Weight Loss And Pots

[Latacia]

Ok so I have pots and found out recently that my thyroid is outta wack. I know I need to get those levels back where they need to be so that I can try to lose weight. I have gained so much within the past few months. I can't stand up for that long without feeling faint or actually fainting. Question is how do you excerise and how have you lost weight while having pots? All anwsers are appreciated and thanks in advance!

[Godsgal]

Hello....I have the opposite problem. I have lost too much weight with this condition. But I wanted to throw in that if you want to exercise do it sitting on a recumbent bike or rowing machine. Hang in there!

[lizababy]

I am in the same boat as Godsgal right now.

However, if you are having trouble sitting or standing without feeling faint, have you tried resistance bands? If you put a resistance band around your thighs and do leg raises (both with your legs bent and not), this does help with basic core building.

You might also want to consider getting ankle weights and doing some leg lifts while lying down or some small 5 pound weights to lift while lying. Building up muscle in your body will help speed up your metabolism :-)

[KLK1305]

Tee601 I know just how you feel. I am one of those that gain weight when my symptoms are at my worse. Seems like everyone else loses around here. I don't know about how much you gain, but I gain roughly 30-40lbs at the onset of my symptoms. I stump my doctors with this because you would think I would gain overtime when I am sedentary. But I don't. I do keep it on though the entire time I am down. I normally drop the weight within 2wks of feeling better. But now this time around, I am doing better (I would say since the end of April) but have alot more symptoms that are still occuring than in the past so I have only lost about half the weight so far.

From my experience I haven't found anything to help drop the weight while all my crazyness is happening which I know you probably don't wanna hear. Trust me I know how weight gain can just add to the sad/mad/frustrated feelings we already have. Not fitting in clothes and just watching your body expand is the worst feeling in the world. So I feel for ya. I have times when I struggle to just lift my head from a lying position without getting dizzy and fainting sometimes. Or to lay and try to get up from the chair or sofa or bed and have to just sit or lie back down. It just stinks (ha s*cks is not allowed lol). The one thing though this last time around I have learned from cardiac rehab & my doctor is even doing a little (just a mintue or two) of something is better than nothing. And you may have to just do something little for a minute or two for days or even weeks but you will be able to increase your time slowly but surely. And I guarantee if you do that you will start to feel a little better with yourself. Look into maybe cardiac rehab. You have nurses there that can monitor your heart rate and bp. And if you feel dizzy or faint they know what to do. Unlike going to a gym or the Y. And like Godsgal recommended do something sitting like NuStep, Rowing machine or the recumbent bike (though most POTS people love and can do the bike I was a freak of nature in the POTS world and would pass out on this lol) If you can't get out of the house or can't do rehab, invest in resistant bands. Or even use household items to use to lift. I even found that if I would prop myself up with pillows and got a medicine ball that I could squeeze in my stomach muscles while I threw the ball over my head to my mom. Just simple things like that will help.

I hope some of this helps. Hang in there! Best of Luck