Anxiety And Pots

[icesktr189]

i know POTS and anxiety disorder are totally separate but i definently have both. I can tell the differences between adrenaline surges compared to anxiety attacks, but i do get both. i am constantly afraid of my symptoms and worry that there is something else wrong than POTS all the time. I also became a hypocondriac.. This all started when i had my POTs crash and my doctors told me it was all in my head. I started doing my own research and came up with crazy causes such as brain problems to heart attacks. Ever since then i have been like this. Even with my POTS diagnosis. I am afraid to go out of my comfort zones.. ie taking trips or anything. I hate not being in control of my body and i know if i didnt have POTS i would never have had anxiety. I never bring this up to my doc because he will tell me its just in my head. Every time i feel dizzy or feel like i am spinning or cant see right i freak out. How do you guys deal with this? I live my life in fear and im completely tired of it.

Now i am not mixing up POTS with anxiety disorder just saying i have both.. depression and anxiety also run in my family.. Thank you all!

o yeah i also have true Panic attacks. totally different feeling than my POTS attacks.

[kayjay]

Dani- do you mind telling me how an anxiety attack feels? I have had adrenal surges. I was also told that sometimes after you have those terrible surges you can have panic attacks- as if your body "learns" how to panic. If you don't mind can you tell me how you can tell the difference? by the way- I am taking a klonopin each night before bed and It does lessen what I deal with at night. Also a beta blocker and lexapro seem to be helping as well. I went from not taking any meds ever to 3 every day but after about 3 to 4 weeks they are really helping me-kayjay

[pat57]

Its clearly a cycle with one intensifying the other. The very short answer is to know that neither the anxiety or POTS are dangerous.

Both are distressing but not dangerous. Knowing that to be true can allow you to let the anxiety pass in a shorter space of time.

[EarthMother]

I have POTS and panic disorder for probably 20 years. For me, my health is intrinsically linked to the panic. Over the many years, when my POTS would wax and wane... so would the anxiety. Even now, when I have been disabled for two years with POTS and house bound, there are times when my body does better, and I can enjoy some time out.

I use to try very hard to tackle the "panic" piece of the puzzle with literally years of cognative therapy, behavior therapy, exposure therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, relaxation techniques, breath work and even benzos like ativan, xanax and valium. What I have learned, for me and my unique body system, is that ultimately it comes down to my physical symptoms of POTS with the range of hyperadrenergic cycles, bone crushing fatigue or intense coat hanger pain, that determines how I seem to "cope" emotionally in the moment.

My PCP is aware that I see a therapist to help cope with the emotional spill over of POTS symptoms. So he is comfortable that I am addressing those issues in conjunction with my physical health. When I come to him then with a "new" physical symptom or worsening of existing symptoms ... he knows that I am on top of my "mental game" and does not brush off anything to stress, anxiety or other psychological syndrome. I appreciate that, since I know my body (and my mind) very well and I know when something physical has shifted.

As for now, how do I cope with the comorbidity of anxiety/panic? First, I realize that there is an organic cause (POTS) that creates the physical symptoms and a deeply rutted patern of emotional responses that seem to follow. So I work mostly with somatic experience (SE) therapy that focuses on the ebb and flow of body sensations.

Early on, I did SE to try and "fix" my body ... but seeing that that hasn't seemed to go as hoped ... I now use SE to try and learn how to shift some of those deeply rutted patterns, which for me means learning how to be "very sick" in as big of an outside world as my body can handle on any given day.

Be kind to yourself. Its a complex situation and as you already know ... there are no easy answers.

[potsgirl]

Hi Dani,

I had a period in my life where I got hit by several major stressors all around the same time. I had been dealing with some generalized anxiety (GAD) and OCD issues before that, but during that time they became more than I could handle. I started to see a psychiatrist/counselor and began to take Paxil and Trazodone because I was getting little to no sleep. That was about 10 years ago. I did not develop POTS/OI until approximately 3 years ago. It is my belief that there is a tie-in between anxiety and possibly OCD with POTS. I'm not saying anxiety causes POTS, I just believe that there are many of us have seem to have both. Are you taking any meds for this? Like Earth Mother said, having a psychiatrist behind you will cut out most of the times that docs want to blame everything on your 'mental health'.

Good luck and peace,

Jana

[icesktr189]

My anxiety attacks differ from POTS because when i have an anxiety one i also have metal stressors. I feel like my life is ending or i am going mentally crazy.. i can get these whenever.. lying in bed, doesnt really matter what im doing.. i do know my triggers such as crowded places, unknown places or traveling. i also hate being alone. My pots attacks i generally feel anxiety, but not to the point where i feel like im going to die.

