Am I right for thinking I might have POTS?

[Anonymous]

I have so many symptoms of POTS. But the problem is they come and go. Like, for about 2-3 weeks I'm okay and either the symptoms are REALLY hidden or not present at all. But for about a week or maybe even less, I have flare ups. Sometimes, pretty bad ones.

Like, imagine going up the stairs, just 1 floor, and my heart feels like I just ran a mile, my arms become numb, my legs feel like they will give up and I'm dizzy and lightheaded and my vision is blurry. But I never faint. The closest I got was to get on the floor and sit there until I felt better.

I feel like I'm being so overly dramatic whenever I sit on the floor to rest cause I know I won't faint anyway.

Updates

1 y

POTS - postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome

[SueShe]

Have you ever considered checking whether you have that condition or is it just something that you looked up on the internet based on your symptoms?

There could be a number of medical conditions associated with your symptoms and I would urge you to consult a cardiologist at once. This is definitely not normal for such a young person such as you to have those POTS symptoms.

You could also have some kind of weakness in the heart like a failing heart valve or something like tricuspid atresia (missing valve) or even a patent foramen ovale (PFO), which is a hole in the heart that didn't close the way it should at birth?

This is something you really should take seriously and a heart ultrasound would certainly help you to try to find a diagnosis to your problem. Good luck.

[Asker]

About the heart closing not the way it's supposed to be. Yeah. I remember mom saying that when I was like 6 yo or younger, we went to a cardiologist and they said my heart didn't close the way it's supposed to but they said it's nothing serious and it will resolve on its own.

And about POTS. I have been researching since last summer (that's when I started to really get periods of bad symptoms). I measured my heart rate multiple times and on a bad day, it goes from 84 BPM to like 136 BPM when I just stand up from laying down. Ik it's not a lot, but it's enough to make me "black out" for a second (I can't explain it but it usually happens in the morning and maybe later in the day when it's a BAD day). Anyway, the biggest difference yet was a few days ago. I just woke up and my heart rate was 66 BPM (which is way lower than usual) and when I got up, it spiked to 158 BPM and that.. wasn't fun.

But yeah, I considered other things even tho I always come back to pots cause it can describe whatever I have the best

[sage2021]

You really do need to get a definite clear diagnosis from a cardiologist.

There are so many variables when it comes to the heart.
Like SheShe said it could be something else. You should self diagnose yourself from looking up symptoms on websites. You need actual tests performed by a cardiologist.

[sage2021]

***Correction**
You should not self diagnose yourself from the internet
My word correction messed up my answer

[strateguy632]

Sounds different but practice climbing just 5 or 6 steps twice a day, without missing days. In addition to whatever you usualy climb.

[Anonymous]

What are you trying to say you’re smoking too much pot

[Anonymous]

POTS?

[Asker]

POTS - postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome