I want to tell you what I found out after being busy with it and doing some research, why I sometimes feel particularly dizzy. Maybe someone else recognizes themselves here?
My research always leads me to the POTS. The term “postural tachycardia syndrome” (POTS) is common.
What is “POTS”?
It’s like “disease within disease.” Because POTS is an independent disease, but it can occur in MSA patients.
The tilting table test allows a differential diagnosis of the orthostatic regulation disorder. Although this syndrome is a common variant of circulatory dysregulation in younger women, it is still too rarely diagnosed in Germany, and it also occurs in men also. POTS is characterized by an excessive pulse increase in standing with little change in mean blood pressure. Symptoms of orthostatic intolerance occur, forcing the patient to sit or lie down.
POTS impairs blood flow through the body, causing dizziness while standing. Purely mathematically, someone is affected if their heart rate increases by 30 beats per minute within 10 minutes of getting up, or if their heart rate exceeds 120 beats per minute.
When we stand, for example, the body has to do a whole lot of processes in the body. When we stand up, a considerable amount of blood automatically falls into the lower body. Autonomic reflexes then ensure that blood is distributed to the upper body.
There are a number of diseases that affect the autonomic nervous system called dysautonomy POTS is one of them. Fatigue and a variety of other symptoms. POTS can be so pronounced that even “normal”, everyday activities such as showering or walking can be severely restricted.
There is a wide range of POTS-like disorders that fall under the term dysautonomy, some of which do not involve an increase in heart rate.
Symptoms can be: (for me it is 5, 6, 11, 14)
-
- Nausea
- headache and pain in the stomach or chest
- Chronic pain (general)
- Heart Beating
- Tiredness (Fatigue)
- Shortness of breath and weakness
- Insomnia
- Brain fog
- Anomalies in sweating
- bladder dysfunction, bladder incontinence
- Shaking of the hands (tremor)
- Increased symptoms associated with the menstrual cycle in women
- Redness or blue coloration of the legs when standing
- Cold hands, cold feet
According to a survey, fatigue (95.2%) is the most common symptom dizziness when standing is the second most common symptom (95.2%), followed by brain fog (93.1%) and palpitations (92.0%).
POTS is known to cause dizziness when standing. In some cases, patients actually faint when trying to stand, which fortunately is not (yet?) the case for me.
So, this is something that happens in me, mostly os us. “The paint is off.”
Unfortunately, there is no „magic pill” for POTS, the doctors are usually overwhelmed, they try to alleviate the symptoms individually. But what is very important is to relieve the symptoms.
- Drink a lot and in any case enough, at least 2 litres
- Increase salt intake, at least 2-4 g daily, if necessary in tablet form
- Lower carbohydrates (bread, pasta, etc.) and smaller meals
- Caffeine may be helpful in some patients – but this has not been proven in any study
- Restriction or avoidance of alcohol consumption, which is already the case with us anyway
- Avoid energy drinks
- A gluten-free diet following a tolerability kets test can be recommended
- If patients are allergic to lactose, avoid products containing lactose (diarrhoea can be a pronounced symptom)
- Physical exercise, activity, practice – a positive effect of movement has been scientifically proven – start with exercises while sitting if necessary and increase slowly. 3x 30 minutes a week achieve a proven positive effect!
- Support stockings and/or abdominal bandage avoid the sudden “sinking down” of blood
It is advisable to find a doctor who knows POTS!
Researched and partly quoted from/to the following pages:
myheart.net
aerzteblatt.de
wikipedia,de
youtube.de