I will definently have to look into a therepist.. i mean most people with a chronic illness are more prone to anxiety/depression. Im still under my moms insurance so its hard to convice my mom to get me one when she believes this is all from POTS. i mean yes i wouldhnt have any anxiety if i didnt have POTS but i feel even if POTS did just magically go away i would still have my anxiety disorder because once you have it, its pretty hard to get rid of..( my grandma had it for 40 some years and became agrophobic)

[ramakentesh]

I think if anyone was even slightrly prone to anxiety or panic, POTS would bring it out.

For some of us POTS and anxiety go hand in hand.

POTS results in an increase in norepinephrine and epinephrine - POTS can also result in cerebral hypoxia and/or hypocapnia - both of which result in symptoms of anxiety on their own. Together with an overstimulated sympathetic nervous system or a faulty parasympathetic system, your looking at very fertile grounds for anxiety. Faulty norepinephrine reuptake means that synpatic norepinephrine moves into plasma and eventually finds beta receptors.

Many patients with POTS say that their minds are often preoccupied with something. Even when calm and relatively well. You will find that if you are preoccupied with POTS or your health and you move your mind to something else you will probably begin to obsess about that issue rather than POTS. My friend with POTS and I often discuss this issue.

In many forms of circulatory disfunction, the body tries to reregulate blood flow through shooting off epinephrine/adrenalin - it usually just results in jitteriness and anxiety though!

To put it simply, POTS results in an excessive amount of norepinephrine and adrenaline in the system after orthostatic stress. It results in an increase in patients of MSNA firing rate and all of these symptoms result in hypervigilance.

And here is an after thought - doctors in Australia contend that POTS, as well as panic disorder and essential hypertension are the result of hypremethylation of the Norepinephrine transporter gene. Further recent research is currently evaluating a hypothesis where chronic stress results in the chronic increase of a metabolite of adrenalin which is a methylase - this methylase is bveing investigated as the cause of this NET gene hypermethylation.

[Mrs. Burschman]

Oh yeah. If you look up "Mrs. Burschman," you'll find more than you ever wanted to know about anxiety and POTS.

I tend to get anxious. But it bothers me much less now that I know I'm not crazy. My nervous system is just funky.

Amy

[icesktr189]

it really helps knowing many of us experience this.. i mean as if having POTS wasnt enough, we also have to deal with anxiety!

i just never bring this issue up with doctors because they will blame it on POTS or anxiety or visa versa. I just hate being told its in my head.. I told my doctor one time that of course i would have some anxiety.. i mean one day our lifes are completely taken away and turned around.. any normal person would feel some anxiety dealing with this. No matter how long someone has had POTS we are not totally certain of our futures with it and its a scary thought.

i get anxiety because when my syptoms are very bad, or i have a new one i have never experienced before, i have to make that decision whether or not to go into the er or just to see how it goes. Its just so scary because most of our syptoms at our worsts are also syptoms of heart attacks, strokes and so forth. I know its always POTS but i worry about if it could be more. Im trying to handle my obsessive ways (which i was never like before POTS).

[giftcreations123]

Hi

I am also having a hard time with anxiety, within the past year when my sysmptoms really kicked uo again..

I know I fear getting dizzy and fainting and that unbalanced feelig makes me anxious...

Its really started to impact my life as well..

Have you tried benzo's ? I ahvent tried anything yet but have xanax in the house.

Feel good...

[ramakentesh]

As I was saying anxiety ITSELF is a symptom of POTS. When my POTS is at its worst I generally feel anxious or 'jittery' quite a lot. When my pots is in remission I dont feel like this at all.

Impaired norepinephrine reuptake, sympathetic overactivity, hypocapnia and epinephrine excess to re-regulate blood circulation all result in anxiety.

[Mrs. Burschman]

Mine feed on itself. POTS gives me the physical symptoms of anxiety. Then I get anxious about it. Vicious circle. For me, the most effective means of dealing with it is to remind myself that just because my body feels "anxious" doesn't mean my mind has to be anxious.

[Janey]

I was told by Professor Grahame (who is the European Ehlers Danlos expert) that lots of people who have dysautonomia have anxious/phobic personalities from birth. So the nature of their chemical set up is that they are prone to anxieties and phobias. So as well as believing I have an anxiety disorder AND autonomic dysfunction, I also believe that it's part of my body chemistry to have one. And that bit of body chemistry also causes POTS. It's like another symptom in the great list of symptoms of autonomic dysfunction.

I also know that I had very mild POTS from quite young. My parents always used to say I did this funny thing where I'd clench my fists and all the muscles in my face and body and shake. Apparently that is a way of raising blood pressure!

Janey