Mom Displaying Pots Symptoms

[Chrissy]

I was diagnosed with dysautonomia and POTS 4 1/2 years ago. We think it was caused by a case of mono when I was 11, I'm 21 now. The weird thing is my mom is starting to display POTS symptoms, hr over 120 or jumping 30 beats in 10 minutes and shortness of breath. She's over weight and kept chalking symptoms to being over weight, but when she borrowed my heart rate watch and noticed her hr went to 145 with mild exertion. She has alot of risk factors for heart disease so she went to the er last night and they did blood work, ekg, chest x-ray, and ct of the chest and sent her home. She's planning on having a stress test done. She thinks because she has little to no autonomic symptoms, she can't have POTS.

[potsgirl]

Chrissy,

Your mother's high blood pressure could be caused by many things, and only the doctors can determine what it is, or if it entails more than one cause. You don't mention how overweight she is, but that could certainly be the reason right there (ie: heart problems, etc). Did the ER docs find anything wrong? I hope she's going to see a cardiologist for her stress test. And of course, if they suspect if could be POTS, they would need to run a TTT.

It's hard to say, but please don't get too worried until the appropriate tests have been run. Please keep us updated, and we're always here for support.

Sending you positive thoughts and energy,

Jana

[summer]

Hi Chrissy,

Sorry to hear your mom is not feeling well. Does your mom have symptoms of orthostatic intolerance as well (lightheadedness, fatigue etc. that are worsened when standing)? According to Dr. Satish Raj at Vanderbilt University, orthostatic tachycardia alone is not diagnostic of POTS. The tachycardia is also accompanied by symptoms of OI for at least six months.

"POTS is defined (Table 1) as the presence of symptoms of orthostatic intolerance for at least 6 months accompanied by a heart rate increase of at least 30 beats/min within 5-30 minutes of assuming an upright posture. This should occur in the absence of orthostatic hypotension (a fall in blood pressure >20/10 mmHg). The syndrome must occur in the absence of prolonged bed rest, medications that impair autonomic regulation (such as vasodilators, diuretics, antidepressants or anxiolytic agents), or any other chronic debilitating disorders that might cause tachycardia (such as dehydration, anemia or hyperthyroidism). It is important to recognize that this syndrome is typically disabling. Hence, the mere observation of orthostatic tachycardia is not, by itself, sufficient to make the diagnosis of POTS."

You mentioned that your Mom has risk factors for heart disease. Is she on medications for any of these (ie. high BP)? Some meds can cause similar symptoms to POTS as well. That might be worth looking into.

Summer