Mood/temper Swings?? Is This Normal For Pots?

[Katybug]

Hi everyone. I am finding that when I am feeling particularly "POTSy", it takes very little to make me short with people. I'm not totally off the map, I just don't really have a filter and I get snappy pretty fast. It's like I can't control my tone and bluntness.

For example, my mom called to check on me today and asked if I opened all the windows in the house. This has been a topic the last two days since I didn't open them because I was comfortable without them open. My response today (I was feeling shaky and have not been able to eat normally in three days due to POTS induced vomiting and diarrhea) was to snap back at her that I didn't understand why she cared if the windows were open when she isn't here and I'm comfortable. (It was not a nice tone.) It came out before I even knew what I was doing.

I don't normally act like this and really find it embarrassing and it feels like a lack of control. I find that it only happens when I am feeling shaky, dizzy, brain foggy. Is this something that others experience with their POTS? I immediately feel bad and apologize when it happens as I recognize the change in behavior. I just can't seem to make it stop. It is so disturbing to me. I feel like my evil twin takes over for 10-20 seconds and blurts out whatever she feels like then she leaves me there to pick up the pieces.

Any feedback is appreciate. I've had a particularly bad day emotionally and just need some support on this one.

[yogini]

This happens to me too - I am definitely more sensitive and emotional when I am having a flare up. It feels like I am worn down and have less ability to tolerate stress/negativity.

[lieze]

I think too it changes our whole viewpoint.

Our main concerns are can we breathe?

Are we feeling alert and able to function and walk to the bathroom if we need to go.

You know it's bad when you keep your phone with you at all times just in case you might need to dial 911.

So are the windows open-yeah I get it who really cares. It's like on the bottom of your list especially if you are really stressed.

I just don't think anyone can quite get it unless they experience the intensity of these episodes.

They leave you on edge and feeling like you don't know what's going to happen next.

It's a sure recipe for irritability.

I think what is really amazing is that you're able to catch yourself and apologize.

I hope you feel better soon related to the upset stomach you've been having.

[ACB]

I've been wondering the same thing about my behavior, as well. I experience what you are describing, too. I feel like a totally different person when it happens. Before I got my POTS diagnosis, I thought I'd turned into the biggest B of all time. Since the dx and noticing the correlation between changes in my behavior and POTS symptoms, though, I've come to think that my irritability occurs in relation to POTS. Its like a switch flips inside me and I just explode sometimes. I, too, feel horrible about it and then apologize when my POTS symptoms have decreased again and I can be reasonable.

When I've tried to explain this to others, they think I'm talking about being irritable because I don't feel well. Nope. That's not it. Its more like something that just happens and I can't control it. I find that sometimes I can catch myself beginning to become irritable and immediately stop what I'm doing to go rest quietly and I can control it. Other times, the irritability seems to come on so rapidly that I don't recognize it before its too late.

I'm really glad you posted this topic, because I haven't read anyone else describe feeling this way with POTS. I feel better knowing I'm not the only one.

[Libby]

Ohh, I totally understand. Crankiness is usually the first sign I get when my body's decided it's done trying to regulate itself for the day. It's so frustrating. I hate how snippy I get. Some days it seems like a miracle that I haven't slapped anyone.

It reminds me of how I get when I'm really hungry (and I think that's why, for the longest time, I just assumed the POTS was low blood sugar), which I guess might make sense. The brain's not getting all the blood it wants, so in addition to oxygen it's probably being deprived of glucose too.

[kayjay]

I am really slow to anger... but when I had adrenal surges ( before I was diagnosed ) I would get suddenly angry. For anyone who knows me well they would see a big disconnect. i am very mild mannered by nature and really don't get angry. Now that I am on a beta blocker I am back to normal in terms of temper.

I don't know if it is just hyper pots- but adrenal surges are all about fight or flight. I kicked my kitchen trash can in front of my children once. I had to apologize and fix the dent. They thought it was really funny. I was mortified. I know without POTS, anger is not my thing. I am more likely to react to things with hurt feelings

I have never even honked my horn at someone!!! I have thought about it though

[sue1234]

Libby, you were talking about circulation to the brain and glucose, while I was talking about the same thing on another thread earlier! I just read this one and see this! LOL.

I ONLY get snippy when my blood sugar drops. I then am a different person. I get very irritable, and can only focus on eating. If someone is talking, I totally tune them out and am "driven" to eat.

[Katybug]

Thanks everybody! I really appreciate everyone letting me know I'm not alone. I was so sad yesterday about getting snippy with my mom because she is trying so hard to take good care of me (and I'm 36 and should be taking care of her by now and was before stupid POTS ). But, really, everyone on this site really helps me feel better about myself these days. Just knowing I am not alone...

And YES, YES, YES to everything everyone said. Yes to oxygen deprivation and glucose deprivation of the brain! It really feels like I'm having both when these ugly little moments happen. I am not officially hypoglycemic but I always run borderline when tested through the years so the docs have said to assume I am and act accordingly (I don't think they meant yell at your mom when they said this ). I have been crabbier this week than usual and I haven't been able to eat properly at all (today I didn't even attempt food until 3pm because of the GI issues.) I didn't think about the sugar issues also contributing this week.

