Near Syncope When Sitting

[JanetM]

Hello everyone and greetings from a warm sunny Dublin (HORRAY),

I have just been through the worst 3 weeks ever. Was taken off bete block and had a hard time. Heart rate up to 154, Severe back/lung pain, not being able to breath propperly and all the usual POTS stuff! What did strike me as odd, and it always has since I was diagnosed is that I am more likely to suffer symptoms when I sit or lie down. If I walk around all day I am never going to have near syncope but as soon as I sit, bang!

I do experience tachycardia when upright but also when I lie down! Does this not contradict the principal of POTS? Is it a bp problem, as I do have big drops when I sit/lie?

Please excuse me if these seem like silly questions but there is no POTS specialist is this country so its hard to get the anwers I need.

Am now back on beta blocker and beginning to emerge from black hole! Thanks as always to you all for your help.

Have a great weekend. Its a long one here and the sun is shining. Heaven.

[JaneEyre9]

Hi Janet,

I don't think your symptoms are all that out of the ordinary. I have had episodes of syncope and near syncope while sitting and while lying down. I especially have difficulty going to restaurants because sitting for a full meal is very difficult (not to mention i'm usually empty/hungry and therefore dizzy to begin with!). I empathize. It's often hard to explain to people that sitting can be a problem just as much as standing!

I think that BP has a lot to do with it. When I was in cardiac rehab last fall, my biggest problem was not walking, but sitting down after I walked. The body reacts to exercise by raising the BP during exertion and then when you rest, your BP drops after exercise. I think the best thing the techs did to help me compensate was to keep my HR from going too high while walking, and then immediately having me lie down when I finished. Also doing some slow leg lifts while lying down helped my BP.

Hope this helps!

Kristen

[morgan617]

I have fainted several times while sitting. Not lying though...morgan

[India]

Hi Janet (and greetings from warm and sunny Hawaii!)

I too have the same symptoms when sitting and especially after prolonged sitting and periods of relaxation (you'd think relaxing would make me feel better!). As Kristen implies, I actually sometimes feel better doing things than sitting down--very frustrating. I get tachy when resting too--in fact, now that my semester is over (I teach) and the pressure is off a bit, I actually have been experiencing more episodes of light-headedness and tachyness than when I was running around during the semester. I try to keep my activity level up to counteract this. But I understand that you can't/don't want to be doing things 24/7. When I do lie down, I too do leg lifts. I have this inflatable exercise noodle that I put my legs up on and roll it back and forth and this helps bring my BP back up pretty quickly. Crossing your legs is supposed to help too--which is why I guess they always ask me to uncross mine when they take my BP at the docs.

India

[Jacquie802]

Hi Janet,

I have been having problems feeling near syncope while standing and sitting lately. I thought I was alone on the sitting near syncope feeling...Glad to know I'm not...I am going to ask my cardio Monday why this is. I personally think i need a higher dose of Midodrine.....

Jacquie

[morgan617]

I had to get an x ray of my shoulder and was sitting, when I got really tachy and presyncopal.

The gal came over to reposition me and I lose the ability to talk when that bad, so she grabbed this big trash can, convinced I was going to hurl. But she placed it in such a way that if I had gone down, it would have hit me square in the throat and smooshed my larnyx!!!

All I could think was don't fall and hit that thing, you'll never breathe normally again....it passed after a few minutes, but yep, it does happen sitting......

[dizzygirl]

yup i get pre-syncopal sitting laying and sstanding... I pass out sitting laying or standing... passing out while laying down baffles me.. as hello I'm allready laying down!

good luck to you

[Guest dionna]

i have fainted several times sitting and a few times lying down. most of those times i was on propanonal- beta blocker. in me the beta blocker made all my symptoms worse and i hated taking it. after being bed ridden for almost two months i finally found a team of doctors to help me out and they of course took me off of them. different things work in different people. i wish you only success.

dionna

[persephone]

Hi Janet,

Haven't heard from you in a while, fellow Celt!

You definitely sound unusual and not like an archetypal POTSy to me.

Thought you'd like to see this a page from Trinity College Dublin about Professor Rose-Anne Kenny. She has run a syncope clinic in England for years and won all sorts of accolades through it. Guess where she's just relocated to?

Yup, DUBLIN! this is great news for you- I wish I could get to see her, but Dublin is too far for me. Maybe you could try and get a referral?

Let us know how you get on.