Lying Down

[bizbiz]

As the title states, does lying down help all of your symptoms?

While it ALWAYS helps all of my physical symptoms immediatly (HR drops, headache and neck ache goes etc), I find that I can still be lying down down and have quite bad brain fog.

When I mentioned this to my specialist, he said that it shouldnt happen, since lying down would bring all the blood back to my head. He even went on to mention that he had to write a medical note for a girl in university to allow her to do her exams lying down, and I remember thinking that I didnt think it would make that much difference for me.

I find that sometimes I wake in the morning feeling very confused and brain-foggy, and it is not until I get up and move around that I start to feel more clearer. There are even times that I wake up in the middle of the night and it takes me a few seconds to remember where I am or what is going on. I always thought this was because my HR and BP drop so much while sleeping.

Does anyone else have this problem, or is there something else going on?!

[MomtoGiuliana]

When my POTS was severe, lying down helped with some symptoms, but not all. I also have experienced waking up and feeling disoriented. I believe due to low bp as you state.

[Notgivinup]

When my POTS was severe, lying down helped with some symptoms, but not all. I also have experienced waking up and feeling disoriented. I believe due to low bp as you state.

[Notgivinup]

I am lying down right now, and I accidentally left an empty post! All my physical symptoms go away while lying down, but sometimes (like now) the brain fog doesn't go away. Most times it gets better, but still not like I was before POTS.

When I first wake up in the morning I feel great. I mean before I get out of bed. Once I get up, all my symptoms start. Then as the hours go on I usually feel better. That is if it's going to be a good day.

[Kitsakatsa]

One of the most miserable aspects of POTS happens to me WHEN lying down- I call it static, but I think it is really adrenalin sickness.

In fact, sometimes I cannot lay down. I can feel my body struggling with the change in position for 10-15 minutes and the struggle lessens if I can get back to a recliner.

POTS is a dynamic impairment. A doctor that thinks that it all goes away when lying down doesn't realize the recumbent effects of the disease. That makes the complicated even more complex.

Kits

[erik]

For me stuff does not all go away with laying down. I think that either whatever is defective has impact regardless of position (though it obviously shows up most prominently under orthostatic stress) and/or the chronic/cumulative dysregulation also projects into longer term ill effects. Like you and others, the cognitive challenges most often persist for me as well. If I go lightheaded, crouching or laying down can help that... but there are times when I am tired for no reason, and feel tired even laying down... as odd as it sounds, it has even felt tiring to try to rest! Heat is one of the things that zaps me both physically & mentally. I think focusing on the trademark pulse dysregulation in POTS can be misleading if taken to be the sum of the condition.

I sometimes have thick "fog" or a light "fog" but in my case it is most common that I have a sort of fatigability. If I focus on something, I will get tired within 10 minutes or so... to the point that I have to stop and rest or sometimes go into a nap, regardless of time of day. This cognitive analog to "exercise intolerance" may or may not be typical POTS... I had a head injury some time ago and those can cause diffuse damage which while it may not directly impede the brain, is said to make it have to work harder to do its thing and results in mental fatigue.

[janiedelite]

My fatigue is somewhat lessened by lying down, as well as my nausea and chest pain. I have brain fog in any position like the other members stated. I feel tired all the time, regardless of position, and this worsens with my flares along with all my other symptoms. I also find that it's easier to change positions if I recline rather than lying flat.

[erikainorlando]

I don't get a lot of brain fog unless I have been upright too long. Most oif my symptoms are greatly lessened when I lay down but I get a few differrent ones at times. Sometimes in the morning I get numbness and tingling in my face and arms...painful skin...like it is burning...awful but when I get up it goes away....

but bear in mind...I never feel normal...laying sitting standing...I always feel winded and not well.

Erika

[HoudiniCat]

Me too. Sometimes laying down doesn't aleviate all the symptoms. I've felt dizzy, foggy, exhausted - all while laying down. I get that disoriented feeling upon waking frequently. Feels like you're trying to wake up from anesthesia. Horrible!

