How Am I Supposed To Know If I'm Getting 'better' When I'm On Meds?

[Libby]

This is totally wishful thinking on my part. But if I'm on meds to treat the POTS, then how do I tell if I'm heading towards remission? If my HR is currently controlled by (a lot of) metoprolol, will it drop into bradycardia if the tachycardia suddenly disappears? Will my BP shoot up to 200/120 if I'm still on midodrine?

I'm exaggerating just a bit. But I'm really curious. If by some New Year's miracle tomorrow I wake up and I'm POTS-free, what would I experience. Anti-POTS?

[Dizzysillyak]

Eta. Sorry I wasn't more supportive here. Sometimes meds are the best option. I hope this meds work for you. Tc .. D

[yogini]

The only way to see if your baseline has improved is to wean off your meds and see if u can get by with less. This can be painful to try, because you might hAve to waen very slwly and can experience side effcts, but worth it if you see improvement. Not sure how long you have had pots - I try this about once a year.

[Christy_D]

One thing though, if you are going to ween off to see if you are better and find out you are not better..sometimes the medication isn't as effective as it was when you go back on it. This was the case with my son. They weened him off his medications (cymbalta and doxepin) thinking he was better and he crashed. When we put him back on the medications, weening back up, they weren't as effective and he is still more symptomatic. So for now, we feel that if it isn't broke, don't try to fix it. We aren't going to mess with his meds when he is doing well.

Christy

[janiedelite]

I've weaned off of my POTS meds occasionally and found that my response to them sometimes varies. Sometimes I can tolerate midodrine in small doses, sometimes I can't tolerate any. Of course, whenever you decide to wean off meds it should be done after talking with the doctor who prescribed them for you.

Medications often do cure illness. If my mom, who has carcinoid syndrome, wasn't taking octreotide for the last 7 years, she would surely be dead now due to the toxic levels of neuroendocrine hormones/catecholamines/etc that her tumors release. Prior to the advent of octreotide, the main cause of death for carcinoid syndrome patients was heart failure because the substances released by the tumors passed through the liver into the right side of the heart and damaged the tricuspid valve. There has even been research recently documenting that 5-10% of carcinoid patients experience tumor shrinkage while on octreotide and, thank God, she is in that small group of patients who experience tumor shrinkage while on high doses of octreotide. She has had this illness for over 30 years, so we know her recent progress is only due to her octreotide. There are many illness that can be cured with medications such as many types of infections, other types of cancers, etc. We have to be careful when we make blanket statements such as "Medications can't cure an illness. Only nutrients can do that by addressing our body's needs. Meds are symptom management tools."

[Dizzysillyak]

Hi thankful,

Of course you're right. Meds can be the cure for an illness. I'm on antibiotics right now. I changed my original post too.

I'm happy your mother responded to treatments. : )

I should probably put that I can be a ditz sometimes in my profile .. Lol

Tc .. D

[yogini]

I agree with thankful. My med reductions have always been after consulting with my dr. And I usually did not go all the way at first, but rather lowering my dose to see if my I could function with less meds.

[mwise]

I agree with thankful. I would check with your doctor before weaning off any medications. I also believe that Medications are for symptom control and can cure illness. I know right now the medications I am taking are controlling my symptoms, keeping me walking and helping me have some normal life. Good luck

[yogini]

As to cure it depends on the med and the condition. For POTS, most of us take meds on a long term basis which don't cure us, but manage our symptoms... Unlike something like antibiotics, which you take for a short time to kill an infection and bring you back to normal when you stop taking it. However, meds can help you be more active, which helps POTS and also the body can heal on its own.

[sandymbme]

Like Thankful, and many others I agree that meds can be tremendously helpful in managing our illness. Just thought I would add that (here in the United States, anyway, not sure how it works in many other countries) we have an additional resource for managing our medicines and discussing the risks of potentially weaning off of meds, which is our pharmacists. Especially if you fill all of your prescriptions in one place, and have for some time, a regular pharmacist can offer a great deal of knowledge and support and is an important part of our health management "team". Of course I have an advantage/bias, my Papa Bear (aka my stepfather) is a pharmacist, so I can reach my favorite pharmacist at any hour, who knows my entire medical and prescription history! But any of you in the US like me, can have a free consult with your pharmacist any time you are in the pharmacy, and most of us see our pharmacists more than any of our other healthcare practitioners, except maybe our primary care physicians.

Sandy