You guys are great! Thanks again!

P.S. Mom, in usual Mom-fashion, didn't even remember it happened when I apologized again when she got home from work. She's pretty great, too!

[jekecana]

I'm so glad you posted this topic.. It's something that's been on my mind lately. My son isn't a Potsy but does have dysautonomia and we have noticed over the past few years that he goes thru periods of bad behavior.. Moodiness & just not at all himself. He recently went thru one a few weeks ago (we had a big cold spell) and I noticed that his pacemaker was pacing ALL THE TIME which is unusual so I wondered if it was related since obviously his heart was having a difficult time maintaining his normal rate. We are back into nice weather and he's back to his normal happy self. He's only 5 so he doesn't really express how he feels inside yet. I assume it's normal to him so he doesn't understand to tell someone that he feels 'off'. Anyway, it's nice to know that others are having similar difficulties.

[lieze]

Besides losing temper easily I get emotionally devastated easily also.

We went to pick up lamb today...

I called the same number I did...left my order went to pick it up nothing there.

I'm not sure exactly what went wrong but I'm out and won't feel good about life until I get more,

This is not logical at all,

If the lamb meant that much to me why did I let myself run out?

I have not had communication with the farmer to know if he has any or not so I don't know what is up-if I will be able to get any.

When I have so few foods to eat it is devastating to not have one that I can.

How could I let that happen.

I feel so overwhelmed and challenged everyday just by that days tasks it's difficult to plan very far ahead.

And I had the impression that the meat would be easy to pick up whenever I needed it.

I got the wrong impression obviously.

I left my number but have not gotten a cal back either way and I hate to call and bug them.

I'm worried though that if I wait till morning that he will be out taking care of his livestock and I'm not sure what is the best way now to contact him,

They have a website maybe I could leave an email.

[janiedelite]

I agree that I don't get overwhelmed nearly as often as I was prior to starting a beta blocker. I can see a direct correlation between my mood and orthostatic or other physical stress.

[GingerA]

I hate that we are all having to deal with this but it makes me feel so much better to know that I am not alone with this symptom. Usually though I get really anger just before a bad flareup but since last night I have been so depressed and lethargic. My mom thinks that I haven't slowed down since my father's death and now it is all catching me. ( I do that sometimes. I'm ok during the time of stress but right after I crash for several days). Any tips to get out of this funk? There isn't any pain yet but my skin feels like it is starting to burn so I know its coming.

[lieze]

This may sound lame but drink lots of water to flush all that nasty stuff out of your body and try to find a calm and peaceful state of mind. Just any stress at all can really take us down a notch even if it's normal life stuff.

Losing your father I'm sure is a huge impact.

I am very sorry for your loss.

[GingerA]

Thanks Leize. I will try!

[Ernie]

Hi,

I believe it is normal for us because our hormones have greater swings than non dysautonomia population.

[sandymbme]

I totally relate to this thread, every bit! I am usually such a sunshine-y, happy, positive person. But when my symptoms really flare, I tend to loss my reign on my emotions and whatever one pops up is expressed at 150% of its usual intensity. Sometimes that's okay, because the emotion I am feeling is more or less positive. But sometimes it is soooooo not okay. I had to break up with my church last weekend, (very long story short is that they have not only abandoned me as I grew more ill, but actually became critical!) When I finally lost it I was sobbing and cursing and behaving really badly to someone I really love. When I got home I completely fell apart to Marty (fiance extraordinaire!) to the point where he told me later he had never seen me so broken. It was a terribly painful experience, for sure, and some of my reactions were valid and appropriate. But for the most part, I was just far too emotional and my internal censor checked out completely, sleeping on the job I guess! I have found that frequent apologies are a part of my "new reality". So good, as everyone seems to have said, to know I am not alone!

GingerA, no matter how old we are, it seems to me that losing a parent always leaves you feeling a bit orphaned in the world, and a bit lost. Like one of the points connecting you to earth came unstaked, and so you are left feeling slightly unglued. Or at least that was how I felt when I lost my Dad. I think it is in so many ways easier to focus, almost obsess, on anything else. because that is easier than dealing with such a big loss. And if, like me, the relationship was less than perfect, everything is such much harder, and therefore that much easier to ignore! Throw in your own illness to cope with, and you have all the ingredients for disaster. I would strongly encourage you to lean heavily on your support network, and make every reasonable effort NOT to isolate yourself. Every person's experience off grief is different, so give yourself permission to grieve in whatever way and timeline that is natural for you. Please feel free to PM me if you would like to talk further.

Sandy

[Katybug]

Hi Sandy. Sorry you had to leave your church. You expressed so much of this particular symptom so well. Thanks for your post.

