No More Pots After 40?

[cardiactec]

i was tachy at 160 the other day while working in the cardiac catheterization lab and had to slip out of the room after starting in with the lovely POTS symptoms. the nurse followed me out, took my pulse which was 160 standing. i said to her "want to see a magic trick" and then, still attached to pulse oximetry, laid down on the stretcher and bam, 60PBM within 3 seconds of lying down. she ran out of the room and was telling one of the tech's when the cardiologist that was performing the cath asked where i went...the nurse told him that i was lying down in the other room because i have POTS and he said "oh, well she'll get better over time, i have never seen any patients over the age of 40 with POTS". the nurse said to him "so she is only 24, you expect her to live with this for the next 16 years??" .....

..........my question is, is this truly a condition that yields to a particular age range with a cut off mark of 40 because it seems like there's some folks with POTS on this site that are over 40?????

[Dawg Tired]

Um.... mine started when I was 43......

[MightyMouse]

mine started at birth and I'm now 41 and counting. Your cardiologist is mistaken. Plenty of folks have POTS until ripe old age. Perhaps they don't get to see him for some other reason? (er, like maybe they've been told just to cope with it...or that they're depressed and making themselves sick... basically, that's what SEVERAL cardios told me... and others here tooo.)

Sorry to burst the bubble, but it's a myth that it just goes away -- it doesn't unless you've had accute/sudden viral onset, and about 1/3 of those folks get better over time. Maybe not back to normal, but much better. That leaves, though, 2/3 who are sick for the remainder of their life.

Nina

[cardiactec]

that is what i have been told as well, that it doesnt necessarily go away unless it is triggered post viral. the cardio that said that wasnt my cardio. i was just assisting him during a cardiac procedure that day....

it seems like there is a lot of confusion in the medical field over POTS and auto dys...and seems like there are a lot of people who think this is just a "young women's HORMONAL contributed problem". yes, the majority of the people who present with auto symptoms and who are diagnosed with POTS/auto dys STATISTICALLY seem to be the younger crowd and female gender, but that doesnt mean that older people dont get it or that some males arent afflicted by this either.

[MNsue]

Sorry to say, but my symptoms started at 24 and I am now 40 with my wost flare yet. I wish 40 was the magic number. It took me 16 years to be diagnosed. My stymptoms started after a bad bout of Mono and I have had good and bad periods over the years.

Good Luck,

Rhonda

[futurehope]

I first noticed debilitating symptoms at 51 years old. So much for your cardiologist's knowledge. I believe some doctors could learn some things by reading this forum.

[Sophia3]

I am 49..been disabled 16 years and have gotten much worse in last 5 years.

I WAS told, that YEARS AGO, Vanderbilt used to make such claims that women got better after menopause. They now know they were VERY MISTAKEN.

[SunsetParadise49]

My first cardio. (who claimed to know about NCS but really knew nothing) said that I would get better when I was in my early 20's. And he said this, "I never see any old people with NCS...." We knew that was bull because the month that I passed out for the first time, a friend of my mom's and grandparents passed out and was diagnosed with NCS.....she's in her 50's or evven 60's!

The cardio who I have now (who dx'd me with POTS, not just NCS) said that it will take me 5-6 years to feel any better than I do today. He said that sometimes Dysautonomia can get bad again when you enter your 40's and 50's.

[Ernie]

Hi,

We have 6 generations of this disorder and the youngest is 3 years old and the oldest is 86 years old. I guess some doctors live in a dream life!

[Jersey Girl]

I am 53, got this at 49 and have aunt who developed orthostatic intolerance in her 80's. Martha

[SunsetParadise49]

I guess some doctors live in a dream life!

You said that right!

[Guest dionna]

my cardiologist told me that no one over the age of fifty has ever been recorded to having POTS. obviously he is wrong. i was 18 when i started fainting. 32 years and then bam no more i can live again? nope. if God wants me healed He will heal me. my friend has NCS--- finally diagnosed and the doctor told him his would never go away because his was caused by the heat and it damaged him beyond repair. so i don't know. i know the doctor is wrong. it isn't biased upon age.

dionna

[willows]

Well if there's no more pots over 40 ............your all talking to a ghost because I'm 50 + unless I'm living in a parallel world of course and neither you nor I are really here..........

Nope....... .dont think so , me thinks that some of these doctors just 'think' they know it all , but unless you have pots or have lived along side a suffer you just dont know , especially the 'unexpected'

Willows........not a ghost

[lthomas521]

Mine was getting really really bad when I was 40. I'm doing reasonably well now, at 44, only because I manage it very aggressively.

[mom4cem]

Just turned 40 and still kicking with dysautonomia

[anna]

Hi all,

I'm 43 had problems since I was a child my dad had ANS dysfunction till he died at 67 it has been an issue for genarations we just had no idea it had a name.

Anna

[dawn]

I think I have had POTS all of my life. Was diagnosed in my mid 30"s and am now 50. It has gotten worse not better.

I was able to keep working until I was 48. The last few years of work were very difficult.

I wish you the best and wish that your cardiologist was right.

Don't give up hope.

Dawn

[MomtoGiuliana]

My POTS specialist has patients in their 60's. He told me to expect a flare up in my 40's--or whenever I go through menopause.

[vemee]

I have probably had pots since my teens and am now 50. In the past 3 years my symptoms got worse so that I could ot work. I am also a man.

[dizzy]

I am getting closer to forty everyday.....no let up for me yet.....

My dad in his late 70's....still passing out

my grandfather I'm sure had POTS until he passed away in his early 70's

Same for my Aunts and Uncles in their 60's and 70's

I guess age doesn't matter if it is in your genes anyway.

[luckygoat3]

My grandmother had Vascovagal Syncope...diagonsed later in life but we believe she had it longer. She had eposides not as bad when they installed the pacemaker. She died at 85 w/ lung cancer, so it didn't take her life but she would pass out and not come to, hence the pacemaker.

So my family has a history of POTS, NCS, and OI....so i doubt mine will ever "go away".

[Eli6596]

I'm 41 and not getting any better except with piling on more and more medications for the POTS. I think that the hardest thing for me was dealing with false hope. I have coped with the illness much better emotionally after accepting that it is not going to go away at a magic time or age.

Karyn

[kmpower]

I had my first symptoms at 57.

[bttrflyamby1981]

Not sure wear that doc got that info?

I have even read that some elderly have gotten POTS because of other health problems, like falling and breaking their hip as an ex...

Just another missinformed doc I guess.

Amber

[Guest danielvasel]

hmmm, wouldn?t it be great if that was true?

i?d "only" have 18 years to go...