagnosed with, you guessed it, Back Pain.
POTS is, in fact, a form of Dysautonomia (Autonomic Dysfunction). And the various signs and symptoms of POTS are definitely produced by the way this dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system is wreaking havoc in your body. So, I believe we need to ask ourselves a different question, a question that will help lead us to know what to pay attention to, and what to do next.
As most POTSies understand, their poorly functioning autonomic nervous system has become rather unreliable, and is not performing some of the automatic functions that are necessary to live a healthy and thriving life. And since some of the most common symptoms – brain fog, wooziness, and near fainting – are due to decreased blood flow/oxygenation to the brain, and many of the other symptoms – GI distress, bloating, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting – are strongly affected by poor blood flow and oxygenation to the digestive tissues, I’ve thought up an alternate acronym for POTS:
Poor Oxygen To Somewhere
This, at least, gives us a mental model that we can learn to pay attention to, and which will lead us to create effective strategies to treat ourselves. So, for instance, instead of wondering, “ are my stomach issues due to POTS?, or is this a POTS headache?, we can instead ask ourselves, “ what can I do right now to improve the oxygen supply to my stomach or to my head “
This is an oversimplified mental model to be sure, but give it a try, and see how it works for you. And at the very least, it encourages POTSies to remember that we have some ability to elicit “control” over our symptoms.
Keith Blackwell is on his way to becoming an old-timer physical therapist, and he’s doing a “Deep Dive into POTS”. Stay tuned to this blog to learn more about POTS management, or on Instagram at Deep Dive into POTS. Or, if you live in Oregon, call our office to become a patient.
