Blood Pooling In Hands And Feet

[Lenna]

Lately my son's feet have been freezing and he can't warm them up no matter what he does. It isn't just his toes - it's the bottom of his feet as well. Does this mean the blood is pooling in his feet, or that there isn't enough blood in his feet? Does this mean he has low-flow POTS or high flow POTS? I'm still trying to get a handle on all of this. How can you tell when and where the blood is pooling?

[lissy]

Hi,

I only can tell from my mottled appeareance....Every time I'm sitting or standing my arms and legs become splotchy and they are cold if someone else touched them but I don't notice it. I will have blood pooling appearance until I lay back down and warm up and I appear normal toned again. its not just in my hands and feet its my whole arm and whole leg and sometimes spreads to abdomen if upright long enough, really only have never noticed it on chest area.In Regards to the Flow of POTS from what I read I may be considered LOW or High unsure right now I have my testing in January .

Lissy

[juliegee]

Hi Lenna-

My son has the exact same problem. His doctor from Hopkins says THIS is blood pooling. Blood is definitely getting to your son's feet- it's just not returning/circulating properly (hence, the pooling.)

For symptom relief, Mack wraps his feet in heating pads, takes hot showers at odd hours, and swears by 100% wool socks. When he studies really hard for school it gets significantly worse. It's almost like he's pulling all of his limited blood supply to his brain & there's nothing left for his toes...now there's a medical explanation

As for whether it's high-flow or low-flow , that's WAY above my pay grade. I hope someone else answers. I'd really like to know too.

Julie

[janiedelite]

Yes, it seems my hands and feet alternate between freezing cold, bluish purple color, to a burning warmth, reddish purple color. I sometimes develop chilblains when my feet get too cold, and sometimes the tips of my toes get blue. I notice the cold more in the winter and the burning warmth in the summer. I like Mack's Mom's explanation of things. I also wear SmartWool socks (sometimes 2 pairs) all winter, apply warm rice packs, and take warm baths twice a day. I notice more symptoms if I'm in temps below 68F or above 72 F. I have the same appearance as Mack's Mom described regarding purple, mottled arms, legs, and abdomen.

I haven't been tested for high/normal/or low-flow POTS. I certainly benefit from leg and abdominal compression, even when my toes look frostbitten. I also have improper vasoconstriction as well as pooling, which is manifested by the Raynaud's symptoms as well as recent problems with coronary vasoconstriction (nitro tablets help me with this. Nitroglycerin is normally contraindicated in POTS so don't try this at home .) I suspect I'm low-flow.

You can also buy feet warmers that fit into your shoes (I think I saw them at Costco). I haven't tried them, but I thought they were a great idea!

[erik]

I think the mottled look is considered a sign of pooling. Seems different things can result in that but they say POTS patients tends to lack arterial constriction response to orthostatic stress so flow isn't diverted in the simple effective manner it ought to be.

Ironically it can also result from extra serotonin in blood or exaggerated platelet response to that hormone (which is also associated with "leaking", I believe... as are several other agents). The mottled look is also associated with autism/asperger's. Maybe we have autonomic asperger's?

[juliegee]

I think the mottled look is considered a sign of pooling. Seems different things can result in that but they say POTS patients tends to lack arterial constriction response to orthostatic stress so flow isn't diverted in the simple effective manner it ought to be.

Ironically it can also result from extra serotonin in blood or exaggerated platelet response to that hormone (which is also associated with "leaking", I believe... as are several other agents). The mottled look is also associated with autism/asperger's. Maybe we have autonomic asperger's?

That's weird. I just learned that autism is closely linked to MCAD/Mastocytosis, which also causes the blood vessels to leak out. I wish someone with a bigger brain than I listened to our ruminations

Julie

[erik]

Good point. Histamines, serotonin, bradykinin & LTE4 are mentioned here for hormonal permeability modulators. I guess MAST relates to pseudo-histamine effect (and kinins can mimic histamines). Plenty of other players in the game I would imagine.

I can see myself as being a bit Aspergy... the use of the term "spectrum" for autism and other conditions is probably wise as folks can fall all over the map and perhaps the obvious cases are more of a confluence of multiple traits rather than any single one.

[ramakentesh]

Hard to say - cold feet and hands can be both a sign of excessive vasoconstriction or the opposite. There seems to also be forms of POTS where there is increased blood flow to the lower body but not actual pooling. these guys have warm swollen feet and hands.

Problem is that the bodies last resorted tactic against pooling is shooting of adrenaline which vasoconstricts these areas and also makes POTSies jittery and trembley. So this may makes the pooling hard to see.

In my case my hands and feet and arms and legs become super vasoconstricted. White, cold, clammy and with no visible veins. I can actually use my arm veins as a sort of guage of how bad a dizzy spell may be.

As for low flow, high flow, normal flow, Id think it can be readily ascertained that easy. I think from my understanding normal flow types pool in the stomach and have pretty much normal hemodynamic profiles when lying down. On the other hand low flow (Angiotensin II and NET deficiency) have excessive vasoconstriction and these correspond with Hyperadrenergic POTS (postural hypertension, reduced blood volume).

Working it out at home may not be possible sense in most cases doctors may not be able to give you a definitive answer after extensive testing. Someone might presume that a person's response to vasodilators and constrictors might be indicative on whether there is excessive pooling or arterial constriction but that is a presumption.

Also a Hyper patient generally has a better response to beta blockers than a non hyper.

[janiedelite]

Ironically it can also result from extra serotonin in blood or exaggerated platelet response to that hormone (which is also associated with "leaking", I believe... as are several other agents). The mottled look is also associated with autism/asperger's. Maybe we have autonomic asperger's?

And I'm always on alert for symptoms of excess serotonin, histamines, bradykinins, etc. since my mom came down with midgut carcinoid tumor and syndrome at my age. Negative so far, though.

[Nikki]

My hands and feet are normally freezing to the touch. The only way I can tell for sure blood is pooling is when I'm standing or sitting too long. My feet turn a really reddish/purple color. It goes away when I lay down, though.