Symptoms From Sitting

[RichGotsPots]

Does anyone feel bad also sitting. I don't think I can work feeling like this. Even sitting is hard for me. Can anyone point to a study that shows this, I have to prove it to my doctor?

[puppylove]

I don't know what your worst symptoms are, but I am nauseous 24-7. Sitting, lying flat, standing it doesn't matter. It is very debilitating, I could not imagine having a job while feeling this way. Just because you sit down does not mean your GI tract will move faster, the blood will stop pooling etc. I really hope it works out well for you!

[ramakentesh]

Honestly I feel better moving around standing than sitting for long periods. Anything where I am standing still or sitting still makes me worse.

[jenglynn]

I get low BP and tachy from sitting (usually, with meds 75/60 and 130-150's sitting). I get dizzy ad cognitive issues. Have had syncope from sitting, but only twice.

Jen

[ramakentesh]

ive fainted sitting three times. i feel worse sitting sometimes to be honest. a gotta keepa movin'

[fiona-jane]

for me it depends on how long i sit for and how still i sit, and how bad my PoTS symptoms are in general. on my bad PoTSy days i have symptoms while i'm laying down and often faint when sat unless i salt and water load before i fully sit up. on my good days i can sit for as long as i like without symptoms as long as i sit with my legs out in front of me, so i usually sit on the floor, and i need to wiggle my legs and generally fidget almost constantly.

i've fainted sat down a fair few times, but usually cos i've not paid enough attention to my symptoms cos i usually get a warning a few minutes before i faint. i got proper told off by my autonomic doctor about that so i've been far more attentive lately and not fainted sat down in the last few months.

fi xx

[rubytuesday]

I have OH so standing still or standing for prolonged periods are very hard for me to overcome--but I've had glutteal muscles/tendon avulsed from my hip bone when I got hit by a car, so standing is painful to me. I pool blood/fluid in my legs when I stand and it makes the BP go lower but I have to keep my legs elevated when I sit to help avoid pooling and to try to take stress of my hip while supporting my neck. I have to get up and move though. I have what I think is nausea and gastroparesis (GERD from 5 pm supper into 10-11 at night and tender epigastric despite omeperazole and ranitadine) from the dysautonomia. The more I sit, the harder it takes things to equilibriate being vertical. I feel better (once I am vertical) when I keep moving but if I am still for too long (like in checkout line, or if DH stops and 'chats'--he's a talker, to friend, then I get into trouble--have to look for place to sit down and fast). Sitting in truck to ride for about 30 min. does not bother my dysautonomia, but when I go to climb down from the truck, it does. Sitting riding my bike didn't bother me, but dismounting and pushing bike up our steep driveway would set things in motion. So now I stick with stationary recumbent bike. I am recording secretary for parish council and I will be at meeting around 3 hours--in that length of time my legs are really tight with blood/fluids/feet are ice cold and mottled/purplish redish/blue. Then I will have to take a Bumetadine for a day or two and really work harder with fluilds to get what pooled in my legs off. There isn't room under the table the way things are positioned to let me elevate my legs at the meeting but it's some way I can get out and give back (always makes you feel better). :-)

If it is hot/humid outside, I cannot sit more than a few minutes under our shaded swing--even when I get the legs up. When I worked in an office, having fibro and arthritis to boot, it would not be unusual to walk into an office at 62 degrees (truly) there was little way to control the temperature and I had to dress in layers to protect the joints. When I did have to sit, I would sometimes have blanket on lap/coat over shoulders til I could get out of the office and get moving. If I sit at church services and things get to warm I have had the sensation hit me. It was worse if I was standing in service, so now doctor has told me to sit through services, but I have to carry cold water and a fan with me just in case. When I was on Mestinon, I would also take an extra Mestinon right before church services to be on the safe side. My cardiac specialist told me with my ANS failing, that I would have less warnings of faint and that the 4th leading cause of death in elderly/people with this was from falls (injuries from the syncope).

[McBlonde]

I thought I was the only one. Symptoms from sitting was what changed everything.

Prior to 2009 I had orthostatic hypotension secondary to an endocrine disorder which included extreme fatigue. My life was limited, BUT is could function at work if that was all I did.

Then in 2009 while driving home I got a horrible orthostatic headache and then nausea. I also felt sorta out of it "like..where am I?" The usual story... continues to get worse... I can't figure out what's happening.... see a lot of doctors... By a crazy twist of fate, I see an endo for a release for a surgery I was to have and low and behold, he did a poor man's tilt table and told me I had POTS. It turns out that he was a POTS researcher from West Virginia.

I don't know what happened. What changed. How I have both orthostatic hypotension and POTS. I just know that since that time I can't drive. I can't work. I can't concentrate. Sitting is almost worst than standing still. It leaves me really non-functional and the symptoms sitting are always the same... Headache, then nausea so bad that I have to lie flat to get relief. I am assuming the symptoms that occur when I sit are from the high heart rate but I don't know that for sure.

