forevertired Posted March 27, 2012 Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 Has anyone else felt that their emotions have an affect on their POTS symptoms? If so, is it only strong emotions that affect it? What emotions do you feel affects your symptoms? What symptoms do they make worse?I have found that when I get really sad, my chest pain gets worse, and when I get really upset my breathing gets worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brethor9 Posted March 28, 2012 Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 I find any emotion that is too much (meaning if I am too excited, too happy, too sad, too anything!) it effects my Pots symptoms. Basically if I can keep my emotions even then my symptom control is much better. I guess it makes sense though since this is an illness that affects your nervous system and makes most of us highly sensitive to everything.Bren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
songcanary Posted March 28, 2012 Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 I am the same as Bren. And for me, keeping my emotions in check is THE most difficult thing. I don't respond well to curve balls. Lots of room for improvement there LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllAboutPeace Posted March 28, 2012 Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 It's interesting to look at how our emotions are impacting us. Like all of you have mentioned, things work out best for me right now when I maintain an even level of emotion. The highs and lows do tend to cause problems for me as well. Last night, my son was doing his nightly reading for school and he wanted to read me a story from "Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers' Soul". He always loved reading these stories with me because he would get a big kick out of me saying that I was determined not to cry. Of course, no matter how hard I tried not to, a few tears were inevitable. We haven't read this together since I've gotten POTS. Anyway, at the point in the story that I would normally have tears, I felt the emotion, but instead of tears it came out as an 'ache' in my chest (not like my usual chest pain, but just literally a 'heartache'). Sounds crazy, I know... It's a very vulnerable feeling and pre-POTS I had always felt that I could handle anything (and was characterized this way by others). I'd be curious to know if that super sensitivity is something that goes away when people go into remission or recover from POTS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunny Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 Anxiety/panic is the only thing I've found which exacerbates the POTS symptoms. For example, blowing past a hidden highway patrol car on the interstate doing well over the posted speed limits. (purely hypothetical, of course! ) My heart rate while driving is ~60-80 depending on how crazy it is out there, but will shoot up 100+ bpm to 180-200 bpm in about 2 seconds flat. Then the dizziness kicks in. Otherwise my emotions are very slow to change. Slow to anger, slow to cool down. I have cried myself into electrolyte imbalances, but that's a bit different and easily remedied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenglynn Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 It seems like most of my emotions are dictated by POTS/ Autonomic Failure/ and meds needed for them. But to me, this is the chicken or the egg question? Not sure if the illness causes the emotions or vice versa????Jen. P.S cognitive problems are more due to head traumas/ concussions from syncope vs. POTS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellgirl Posted April 12, 2012 Report Share Posted April 12, 2012 Jen has a good point. Anxiety has always seemed to be an issue for me. I do cry more easily, but is that my beta blocker or the dysautonomia? When I am upset, my chest tightens, and I have trouble breathing. When I'm happy and excited, that can trigger symptoms, but when I'm happy and content, then I feel better. But I can come down with symptoms, too, at any time, but my emotions do affect the severity... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfie Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 I've never had an issue with anxiety or panic and for the most part you could have put me in a dangerous situation in the past and I'd be the calmest person (alert but calm) there. There are a couple things that used to make me nervous as a child that no longer make me nervous but still bring up all of the unpleasant symptoms of nerves now that I have POTS (talking on the phone/making "official" phone calls can cause cold sweats and shaking, for example).I was always an extremely happy person, and for the most part laughing, joy, and excitement still are all mostly positive emotions that don't bring up many symptoms, but can occasionally cause crashing later. Sexual-type excitement can cause painful flushing, shaking, ect.For me sadness and anger are the biggest deals. This is the type of stress that affects me the most. Sure, the "I'm busy with more things than I can possibly do" stress is hard on me as a POTsie just for the exhaustion factor, but emotional stress is the worst. Two of my worst flares and my most recent flare were caused by emotional hurt-type stress. It is one thing to be able to put stress and bad things into perspective as part of life, but when you are dealing with death or people that are supposed to care about you significantly or constantly hurting you it is very hard to separate yourself from it and POTS can really impact normal coping mechanisms, IMO. Midodrene seems to be related to how quickly anger or hurt flares up in me. I'm getting very good at holding my tongue until I can cool down or process what I'm feeling to make sure it is truly justified and not just a flare. On one hand, this is positive since I'm not hurting those around me, but it also means I'm not cutting things off at the pass when someone does something uncalled-for to me. This can leave me with emotional hurt that has gone un-aired while the other person has moved on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCP Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 I'm a lot more unstable mood-wise but that may be the drugs I am taking. I'm more snappy and opinionated than I was. My family find me less fun, too. I'm working on it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC101 Posted April 21, 2012 Report Share Posted April 21, 2012 Anxiety/panic is the only thing I've found which exacerbates the POTS symptoms. For example, blowing past a hidden highway patrol car on the interstate doing well over the posted speed limits. (purely hypothetical, of course! ) My heart rate while driving is ~60-80 depending on how crazy it is out there, but will shoot up 100+ bpm to 180-200 bpm in about 2 seconds flat. Then the dizziness kicks in. Otherwise my emotions are very slow to change. Slow to anger, slow to cool down. I have cried myself into electrolyte imbalances, but that's a bit different and easily remedied.LOL Great example bunny! Anytime an unexpected event happens is when I notice my symptoms the most. Fear, surprise, panic, and also sometimes when something angers me pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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