High Angiotensin Ii Result: Of Interest To Sudden Onset Patients And Pregnancy Onset Patients

[Annaliese]

My POTS was sudden onset and started during late pregnancy. After 18 months i finally convinced a dr to measure Angiotensin II. Well i got the result back today and my standing Angiotendin II levels are high. It's interesting because in preeclampsia they have also found angiotensin II autoantibodies. Btw i first presented with extreme anxiety and chest pain with very high hr and high bp. Over 18 months my BP has gradually decreased and is now low.

[Chaos]

Interesting! Thanks for sharing this. How are your POTS symptoms now? Did you have preeclampsia in pregnancy? Would have been interesting to see what your angiotensin ll levels were when you had the onset of POTS.

[Annaliese]

Yes i was diagnosed with preeclampsia but i dont think it really was true preeclampsia in that the high bp was posture dependent. Unless of course i have a genetic mutation ( a supersensitivity somewhere?) that leads to preeclampsia being posture dependent.

[Annaliese]

Oh,pots symptoms getting marginally better with time. Health was 0/10 but now 3.5/10 id say.

[ramakentesh]

Great find! How does licorice and inderal effect you?

[Annaliese]

Inderal was great in the beginning when i had high bp. It decreased chest pain and anxiety. Now i dont take it anymore because 1) i believe i have low blood volume and inderal decreases renin activity and 2) i now have low bp and inderal worsens that. Licorice i have in my cupboard but havent tried yet because to be honest i forgot i had it!

[ramakentesh]

Licorice seems to actually stimulate at-1 receptors in the kidneys according to one study causing a release of aldosterone. Was dizziness a feature of your POTS?

[Annaliese]

Never was dizzy when i had high blood pressure in the beginning. But now i often get dizzy (as in about to faint).

[Annaliese]

Oh, my upright renin and aldosterone were also very high but normal whilst supine.

[firewatcher]

Preeclampsia and POTS share hypovolemia as well. There was a study, that I can't find now, that mentions the chronic low blood volume persists after giving birth and creates a predisposition to hypertension later in life. I wondered why these women did not all get POTS or why POTS patients did not all have preeclampsia. There is some mechanism that is different for us. I thought it would make a good clinical trial, but never pursued it.

BTW, I did not have pregnancy hypertension until the actual labor and delivery.

[issie]

Just bumped up another thread on a connection to pre-eclampsia and autoantibodies to ACE II also.

[Annaliese]

Hmmm, thinking since my renin and and aldosterone also went very high with ortho stress, perhaps its just a normal response to low blood vol (ie pooling) as apposed to ang 2 synthase autoantibody being present.

[ramakentesh]

In the original article by Vandy they had high ang ii and low renin/ald. But high sympathetic activity

[issie]

In the original article by Vandy they had high ang ii and low renin/ald. But high sympathetic activity

I wish they would check my levels - since having the low renin/aldosterone issues and terrible sympathetic activity. You would've thought that the ARB would have worked on me - but, it didn't.

[ramakentesh]

what about alpha lipioc acid?

[issie]

what about alpha lipioc acid?

Still taking the B1 before I add that as just adding that by itself if your B1 levels are too low - will make you really sick and you won't tolerate the alpha lipoic. I do plan to add it - but, not just yet - still need more B1 on board.

Issie

[ramakentesh]

read somewhere (maybe) that it can boost NO levels in some.

[issie]

read somewhere (maybe) that it can boost NO levels in some.

Yeah, that's what it's supposed to do. It would make some POTS people really sick (People listen here - some POTS people have too high levels of NO already.) But, for me I think I need to increase my NO levels. Jangle is doing great on it.

Issie

[ramakentesh]

good to hear.

[jangle]

Interesting that you also mentioned that your levels were taken while standing. I have to wonder about other people's reports if they were taken while standing or not.

As for me I don't think I'll get a doctor to actually measure my angiotensin ii levels, and realistically speaking that is something that can only be measured by a well trained and experienced technician, which I believe only exists in research settings/specialized areas.

[Annaliese]

Yeah, im lucky because my dr is into research. Its a tricky business measuring and interpreting hormone levels. It took me ages to find a dr willing to measure ang 2.