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Sharp Pain In Left Arm After Climbing Stairs - Pots Or Not?


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I climbed a flight of stairs (14 steps in a row) for the first time in nearly 2 years last night since my young daughter really needed my help. I usually do 6 steps vertical, then do the rest on my bottom. Going down is not an issue; I go down standing. So while I was climbing as quickly as I could (not too fast), I got this very intense sharp pain in my left arm when I was on step 9 or 10. Do you guys think this is POTS related or something else I should get checked out? Pain comes and goes with no rhyme or reason today still. No triggers today, but lingering intermittent pain. Any thoughts? Has this happened to anyone else?

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I cannot go up or down stairs. I get pain in left side of face, neck, arm and left leg. I have been told it is not my heart. Yet, I often wonder. I will continue to have these pains off and on for days afterwards. I also will have bp spikes after this. I still think it is cardiac related, but I am told no. Yet it is odd, I can walk on flat land for quite a long time, but cannot do stairs or incline. I went up and down my stairs for the first time in 4 months, I went up 2 or 3 steps then stopped and read then went up a couple more. I had symptoms later that night and off and on for days, so I just don't know. I can do the porch steps 2 or 3 no problem.

If this has never happened to you, it certainly might be a good thing to get it checked out. It never hurts to rule out things.

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cupcakemomma5,

So can you now do stairs? If you can, how did you get to that point? Any suggestions would be great

When I tell my doctor what happens she just says I am deconditioned from the POTs and I probably did too much that day. But this began when I was still in good shape, just is worse now. I have wondered if there is some small artery or vein problem, but I have been told no, it doesn't sound like that and they don't want to check for this.

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Joann,

I'm like you. I can walk on a flat surface for a long time but can't do inclines. My driveway is on an incline but I never get that sharp pain while getting up it, just chest pressure, as if my heart will burst. Nasty... I will try getting up the whole 14 steps once more to see if it happens again. Thing is, when I climbed them this past Tuesday I had been extremely active and on my feet for 3 hours straight. Maybe I pushed the envelope too hard? They never ruled out a possible blockage though. My GP and I are still working on getting that done.

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It is likely this is associated with POTS but a sure way to tell is to lie down. (even on the floor of the stairway landing if you have to). If the pain goes away, it is posture related and is a non- life threatening symptom. If, however the symptom does not go away you should go see a doctor about it.

I actually had a sharp chest pain this past weekend while doing some work in my house. I laid down and it went away. When I stood up it returned. Definitely POTS related.

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CanadianGirl173- its possible you did too much. People look at me like I am faking it, I had one woman say directly to me " Oh, so you have a phobia of stairs?". I am proud of myself, I calmly said, "No, the doctors say this is an autonomic problem that my body cannot regulate blood pressure and heart rate correctly"

In a way I am like Kelly Saved By Grace, when I lay down, it gets a little better but when it is bad it doesn't go completely away. And then for days afterwards, I am getting the symptoms when I get up. The thing is if I push too much, I relapse to where I cannot get up at all, and I do not want to get like that again.

My symptoms make no sense whats so ever. This past week since I did the stairs, I have been really off. Nauseous, and pain on the left side, especially my leg, but also my left side above my hip and pressure below the sternum and heart races off and on. Today I figured I would tackle my daughters closet, most of the time I would be sitting on the floor. But it seems to make me feel worse than getting up and walking. It seems like when my left knee is bent or kneeled on I get the pain in the leg and nausea and head pressure. Its at its worse when straightening from that position. I am avoiding stairs for now again. I just don't know who I can get to look into this. I am hoping I can bring this up at my next visit to Cleveland Clinic, which is about a month away.

I hope you figure the reason you are having this happen soon.

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