Have you ever gotten a little light-headed when you stand or sit up too quickly? Imagine if that occurred all the time—but to the point where you faint when you move from lying down to standing too fast. Such is the life of people who suffer from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), a rare and under-diagnosed disease that affects a person’s blood flow and nervous system. About 500,000 people in the U.S. suffer from POTS, according to the Rare Clinical Diseases Research Network, the majority of whom are women between the ages of 13 and 50.
When POTS symptoms—a racing heart rate, chest pain, dizziness, fainting, and either high or low blood pressure—appear for the first time, the experience can be terrifying. The condition makes itself most known when a person quickly changes body position and their heart rate skyrockets. In many cases, they will faint if they don’t return to sitting and lying down immediately. For most people, the autonomic nervous system keeps blood pressure on an even keel in all body positions. For those with POTS, the nervous system fails to tell the blood vessels in the lower half of the body to tighten when they stand, and the blood flow to the brain doesn’t happen as it should. This leads to a feeling of lightheadedness, at a minimum, or passing out.
However, there are other indicators lurking in the background that a person (or even a doctor) might not realize are related to the disease. These include feeling incredibly tired, suffering “brain fog,” or experiencing flu-like symptoms. These can show up when you’re feeling stressed or, unexpectedly, after you’ve had a big meal because your intestines need more blood flow for digestion, diverting it away from other parts of your body that need it, too.
For people with severe cases of POTS, the disease can be life-altering. What’s more, not much is known about the condition, given its rarity, so doctors might not recognize it well enough to give a diagnosis—and those who suffer are told that it’s a severe bout of anxiety and the symptoms are all in their head. Those who are properly diagnosed can improve over time with a tailored treatment plan that usually includes daily exercise—the lightest of which can be grueling at first—a high-salt diet, and at least 60 to 80 ounces of water per day.
