bella27 Posted October 6, 2007 Report Share Posted October 6, 2007 I just got my blood volume test results back and they came back normal. So I guess everything I have been doing that I thought was kinda/sorda helping with my POTS symptoms like salt tablets and 3945809 glasses of water a day were only having a placebo effect and were not really helping?? I was wondering if anyone else has normal blood volume levels and what treatment methods have worked for them? Also, does anyone know of any other things that may cause POTS besides low blood volume. My doctor said that if its not low blood volume, he has no idea what it could be... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat57 Posted October 6, 2007 Report Share Posted October 6, 2007 were you salt and water loading before the test? If you were, perhaps that made the blood volume normal?http://www.potsplace.com/click on "causes" on left of the page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardiactec Posted October 6, 2007 Report Share Posted October 6, 2007 I have normal blood volume and the docs tell me to keep salt and fluid loading. I laughed at them and asked them why when I'm normal volume? they said that in people with pots, a lot of people pool blood so much that the body literally "senses" this pooling that occurs almost as a literal ''blood loss'' -- it would be the same reaction in someone who truly is hypovolemic from blood loss say from a major cut to the leg.....so when we salt and water load, it increases volume, whether normal or low to start with, and so it decreases the effects that occur from the blood pooling in the lower limbs, with what the body senses as "low blood volume" or a hypovolemic state when people pool.this is how it was explained to me as to the reasoning for continued water/salt loading in pots patients with normal volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bella27 Posted October 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2007 I have normal blood volume and the docs tell me to keep salt and fluid loading. I laughed at them and asked them why when I'm normal volume? they said that in people with pots, a lot of people pool blood so much that the body literally "senses" this pooling that occurs almost as a literal ''blood loss'' -- it would be the same reaction in someone who truly is hypovolemic from blood loss say from a major cut to the leg.....so when we salt and water load, it increases volume, whether normal or low to start with, and so it decreases the effects that occur from the blood pooling in the lower limbs, with what the body senses as "low blood volume" or a hypovolemic state when people pool.this is how it was explained to me as to the reasoning for continued water/salt loading in pots patients with normal volume.Thats very interesting Angela. Thanks for passing along the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stellakitty Posted October 6, 2007 Report Share Posted October 6, 2007 There are sooooo many reasons that a person can have POTS symptoms... I have never had my blood volume tested (never seen a reason for it) aside from tons of CBCs. Personnally I have autonomic dysfuntion due to Chiari (decompressed 6/6/06) and cranio-cervical instability that has caused pressure on my brainstem and cervical spine. I also have a major case of EDS (I can lick my elbow)... I saw a geneticist at University of Iowa in July and she feels that there may be a genetic link between EDS and vasomotor instability as she sees so many POTSys coming into her clinic.Some other causes I can think of off the top of my head (just cause I've been tested for them multiple times), are "pheochormocytoma" (tumor on the adrenel gland... I was thought to have it due to my urine and serum cathecholemes being >3xs too high... Alas my MIBG, Octreotide, and CT scans all came back negative). And the other one that I can think of off the top of my head is "Acute Intermittent Poryhpia" (King George III had it.... it's autosomal recessive. If you leave your pee out in the sun during an "attack" it will turn purple) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 Hi,They measured my blood volume before medication and after salt, IVs and Procrit and I still have 30% of my volume missing. Before the meds it was 40% below normal. The meds are helping but not that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajw4790 Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 How do they measure blood volume? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MightyMouse Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 ajw, the blood volume is usually measured by some blood tests that fall under the nuclear medicine department. Nina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. Burschman Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Or you talk to that doctor that lthomas met, who can tell just by taking your pulse!(That sounds cheaper and faster!) Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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