Do I have POTS?

[carlysugar99]

Hello
So I’ve spent the past couple of days constantly checking my heart rate and it’s starting to drive me crazy. I’m a teenage girl who has always been paranoid over my heart.

My resting heart rate is usually between 74-80 bpm. I’ve just realised that my standing heart rate is a lot faster than this, usually between 110-125 bpm, which doesn’t drop. I think it’s been this rate for a while but now that I’ve noticed it’s making me anxious because I don’t know if this is normal. Sometimes it gets over 130 if I walk around

I wouldn’t say that I’m getting any other typical symptoms like dizziness/feeling like I’m going to faint, however I do find that I feel muscle fatigued for around 30 seconds when I first stand up. I’ve had this for around 10 months I’d say.

If this is POTS, what are the likely causes? I would really appreciate anyone’s opinion!

[Careful1]

No one here can tell you if you have POTS and it's normal for ones heart rate to increase upon standing and with activity.

POTS is more then just an increase in heart rate when a person stands. POTS is a blood flow problem. When someone with POTS stands up, the blood remains in the lower part of the body causing the blood pressure to drop and the heart to speed up.

You really dont have the symptoms that go along with POTS except for the increase in heart rate which is also a normal occurrence...

[carlysugar99]

No one here can tell you if you have POTS and it's normal for ones heart rate to increase upon standing and with activity.

POTS is more then just an increase in heart rate when a person stands. POTS is a blood flow problem. When someone with POTS stands up, the blood remains in the lower part of the body causing the blood pressure to drop and the heart to speed up.

You really dont have the symptoms that go along with POTS except for the increase in heart rate which is also a normal occurrence...

Yes that’s fair enough. I just read that if your heart rate increases more than 30 bpm or stays above 120 bpm while standing for more then 10 minutes it could indicate pots but I don’t know if that means anything if I don’t have those other symptoms

[chomer86]

Hi,
I have just been diagnosd with pots syndrome. I have an increase in my heart rate of over 30bpm everytime i stand then it creeps back down. My blood pressure doesnt drop upon standing it in fact increases a bit too much when i stand. The best way to know is to check your pulse when sitting down then check it again once you stand if it rises over 30bpm then you fit the criteria for a pots diagnosis. I get a lot of lightheaded spells also. It many drs are aware of the condition, i was sent away from a&e 3 times in a week before i had to pay private to see a cardiologist and got diagnosed.

[Careful1]

What happens during pots is normally when you sit up or stand, gravity pulls some of your blood down to your belly area, hands and feet.

In response, your blood vessels quickly narrow and your heart rate increases slightly to maintain blood flow to the heart and brain, and prevent blood pressure dropping.

This is all done without needing to think about it by the autonomic nervous system – the nervous system in charge of automatic body functions.

In PoTS, the autonomic nervous system doesn't work properly. There's a drop in blood supply to the heart and brain when you become upright and the heart races to compensate for this.

The only way you will know is by seeing a dr and having the appropriate testing done. I will say that not every person that has a significant increase in heart rate upon standing has POTS. My heart rate increases by 30 points and more standing and even more just walking and I do not have POTS. Gotta see the dr....

[Alde]

I was diagnosed with POTS last week while being monitored in hospital. My heart rate was going up around 30bpm when standing up. My blood pressure wasn’t dropping - in fact it was going up a bit when standing, as it should do.

I’m now on beta blockers to control my heart rate and it only rises around 10bpm when I stand now which I believe is normal. My resting heart rate is also about 20-30bpm lower.

I’m not 100% sure the diagnosis is correct and it’s not all just my anxiety. Im sure if you’re constantly thinking about your heart rate, as I was, that will make it rise anyway! I also got to the point of worrying about standing up, which probably made it rise whenever I had to stand up.

The test they use in U.K. to diagnose POTS is the tilt table which is a simple test so I would definitely recommend going to the doctors to rule it out. Even if you do have POTS, everything I’ve been told is that it’s very well controlled with medication and doesn’t damage your heart.