[Frugalmama]

I definitely experience these swings, and it gets worse the closer I get to blacking out. I am also extremely joyful and mild-mannered, but as my hr spikes and all the other symptoms come rushing in, it's like someone else takes over my body. I don't like being short with people, and it gets to the point where I literally cannot even smile. I do notice, too, that it also happens in direct correlation to how bad my mental fog is as the acute symptoms pile up....i.e. If I can't add two single digit numbers together, it's pretty likely that I'm really, really snippy too . I really do feel that it's part of the oxygen deprivation, because I feel markedly better in this area within a few minutes of getting horizontal. It's like your body needs to use every resource to stay vertical, and so all of the non-mandatory things go out the window,,,

[Heatherp]

Yes. I’m usually very loving and kind. If I get run down I have these rage outbursts in the morning at my partner which breaks my heart. I just started emergency to try to rewire but there isn’t any evidence that it is a successful paradigm for dysautonomia. I’m just very desperate 

[bumpkin]

@Heatherp

The way my doc explained it to me, we're already past our limit and 'the stress bucket' can't hold any more, anything extra is gonna be met with an overstressed response just like anyone else who's not feeling well would respond poorly under too much stress -- Unfortunately in our case our systems seem to be in that stressed state chronically.

The best way I've been able to manage it is to try to reduce the vulnerability to emotion, maintaining a routine of prioritizing keeping after all my basic needs to the best of my ability to try to stay as functional as I can and avoid overwhelm or at least reduce the susceptibility to it.

Breathing exercises, calming ambient sound playlists, avoiding overstimulation from too much socializing and noise and lights, going online for lists of little exercises to help calm the vagus nerve, getting extra sleep whether it's sleeping in or finding time for naps, I've found that sorta stuff as-needed helps take the edge off when my system's too keyed up for me to be able to play nice in the moment. 

As a general rule I simply don't engage with anything in the morning at all until I've at least addressed my bladder, thrown down some electrolytes and water and at least half a cup of coffee, had some kind of light breakfast, etc..

To toss an analogy out there, if you've ever played the old The Sims games, we're like real life needs machines struggling to keep all those needs bars on the screen filled at the same time.. and ya can't compel a neglected Sim to action when they're burnt out and miserable with empty needs bars. Our own needs meters were apparently programmed to make life extra challenging, and we get bonus needs we have to meet like Salt and Compression, it's really more than someone should have to deal with. 

My partner and I are 'lucky' in that we both deal with ME/CFS and dysautonomia (on top of our other respective health issues), so it's easy to understand the others condition and fussiness. I don't look to them for any more than I know they can manage in the moment, we both know we're both trying our best. 

If the rage outbursts are really terrible, I always recommend making sure to rule out that it's not something like Bartonella causing it, but those tend to be a bit on the OCD side and can be very very intense.

Gotta give yourself grace, it sucks being in this shape. I personally will never go for the DNRS or Gupta or rewiring or retraining or whatever, it'd cost money and exertion which are currently precious limited resources for me, and it seems like the kind of effort where the patient gets blamed if it turns out it's not effective.. We already get patronized enough by the medical experts, and the psych experts automatically thinks we're nuts, so I'm understandably not going to have much respect from the jump for the authority of neural retraining specialists. Maybe if they ever actually sounded familiar with the conditions of the patients they pitch it to. But everything I ever saw of that stuff feels very faith healerish. 

Mindfulness is a good habit for anyone to look into though. Or maybe something like DBT would be helpful, similar concept with reducing vulnerability and it addresses respecting interpersonal boundaries, etc. There's also free websites out there with materials and worksheets on that type of stuff, I'd imagine it's less overwhelming than consuming youtube videos on it or doing a whole course, generally offers practical info on managing stress and focuses on healthy interactions, and only costs the time and energy spent reading about it. 

[Sarah Tee]

Low blood flow to the brain, which is the essence of orthostatic intolerance, may mean that not enough glucose gets to the brain. So essentially you are experiencing low blood sugar, which has been shown to cause irritability, emotional lability, and poor judgment.

There’s one classic study in which it was found that criminals sentenced just before lunch got harsher sentences due to the judges being cranky from lower blood sugar.

Here’s a story about a woman who actually did have low blood suagr, but you may recognise yourself in her moodswings:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/08/10/outbursts-confusion-anger-diagnosis/?itid=ap_sandrag.boodman

(We also get less oxygen to the brain, or at least the brain has to work harder to extract the oxygen it needs from a smaller amount of blood. I don’t know whether anyone has studied the effects of that on mood, but it certainly affects cognition.)

[bumpkin]

On 11/7/2024 at 2:26 AM, Sarah Tee said:

There’s one classic study in which it was found that criminals sentenced just before lunch got harsher sentences due to the judges being cranky from lower blood sugar.

Well, that fun fact is even more horrifying to me than living with the dysautonomia's been 😳

The h'anger is real for sure, been there 😬 Thanks for the reminder on the low blood flow and blood glucose.. there's times I forget that part of it. Having a foggy cognitive week and been a tad fussy myself, and have been noticing my bedroom air quality monitor shows the CO2 is elevated again which means I need to work on my breathing exercises so I can quit casually hyperventilating 😮‍💨 Been doing a great job of eating and snacking but forgetting to mind my breathing pattern. Stupid hypocapnia

Keeping up with this condition is really a fulltime job