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Anyone Get This Too?


mvdula

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I hope this makes sense to someone out there. I think I have learned to compensate for this without even thinking about it. Often once I have done something strenuous (like coming upstairs to the 2nd floor - yes, this is strenuous for POTsies!....or come up from basement and continued up to 2nd floor), I can't just stop moving. I will feel bad, get symptomatic. I need to keep moving, but at a much slower pace. I feel like I have a manual transmission, which does not know how to change gears, so I have to do the slow-down gear - walk around a bit before sitting. Anyone else experience this?

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Part of the issue may be due to the skeletal muscle pump. When we move our legs (esp hard work like climbing stairs) the leg muscles contract and relax repeatedly. This muscle action pushes blood up our leg veins towards the heart (increases venous return) (it is a bit like squeezing a tube of toothpaste!). When you stop walking / climbing the muscles aren't pumping any more so the blood in the veins doesn't get that help to flow up the legs. This means that blood flow back to the heart is reduced and it can bring on all the usual OI symptoms.

For me I find that going from a quick walk to a stop is awful, I have to have that low-gear phase to allow my body to switch from active mode to resting mode.

It is probably more complicated than just muscle pump action but that was how one of my doctors best explained it to me. In the same way, if I feel dizzy standing still (happens all the time!) I usually feel a bit better if I can walk arround. I end up standing in lines marching on the spot or rocking on my MBT trainers to get the muscles pumping.

Flop

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I definitely feel better when I'm moving around than when I'm just standing. I also can't climb a flight of stairs without walking around a catching my breath for a few minutes. I can totally relate!

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I have noticed the same thing! I always thought it was crazy. I am a mess by the time I get to the top of the stairs, even if its just a short flight. My HR is racing, i feel like I cant breathe. I feel like I need to just sit down or lay down but I feel worse if I do that. Instead I noticed that if I kinda just slow down for a minute but not actually STOP It helps me to feel better quicker. ALways wondered why.

~Kelli

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Yup, it happens to me too. When this first started happening to me I would always be walking a ton or something and feel really dizzy when I stopped. Of course people would always tell me to sit or at least stay still - moving couldn't possibly help! But, it did..and it does. So you're not the only one!

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In POTS/OI quiet standing and sitting in the killer, but if you move around or exercise before hand it may make this more obvious.

I was reading recently that in POTS there appears to be blunted arterial vasoconstriction in some patients and overall vasoconstriction in others, either way this seems to bleed dry the venous reservoirs that feed the heart and results in reduced stroke volume. wq

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