Curious about those with anxiety

[cmreber]

Hello all!

I was just curious how many with HyperPOTS (or other) have lots of anxiety symptoms (I'm pretty sure most do), and how many that do had it in some form prior to POTS, or if it came more as a byproduct for you.  I never really thought about it in my teen years, but I do believe I had mild anxiety, even before all of this.  Now that I have HyperPOTS I definitely have insane levels of anxiety that didn't used to be there, especially when I'm experiencing a flare, but I do wonder if there was a correlation, even before my diagnosis.  I was just curious to see what everyone else's experience was pre and post POTS.  

Hope you all have a good day!

[Stephanieann]

I can totally relate. I was diagnosed with panic attacks as a teen. As I got older it still bothered me but was better. After the birth of my second son, Well during my pregnancy even, I had full blown POTS and now am questioning if this is what I had all along, or if it was anxiety or both. 

[Weyland]

Yes I had anxiety problems before pots, never on any medication for it . I probably have worse anxiety now with pots.  Thats when the hr really goes up . I hate it....

[katcanny]

I never had anxiety before POTS! Now I have massive health anxiety due to having reactions to the first couple of medications my specialist had me try. Now I don't want to try any new meds and this is holding me back my specialist prescribed 1mg Valium every night but I am yet to try it he wants me to try it for one month then return to him to see if then I can try a beta blocker without having a panic attack before even taking it! 

[Klrskies]

Im dx'd with clonal mast cell disorder and have had years of anxiety before being treated. I'd wake in the night and have anxiety attacks, feeling like I wanted to pace the floor to avoid focusing on my anxiety. Benzodiazapines would be great as far as curbing anxietys' wrath, but my imunologist doesnt want to prescribe them for reular use. so I take one only when doing something stressful like doctor/dental procedures or a big flare. I sure sleep so much better when I take one. I take Doxepin before bed which helps, and its antihistamine properties help too. 

Edited April 23, 2017 by Klrskies
grammer

[Jan]

I was always a nervous child and a bit of a worrier.   Since having POTS it is full blown anxiety. I don't know if it is from the racing heart and dizziness etc. that comes from the POTS, or if any scary illness would have made me a bundle of anxiety. 

[cmreber]

Thanks everyone!  It is interesting to me that many of us had at least a small degree of anxiety even before all of the full-blown POTS stuff.

[kalamazoo]

I have hyper pots. My pots began as panic attacks and then escalated from there. I have had panic attacks for years and anxiety everyday

[pink1975]

I've always had anxiety, as long as I can remember but I think when I was first officially diagnosed with panic attacks in my 20s, well before my POTS diagnosis that it was actually POTS and not really panic attacks. I do feel anxious now but I honestly think the majority of it is actually POTS.

[cmreber]

Thanks guys!   And also sorry for everyone dealing with the anxiety and panic attacks. Seriously awful stuff >_<  For my own self, I've always felt like it's kind of a chicken and egg situation...which came first? lol! But after reading some responses, I'm feeling like maybe a lot of us have always had some degree of POTS symptoms, even before the syndrome really started presenting itself.  I actually can remember being a teenager and getting super light-headed in the shower, to where I would have to sit down and stick my head out of the shower curtain. At the time, I never thought anything of it, but now that I know what I do, I think I always had some dysautonomia going on in the background, just not bad enough to really think there was anything wrong.