AmyKB

I agree with what some of the others said about salt and caffeine. Try to exhaust all other options first before turning to nicotine. Compression leggings, a gallon of water, a crap ton of ramen... caffeine.... prescription medication.... all of those are better options. One of the most terrifying ways to die is by suffocation and that's basically what having COPD is. Don't do it.

I do NOT attempt to acclimate myself if it's beyond 80degrees. My husband wants to go outside and weed MID-DAY sometimes. I just give him "the look". The "you are out of your mind do you really think I'm going to weed in 103 degree weather at over 5000 elevation" look. So no. But then again I live in the desert. There is no acclimating yourself here. I imagine that if I lived in Montana, Minnesota, etc. I would attempt it, yes.

I am a nurse and worked full time at night on an inpatient unit. So that means constantly pushing, pulling, lifting, reaching, and squating(to reach things on the floor without passing out) with very little sitting for 13hours. Honestly, it was hard. It IS hard to work full time with POTS. I managed by drinking nearly a gallon of water a day along and eating 6-8grams of salt, wearing waist high compression stockings, and as luck would have it I was diagnosed with ADHD so I have a prescription for ER methylphenidate (ritalin) which helps A LOT with the brain fog. Speaking of which.... because I am a nurse at a university hospital I have access to many research articles. I did find a few papers that stated that methylphenidate can actually be useful in reducing the symptoms of POTS. To be honest, I really think that medication plays a BIG part in my ability to work and work efficiently. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20460983/ this article is not the same that I am referencing. It is similar but it seems they had a much smaller group of patients to work with. Unfortunately most doctors won't prescribe a controlled substance such as Ritalin for something outside of its intended use. :/ so short of faking ADHD I'm not sure what you can do.... p.s. I take 18mg ER. That is the absolute lowest dose you can prescribe. With POTS you have to be careful. While it DOES help in small doses it can be very harmful in high doses because it can overstimulate/stress your heart.