Hi, I'm new and for a long time I've thought i'd had chronic fatigue syndrome since becoming acutely sick in 2000. I have many of the symptoms such as cognitive dysfunction (bad memory, brain fog, concentration/sense of awareness etc.) fatigue, exercise intolerance, dizziness, shortness of breath, feeling cold, tingling in my extremities and others I'm probably forgetting. Since this is so bad, and there is so little treatment, I always try to browse through what look like new or interesting research articles which might be helpful or give me a better understanding of what's happening. Recently I've found a lot of articles which linked CFS and POTS by having similar or identical heart rate, blood pressure, and EKG interval times. In several of the articles it seems the authors seemed to be arguing that CFS and POTS were either the same or very similar. There also is a case report of a person with CFS being very much helped by midodrine. I don't think I would quite meet the definiton for POTS of having an increase in heart rate of 30 beats or more upon standing, as they did this test on me once, (lie down and then stand up) and though the first time must have been abnormal in some way, though they didn't tell me in what way or how much, the second time must have been relatively normal as thats what the neurologist told me the result was. While none of the doctors on the list are within driving distance for me, my own doctor is generally pretty open-minded to things that might be helpful for treatment, but I would probably have to track down good, relatively concise, information. An article: *that decribes the similarities between POTS and CFS, and summarizes the treatments for POTS (esp, those that may also be applicable to CFS). *that describes the varying subtypes of POTS and each's effect on how it is treated? *what you've found the most helpful resources for more information *any other information I should have handy? Also general questions related to things I've read on this site: *I've always had trouble blowing up balloons (how embarrassing ) since a little kid, which I've read is similar to a valsalva maneuver, would that give me an indication as to if I have some degree of POTS? or a particular type? *Since being sick I've had severe post-exertional fatigue... would that be an indication of POTS or a specific type? Maybe that the sympathetic nervous system is overactive (is that the case in all type of POTS?) *My dad has severe IBS, especially after eating, and had a slightly shortened PR interval, the interval of conduction of the impulse from the atria to the ventricle, could this be due to some disorder of the autonomic nervous system? *Have most people found the "tilting the head of your bed up" thing to be helpful? Thanks! Sorry for any especially dumb questions! Oftentimes its hard for me to tell if something applies to me enough for it to be useful for treatment, or if i'm just grasping for straws... Thank-you, john