Hello,
I came here after doing some internet research about what is going on with my body, and after some of the members of an autoimmune support group mentioned POTS for some of the symptoms I have been experiencing. I have emailed my doctor [without mentioning anything in particular], but was wondering if anyone has experienced what I am experiencing currently.
I am 29, almost 30, and had Guillain Barre Syndrome, an autoimmune/neurological disease, at age 8. I am learning that it has left me with residual damage and also, a susceptibility to other autoimmune diseases. I have tested positive for a few, and I am still figuring that out. On top of that, I have started having some weird symptoms in the past few years. I started noticing, years ago, that my heart was racing. It would get over 120 bpm resting. Recently, it hit 135 bpm resting. A psychiatrist put me on a beta-blocker because they told me it was anxiety, even though I was not experiencing anxiety attacks at the time of these flares or whatever.
Unfortunately, I learned that my blood pressure was very low to begin with, and the beta-blocker lowered my blood pressure even more. When I moved in with some friends, they had a blood pressure cuff, and I was recommended to start monitoring my blood pressure twice a day. I noticed that my blood pressure was running in the 90s/60, 50, etc. Eventually, my psychiatrist put me on the lowest dose possible, which didn't do much for when I had these "flares".
Today, I felt very lethargic, light-headed, dizzy, and my vision was kind of tunneled. I was sitting down, kind of in a reclined position. I took my blood pressure, and it was about 98/62. I had some soup [salt to bring it back up], and checked it in an hour. It only went up to about 99/63. I decided to try something. I stood up and took my blood pressure. Wham! My blood pressure jumped up to 110/65. It seems very strange. I am going to try laying down totally and taking it and seeing what happens. It just seems odd. While I am sitting in the reclined position, my blood pressure is under 98/62.
Does anyone else experience this? What is this?
Thank you for your help and for reading this,
L
