I am a 20 year old female and was diagnosed with POTS a few weeks ago (I was having an extreme reaction to standing- going from 60bpm straight to 190bpm causing me to feel faint). I have been getting these symptoms:
-Stabbing chest pains in the left side, Palpitations all the time without certain triggers, Feeling chest tightness only on the left, Tachychardia attacks, Ectopic beats (shown on an event monitor). However, my blood pressure doesn't actually drop it stays the same; the heart rate just increases.
I have been prescribed Propranolol 20mg daily and it has honestly been miraculous, curing most of the unwanted symptoms of POTS. I couldn't recommend beta blockers enough to alleviate the tachychardia side of the condition. However, I was wondering if anyone else experiences the same symptoms as me of getting PVCs (skipped heartbeats), which feel as though your heart stops and then restarts again; you feel a big thud. This is the only symptom I really find it hard to live with- I am going back to university soon and don't feel comfortable with these. Are ectopic beats actually a common symptom of POTS?
I have been reading things about low ferritin levels causing palpitations and possibly skipped beats, and generally exacerbating POTS symptoms. My ferritin is around level 40 (hair recently started to fall out quite a bit).
I wondered if anyone had any more information on how to reduce ectopics, or whether you could shed some light onto the ferritin/ POTS connection.
