Vitamins/ Supplements

[jkapache]

Just wondering if there are any vitamins/supplements that anyone takes for there POTS? And if it helps any! People that do NOT have POTS have suggested enzymes, magnesium, Vit B and C and calcium. Everyone means well, but what is actually going to help, and what is just going to go right thru?! Any one find anything helpful?

[Ernie]

I have been taking multivitamins for years and I would not be able to function without them. I don't know if it would be different if I din't have POTS.

[nadine]

I have also taken multivitamins for years, but having a hard time tolerating them lately, makes my stomach go wild. I have taken vitamins for 30 years and I think it helps some- but certainly no cure all. I think it helps with fatigue for me.

I had my vit. D checked recently and that was quite low. They started me on supplements for this with the calcium.

[Tanzanite]

I have improved quite a bit with vitamins and minerals. I take Calcium and Vit D, Magnesium, B12 and all the other B's. Vit C, Zinc, Omega 3, Garlic, high quality probiotics, potassium (only small though, take most of it from food etc).

[lthomas521]

The single most important thing I have done for my POTS is take large daily doses of thiamine. I went from contemplating applying for disability to being nearly normal within a few days of starting thiamine supplementation. As one of my neighbors put it, "You went from blue to pink!" I've since added other B vitamins and magnesium glycinate to my daily regimen. I had been taking magnesium oxide, but a friend of mine told me that her doctor recommended magnesium glycinate to her because of her migraines. I forgot to take my magnesium glycinate on Friday night and woke up on Saturday morning with the first migraine I'd had in months.

The things that have helped me are all things that are recommended for people who have mitochondrial problems, which would explain a lot. Your mitochondria are responsible for using oxygen to release the energy from sugars and fats into a form that your cells can use. If they aren't working properly, your cells have to rely on anaerobic (without oxygen) methods of extracting energy from fuels. These are inefficient and lead to the production of lactic acid, which is what makes your muscles sore after strenuous exercise. Right before I started with the thiamine, I had an exercise stress test, which showed that I had an "appallingly low" anaerobic threshold, which the exercise physiologist attributed to lack of exercise. I think she had it backward. I had exercise intolerance because of my low anaerobic threshold, which was remedied within a few days of starting thiamine supplementation. If I stop taking the thiamine, as I did to humor one of my doctors, I got very sick again within 2 days.

I'm a medical copyeditor, and I copyedited several nutrition books about 20 years ago. Back then, the conventional wisdom was that unless you had classic signs of a deficiency disease (e.g., pellagra or beriberi), then there was no evidence that vitamin supplements above the recommended daily allowances would do you a lick of good. So it's likely that most doctors will dismiss any discussion of vitamins as "health faddism." I would be willing to go off my thiamine, and everything else, and go through all sorts of nasty tests, if some scientist would be willing to make use of the resulting data.

[kmpower]

Hi Jess,

Good question.

MetaMetrix laboratory does a test they call the ION (Individualized Optimal Nutrition). It is a test for fatty acids, amino acids, metabolic acids, cardiovascular factors, and much more. It is expensive, but cheaper than the sum of all the individual tests. (It is also cheaper than my co-pay for a trip to ER!) But it gives a glance at your entire nutritional profile, or at least that which is able to be tested on standardized lab tests.

I finally did this test after it was strongly recommended by Sherry Rogers in her new book on blood pressure. I learned that I was low or high in some very important factors that are not considered specific treatments for POTS or orthostatic issues and which didn't show up on regular blood panels. Nevertheless, one tones the heart, several hold magnesium in the system, one increases fat utilization when activity has used up the muscle glycogen, etc. Since I started my specific regimin, I have been able to cut way down on my beta blocker.

It is best to be sure what you need. Next best is to eat well and be sure to cover the bases of nutrients you might be missing in your diet.

Best wishes,

OLL

[heiseygirl]

The single most important thing I have done for my POTS is take large daily doses of thiamine. I went from contemplating applying for disability to being nearly normal within a few days of starting thiamine supplementation. As one of my neighbors put it, "You went from blue to pink!" I've since added other B vitamins and magnesium glycinate to my daily regimen. I had been taking magnesium oxide, but a friend of mine told me that her doctor recommended magnesium glycinate to her because of her migraines. I forgot to take my magnesium glycinate on Friday night and woke up on Saturday morning with the first migraine I'd had in months.

The things that have helped me are all things that are recommended for people who have mitochondrial problems, which would explain a lot. Your mitochondria are responsible for using oxygen to release the energy from sugars and fats into a form that your cells can use. If they aren't working properly, your cells have to rely on anaerobic (without oxygen) methods of extracting energy from fuels. These are inefficient and lead to the production of lactic acid, which is what makes your muscles sore after strenuous exercise. Right before I started with the thiamine, I had an exercise stress test, which showed that I had an "appallingly low" anaerobic threshold, which the exercise physiologist attributed to lack of exercise. I think she had it backward. I had exercise intolerance because of my low anaerobic threshold, which was remedied within a few days of starting thiamine supplementation. If I stop taking the thiamine, as I did to humor one of my doctors, I got very sick again within 2 days.

I'm a medical copyeditor, and I copyedited several nutrition books about 20 years ago. Back then, the conventional wisdom was that unless you had classic signs of a deficiency disease (e.g., pellagra or beriberi), then there was no evidence that vitamin supplements above the recommended daily allowances would do you a lick of good. So it's likely that most doctors will dismiss any discussion of vitamins as "health faddism." I would be willing to go off my thiamine, and everything else, and go through all sorts of nasty tests, if some scientist would be willing to make use of the resulting data.