[potsgirl]

I'm going to just say "ditto" to what you wrote....

[bellajulz]

I just wanted to add that lying down doesn't always help me, I have fainted numerous times while laying down in different positions. My docs told me it was "impossible" for me to faint laying down, which is definatley has not been the case for me. I think everyone's body is different and reacts in its own way... Hope you get to feeling better!

[Nikki]

My cardiologist said the same thing to me..That I should feel better when I lay down because there is no gravity for my body to be fighting against, basically. That's not the case for me. My main symptom is dizziness..and while it does ease up some when I lay down, it doesn't go completely away.

I hope you feel better soon though!

[Machair]

I will often get dizzy lying down, especially when moving position, and often towards the morning when I am dehydrated. The headaches are worse then too, and I often wake up in a pool of sweat, especially my toes and hands. Despite many problems being to do with standing I am sure that many symptoms persist at night, as I am often woken up from sleep with vertigo and the room spinning. Anyone else?

[Stormie74]

I feel worse the longer I am vertical. If I am lying down or sitting, I seem to be 80 percent better than being on my feet. I get so dizzy and spacey when I'm up for very long, and develop this fear of losing control that makes me panic. I don't want to pass out in public or at work... I don't want to end up with someone calling an ambulance for me when I know that usually the lying down will FIX the problem!

[Janey]

POTS is on a constant continuum and that's part of its nature, so you have to bear that in mind... if I stand up too long, I get low BP and high HR, if I lay down too long, I feel like my body is barely functioning anymore because blood's just not bothering to flow!

The main thing that lying down does help though, is the gut involvement in my POTS/Dysautonomia. I seem to get intestinal blockages when I'm standing or sitting up, but when I lie down, they completely clear with lots of gurgling and releasing gas. It's so strange. My POTS migraines are better lying down, my BP and HR are more stable lying down and my brain fog is better lying down.

But it's not going to be the same for everyone.

[Griffin]

... but there are times when I am tired for no reason, and feel tired even laying down...

I get that a lot. Sometimes it is physical exhaustion but it just continues even when resting, other times it is also mental exhaustion, desperately need to sleep and cannot.

The main thing that lying down does help though, is the gut involvement in my POTS/Dysautonomia. I seem to get intestinal blockages when I'm standing or sitting up, but when I lie down, they completely clear with lots of gurgling and releasing gas.

I get something similar - the more exhausted I am, the more I am standing or sitting upright, the more gas builds up right through my gut with constant releases at both ends! Lying down is the only way to stop the build up.

I spend my life reclining as much as I can. This means I am using the least energy I can manage, without staring at the ceiling all day. Have to have my head supported too as supporting it myself can wear me out. It doesn't in itself help all the symptoms go away; for that I have to spend several days hardly getting out of bed.

My POTS is just one aspect of my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

[joy]

I feel exactly the way you explained, its better but still feel fuzzy

[futurehope]

No, lying down does not help all of my symptoms. My most favorite position is reclining. It causes the least problems.

Since I normally only lie down in order to sleep, I associate "lying down" with all the difficulties I have to face trying to wake up. I feel terrible in the morning or after a nap. My body has difficulty adjusting from the sleep to the wake state. It takes a lot of will power for me to get out of bed when I feel so poorly, but the only way around that "dead" feeling, is going through it.

My mornings or after nap times involve readjusting. Sometimes, the longer I sleep (as I've posted elsewhere), the worse I feel upon awakening. I've forgotten, at this point, what it feels like to wake up and feel normal. I also look pale and sickly after waking up, like my circulation was faulty. I'm basically a mess, but hey....this is my new normal.

[misseb]

Very late to the party but really interested to read this. I am even eating lying down now as it stops the huge crashes after food that result in me being in a semi unconscious state for hours after. When I say eating: a carb free half a cup full and that's it. Wait a couple of hours have the other half. 

[TCP]

Lying down levels everything out, no blood pooling.