bella27

Kits, I would be careful with adderall. I know it seems like it temporarily gives your brain an extra boost but it causes so much stress to the heart. Actually, I am pretty sure adderall is what caused my POTS in the first place. I was on it for five years and the last few years my heart would not calm down, and I've had tachycardia and POTS ever since.

I have had 3 very extensive jaw surgeries and, looking back, I am pretty sure that my POTs symptoms began directly after my first surgery, when I was 15. I had been on way too much adderall at the time for wrongly diagnosed ADD and have always solely attributed my POTS symptoms to that. I am wondering now if having so much adderall in my system COMBINED with all the blood loss from surgery may have contributed to the onset of my POTS. Did anyone else first notice their POTS symptoms directly after a surgery? I am probably getting carried away here but maybe I lost too much blood during the surgery and need a blood transfusion? Also, did anyone else take high doses of adderall for a long period of time? I still kinda suspect adderall is the main culprit...

I tried posting this question before but couldnt find my post the next day so I don't think it went through...sorry if it did though and I'm double posting... Anyways, my non-Pots friends suggested I do headstands every night and every morning to get blood to my brain. I've been trying this for a week and it seems to be really helping, though I'm wondering if its just the placebo effect. Has anyone else tried this? I'd love to know if its worked for other people so that I know its not just in my head (no pun intended). Also, I saw another thread about how bending over (which I assume would have a similar effect to headstands) is actually bad for POTS. I thought this was strange since POTS patients have a lack of blood to the brain so shouldn't bending over give us the extra boost of blood we need? One woman said that the reason why its bad for POTS is because the blood is not oxygenated? Can someone please explain? Also, would this be the same deal with headstands? Thank you for reading! Rachel

But isn't this a good thing? I thought part of the problem with POTS is that we don't get enough blood to our brain. So when we get too much, isn't that good?

Hi Niki, I started getting POTS after taking antibiotics for about a year and had never had POTS before. Now, five years after I stopped taking the antibiotics, the POTS remained. I also started taking adderall though at the same time as the antibiotics so I had always figured the adderall/antibiotic combination kind of messed me up for life. The two drugs together sped my heartrate up to sky-scraping heights.

haha thanks for the insight!

This makes me so nervous. I have been feeling a bit dizzier than normal when I wear my compression stockings and I just told myself that I was probably getting dizzy b/c I was getting TOO much blood to the brain! I told myself this is a good thing, that it meant they were working! I had no idea that the stockings could actually be making me feel worse. Its weird because I was speaking more clearly than usual today and my heart wasn't racing as fast as it usually does, but, at the same time, I was feeling a lot dizzier than normal. Could the stockings be relieving some POTS symptoms while exacerbating others? This is all so confusing...

Flop, I understand why POTS symptoms flare up again when you take compression stockings off. But, what happens with me is that when I take my stockings off, my POTS symptoms are worse than they would be had I not worn stockings all day. Does that make sense? Shouldn't it just go back to how it would be without the stockings? Best, Rachel

Oooo what happens if they bunch up? Its dangerous???

Has anyone tried the BCP Yaz to help with POTS symptoms?? Any luck? I heard the BCP Yazmin (which is different from Yaz) actually hurts POTS because its a diuretic? I was wondering if it might be the same deal with Yaz...

Lisa, Do you take Yasmin to help with POTS or for something else? If for POTS, has it helped at all? I'm starting it next week... H

Has anyone kept a food journal and noticed that they feel better/worse after eating certain foods? I feel like meat might be making me more tired and dizzy but it could all be in my head.

Thats very interesting Angela. Thanks for passing along the info.

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...

I definately get this too! To me, it is the most frustrating thing about POTS. Talking used to be my favorite activity and I used to be a very eloquent speaker. Now speaking is such a struggle...I don't have enough breath to get the words out, my voice feels weak, I constantly feel like I'm straining my vocal chords, my verbal memory is all messed up etc. Does anyone know of anything I can do to help relieve some of these symptoms??

Hi Susan, Have you tried meetup.com. They have clubs for almost everything for almost every city and its free! So theres no pressure to attend every week if you don't feel up to it. Just thought I'd throw that out there. Best, Rachel

Hi Beth, I've never heard of anyone taking cranberry tablets before. What symptom do they relieve? Thanks! R

Hi, I wanted to do an informal survey on everyone's favorite meds taken thus far for POTS. Also, would you mind including a brief description of how it helped and what side effects occurred, if any. Thanks! Rachel