Anxiety And Pots

[cupcakemomma5]

I am new to all of this. Received dx of pots in august and still no answers (which is common, I know)

However, just wanted to ask if pots tends to revv. up anxiety symptoms?

I never suffered with the sudden onset of sweating, nausea, and bowel issues ......blah!

Just getting ready to go to the doc. I have to pop clonazapram before Apts now. Frustrating. Just wondering if this is common, and how doyou go about handling it.

[Canadiangirl73]

Anxiety is sort of a "side effect" of POTS. By that, I mean the hormones that are responsible for anxiety are wacky in us. For most of us, our autonomic system is in sympathetic overdrive, which is the part of the ANS responsible for the "fight or flight". So we get the clammy extremities, nausea, sense of impending doom, etc. You will see many of people here on the forum have adrenal surges at night that cause them to wake up with those symptoms and wild tachy. In a normal person, the body starts releasing adrenal and cortisol around 2 am so they gently wake up. However, this is faulty in us. Either our receptors are too sensitive to those hormones or our bodies dump too much of them at once. As far as it comes to taking clonazepam before a doctor's appointment, well, I can tell you I was there for the first six months after onset. In my case, I needed to take it in order to tolerate the driving distance better (a relative was behind the wheel!) and try to alleviate some of my symptoms (mainly nausea). Also, I dreaded going because I felt my doctor was not receptive to my POTS diagnosis and if I got upset, Ativan would help a bit by keeping me calm and not send my heart rate through the roof because of my emotions. But things got better eventually for me. I think my ANS is a bit more in sync now.

[bebe127]

Great description Canadiangirl! Anxiety is such an issue for many of us it seems and since our ANS is out of whack, it doen't automatically "fix" these responses like it does with an otherwise healthy person. Anxiety doesn't cause POTS, POTS exaserbates anxiety. Unfortunately all that can be done, so it seems, is to treat it with antianxiety meds. I am on Xanax and sometimes I have to double up on a dose if I know I am going to be extra nervous like when I have to drive somewhere. Sometimes it can just come out of nowhere, in which case I try to lie down and relax and go to my "happy place" and wait however impatiently for it to pass.

So sorry you are feeling like this. I know it is hard and quite frustrating at times. You are just beginning this journey and it will take time to figure out your body and its responses. Try to be patient (much easier said than done). I do hope you get to feeling better soon.