Potsy Tachy Vs. Anxiety Tachy??

[cardiactec]

how do you know the difference between a person who has anxiety with a person who has POTsy tachycardia on a tilt table test? someone told me you can tell the difference because an anxious person will have tachy at the very beginning of a tilt and then it will subside and a person with TRUE pots will have a sustained heart rate through the whole period of upright tilt. any thoughts?

[jenwic]

I couldn't answer that with certainty, but only by what I experienced. I was SO stressed out when I went in for my tilt my heart was flying. When they tilted me up it went even faster and stayed up no matter how hard I tried to relax. It got up to 160 several times, but stayed in the 140's I think. When they put me down my heart rate immediately slowed. If it would have slowed during the test then I would have thought it could have been stress related, but it stayed up the whole time.

[cardiactec]

this is what happened to me as well. they put me up and it went crazy, to like 190. they put me down and though it took like 3 minutes for it to completely return to baseline, after three minutes it was slow. i felt a little stressed for the test as well but overall, i truly think it was pots driven anxiety sensations while upright

[jenwclark]

In my case, my heart rate was 80 before the test (when I was lying down, but nervous), over 130 for most of the actual test, and 60 after (when I was lying down and relaxed). I'm guessing part of the theory is that if it's anxiety, it will show before you're tilted? Just a guess, though. This is certainly more your field than mine!

spike