New Symptom, Depression With Standing, Is This Part Of Pots ?

[DadOf2]

Thank you to all of you that welcomed me here. I had a death in the family and have been away from the computer for a while. I tell you, it never ends as I get older.

Ok, so please tell me what you make of this. I am finding all sorts of stuff happening to me now, but the latest is that I when I stand up, I can instantly start to feel depressed. I'm not ecstatic to start with, but I can be sitting just fine, usually with my legs elevated and then I go to get up and my HR goes up, but I get this overwhelming feeling of sadness. I don't cry, but I get pretty close.

I sit back down and then it goes away once I get the legs back to an elevated position.

I'm also experiencing Vertigo in the form of Dysequilibrium, this seems to come and go on it's own. If I get up and walk around it seems to be better than if I'm just sitting.

What is all of this ? I know I'm not crazy, not yet anyway, but this stuff is driving me crazy.

Just kidding here folks, but I feel like if I got my legs amputated, I might be better off.

Dustin

[Janey]

I get the same. I had it all my life and didn't see that it corresponded with standing up. It's actually a feeling of despair for me, but I've learnt to just live with it. I'm hoping that my Doc will put me on anti-depressants when I go to see him, which may even out the feeling a little bit.

Obviously it's something to do with blood flow or the transportation of chemicals in the blood.. too complex for me to understand, but I'm pretty sure it's a POTS/Dysautonomia thing.

So sorry to hear about the death in your family.

Janey

[sarahmarie43]

Hi Dustin,

I am so sorry to hear that you lost a family member.

I think I know what you mean- sometimes when I am standing I start to feel panicky, probably due to the hr and bp changes. Plus, when the blood isn't getting to the brain like it should, it can cause all kinds of things to happen. I also feel better when I am walking around unless I am extremely fatigued. I think your symptoms are not all that uncommon.

Hang in there

Sarah

[ramakentesh]

Doesnt surprise me - most of the chemicals involved or at least implicated in POTS are active in a variety of bodily functions. For me I just get postural anxiety when Im bad - it goes on and on for months and makes like a little less fun.

[DadOf2]

Thank you for the quick replies everyone. I am reading more and more on this stuff now everyday. I really think there is more going on with me than the diagnosis I have been given.

I have a sense of being sick now, like general malaise. I've been running low grade fevers in the late afternoon now, like 99.5 or so. Then I get a tickle in my throat.

I will start a new topic with these symptoms.

Dustin

[erik]

I've heard of a person with POTS plus several other conditions that had sudden crying immediately upon standing (and usually no memory of the episodes). She had a seizure disorder as well as other stuff that could tie in with such things. I don't think her docs had any definitive explanation. I don't know if POTS itself fully explains something like that, but given that the brain can become starved enough for full syncope in some people at some times, it seems like many things are possible (like triggering an isolated uncontrolled "limbic" response, or cascading into a simple-partial seizure if one is prone to that, like in TLE). Simple partial seizures can reportedly show as waves of intense emotion... as can "aura" to seizure or migraine.

I have personally had out of place intense rushes of various emotions... usually extremely negative ones! Some were literally only a few seconds of "incredible horror", others were longer lasting but less profound. They were not timed solely upon standing, but *were* prevalent during periods of time when other POTS stuff was especially active. I personally figure there is a connection. I've suspected I may be partly susceptible to simple-partial seizure but haven't had opportunity to pursue that medically yet (and such diagnosis isn't trivial). I did manage to provoke such an incident timed exactly with a hypoglycemic drop, which makes me all the more suspicious of seizure. That is all unofficial and unwise to do to yourself, especially if you already have significant symptoms (mine are significantly disruptive overall, but mild compared to many other people here).

There are also more esoteric things like synesthesia that might be at play. For example, the physiological triggers from orthostatic stress could be causing a response that is essentially the same as for other POTS folks (e.g. I will feel very "uncomfortable" or agitated if trying to stand still for a while... basically "anxious" but not spinning out of control even if I'm starting to faint). But synesthesia describes a phenomenon where one individual could end up experiencing the same thing differently... either having a different associated emotion or having both kind of cascaded. It is an esoteric field though... a research concept rather than medical so that's not much help.

Have docs explored the possibility of a seizure disorder being present along with POTS/dysautonomia? Have they considered any meds that might be along those lines ("off label") just in case they could help? Sometimes when things are mysterious it can come to experimentation like that even though it is problematic.