Sorry, another question

[Jackie]

Did I spell that right?

Once and for all, do any, some, most, or all people with POTS experience panic-type symptoms and if so why? Is this the hyperadrenergic kind? How is that diagnosed? I think my catecholimine (sp?) levels were checked whenI was first sick but from what I've read don't they change depending on standing, etc.?

Has anybody just been sitting there (even maybe fatigued of sitting up for a long time or whatever) and just had this feeling of just being uncomfortable...like a surge or something inside like you want to run around the block or something...not that you have the energy or anything just a wierd feeling. Is this panic?

Does anybody feel that ibuprofen helps?

Just a few questions I guess...trying to figure out if the feelings I'm having are surges of adrenaline or something. Sometimes it happens after I eat candy (which I don't do too often except with a PMS craving and then I might feel it) and I suppose stress could be a trigger, but once I even felt that way after taking my B12 and folic acid supplement. Strange....... Anybody take B vitamins and feel "revved" up inside? I know somebody who felt that way after taking B vitamin shots and just wondered why. It sure felt strange.

Since this happened to me last year I'm just so sensitive to everything...birth control pills, vitamins, sugar at times, stress....

[calypso]

I get that "revved up" feeling for no reason since having POTS. I would guess it has something to do with an inappropriate release of hormones (adrenaline, maybe?) or a release of too much. I really feel that meditation helps to control it. I just finished reading "Full Catastrophe Living" by Jon Kabat-Zinn, the guru of relaxation, and it gives very clear instructions on how to quiet down the autonomic nervous system. I believe it helps me more than beta blockers.

The more I think about having POTS, the more hyperadrenergic I get. So I'm trying not to read too much on this board because I don't want to get obsessed with my health again.

Good luck,

Amy

[Michelle Sawicki]

Hi Jackie,

When I was first sick I would sometimes feel adrenaline shooting through me. It would happen at the oddest times...for example, when I was washing dishes. I didn't understand it at the time because I was calm as could be. Now I understand that it was my body trying hard to compensate for the pooling blood and low blood pressure. I relate "panic" to being fearful, which I never was in these circumstances. However, some dysaautonomia patients do have panic attacks...and when you take into consideration the bizarre symptoms we experience, it really is amazing we all don't.

Ibuprofen helps me immensly. B vitamins have made me feel more energetic, but have never made me feel bad. Sugar definitely makes me feel worse, and I avoid it.

This is from Vanderbilt's site: (http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/gcrc/adc/oi.html)

The hyperadrenergic subgroup of OI is characterized by a clinical spectrum including attenuated plasma renin activity and aldosterone, reduced supine blood volume coupled with dynamic orthostatic hypovolemia, elevated plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine, impaired clearance of norepinephrine from the circulation and evidence of partial dysautonomia. When the upright posture is assumed, there is a loss of plasma volume from the blood into the surrounding tissue. In normal subjects, about 14% of the plasma volume may leave the blood within 30 minutes of standing. This loss of plasma volume into interstitial tissues is greatly enhanced in patients with OI; occasional patients will lose more than twice this amount of fluid. It is little wonder such patients with supine hypovolemia to begin with develop symptoms in a setting of this excessive dynamic orthostatic hypovolemia. Normal subjects reduce urinary sodium excretion on assumption of upright posture, but patients with OI do so ineffectively. This probably contributes to the severity of their hypovolemia. In patients with florid symptoms of orthostatic intolerance in a setting of hypovolemia and increased plasma norepinephrine, several interesting findings emerge. The plasma renin activity and aldosterone are generally slightly reduced in proportion to the degree of the hypovolemia. This suggests that the reduced renin level may be responsible for the hypovolemia. It is possible that impaired sympathetic innervation of the juxtoglomerular apparatus in the kidney may underlie this renin deficit.

Hope this helps!

Michelle