[MomtoGiuliana]

When I was very sick I was unable to work even though my job mainly involved sitting at a desk. I was too weak and easily exhausted. It was too tiring even to drive to work and then to WALK from the parking lot to my 3rd floor office. That alone would have had me on the floor recovering for awhile. This may sound extreme to someone unfamiliar with POTS, but this is how I was for months. Fortunately my specialist wrote a letter that gave me short-term disability leave, and benefits, with my employer.

[MomtoGiuliana]

PS, I voted but my situation has changed now. I am mostly well and able to work normally. Sitting and lying down can certainly help (me) to some degree with dizziness, tachycardia, etc.However, I do get symptoms, and I can be symptomatic in any position, standing, sitting, lying down.

[jangle]

I'm like Rama, I prefer to be up and moving. My symptoms are worst when I'm in the same position for too long.

[jknh9]

I also feel better if I'm moving. If I'm standing for a long time, like making dinner, I start to feel really bad, and the same is true if I'm sitting in one position for a long time like during class or a long car trip. After a 5 1/2 hour car trip where I was a passenger, I couldn't do anything the rest of the evening or night and I felt miserable.

[RichGotsPots]

Does anyone have any studies to back up our 100% yes answers?

[McBlonde]

Does anyone have any studies to back up our 100% yes answers?

Hi Rich, I was wondering this.... Did your doctor have you sit at the end of his exam table and to HR, BP, etc?

[bellgirl]

I prefer to be up moving, as well, (NOT standing in one place, that is the worst thing for me), but always at the two hour mark, I immediately get fatigued, and of course dizzy I can sit, but I have to move around a lot, or get up in between, or my legs will go tingly or numb. I was watching "War Horse" at the theatre, and I had to get up; didn't want to walk in front of people, so I decided to squat at my seat instead. Believe it or not, it helped immensely. My husband wants to get me one of those kneeling chairs. I think it would be good for me. They were popular in the 80's....some of you weren't even born yet...lol

[kmichaelson]

Just like everyone else, I'm better to be moving around than sitting upright for a long time. I only marked that symptoms while sitting are "bad sometimes," but I do have pretty major cognitive problems while sitting and it seems like I don't get any blood to my hands or feet either, so it becomes hard to move them, especially my fingers. It's taken me forever to type this in fact!

I don't usually get faint or too dizzy while sitting--that's much worse when I'm standing--so that's why I only marked "bad sometimes."

[dizzyallie]

This is so interesting. I am still dizzy as sitting! Feel like I will fall off chairs. Even on the toilet!

I am better to keep moving a lil but am so limited to even move! I am house bound.

I saw a POTS doc this week who told me "POTS patients are only dizzy standing up - when they sit it goes away" which left me more confused!!!!

[CatPharm]

I am new here, well, I've been lurking awhile. I am/was a pharmacist up until a few weeks ago and I was lucky enough to get to sit in a chair the majority of my day. I was still dizzy, nauseated, and couldn't understand/comprehend/think straight. I missed so many days of work. Got a pacemaker, hoping that would help. I finally faced the facts and resigned my position.

Btw, I am diagnosed as POTS, but I have bradycardia instead of tachycardia. I also have Pure Autonomic failure. Some days......most days, I can barely get off the couch.

[roxie]

Yes. Everything causes symptoms. I hope one day i won't constantly feel yucky

[CarrieJessica]

My first doc said there was no way I had POTS because my symptoms hot at 50 minutes in any same position. We ever prolonged my TTT to 55 and sure enough at 48 minutes was when my HR jumped, BP dropped and I almost passed out. Now my new doc says yes I do have POTS. I am an answers person and want to know exactly what I have, I am feeling like I might not ever know for sure because it seems so debatable.

[songcanary]

LOL I not only remember the kneeling chair, I still have mine and use it every day! I think they're great and very kind on the back, although they can be pretty tough on the knees if you sit too long. But I've gotten used to it. Get one!

[bellgirl]

Now to find a kneeling chair!! Any ideas Songcanary?

[Birdlady]

I'm a weird one and have zero symptoms (except for heat intolerance) while sitting. My POTS since it's started has always been like this and I think that's why I'm more mobile than most POTSies even without any medications. When I'm sitting I am completely normal feeling. Unfortunately I can't take the poll because the last question only has a bad option and I'm never bad while sitting...

[AllAboutPeace]

Does anyone feel bad also sitting. I don't think I can work feeling like this. Even sitting is hard for me. Can anyone point to a study that shows this, I have to prove it to my doctor?

Rich,

Just curious, were you able to prove this to your doctor?

My sitting symptoms are bad, but for me it's all attributed to blood pooling in my legs. If my legs are down they turn purple (toes almost black) and I lose soo much brain function it's ridiculous, then the rest of the symptoms will follow. Because of this, I now keep my feet up and I'm able to have a coherent conversation and feel comfortable. Maybe it's a bad thing to always have my legs up ?? I do wonder if it contributes more to muscle atrophy. I try to move around as much as possible and exercise my legs on the recumbant bike to keep the blood flowing...just in case.

[McBlonde]

After I got the HR app on my IPhone, I finally figured out that my symptoms that were occurring while sitting were not caused by my heart rate increasing. I think it's the blood pooling that's giving me the symptoms when sitting.