POTS and Pregnancy!

[EveNida]

Hello, my name is Eve, and I'm new to this forum. A little background on me: I'm 22 years old, was diagnosed with POTs when I was 20, and treated at the Mayo Clinic in MN. Before that I was undiagnosed and verrrry sick for a long time. By the time I got to Mayo (I live in Maine, and was first hospitalized in Boston) I was 83 lbs and in a wheelchair. I could barely keep anything down.

   Today, I am happy, I feel healthy the majority if the time, but I definitely still have POTs. I am on Celexa for my pots, I was on midodrine, but have been able to get off of it. To keep my symptoms at bay, I do cardio 5x a week with a target heart rate of 140, and strengthening 3x a week. I also eat larrrrge amounts of salt, and drink about/over a gallon of fluids a day. I make sure I get 8 hours of sleep, have a schedule, and do deep breathing when needed. When I do all these things like I should, I stay very high functioning and can do just about anything.

Here's where the pregnancy part comes in... My husband and I were just married in December (7 months ago) we are not wanting to have a child right now, but maybe in the next year or so. I have just about no info on pots and pregnancy, and since I got treated all the way in MN and I live in Maine, I don't really trust too many drs around here with my POTs. Much less POTs and pregnancy info. I'm not in contact with any drs at mayo still, either. Mayo is where I would want to get this information. I guess I'm just terrified about going back to the way I was when I was sick- starving, throwing up, out of breath all the time, scared. My husband and I really do want children at some point, though. Asking people for their pots and pregnancy stories?
Also some specific questions for those who have gone through this:
1- did your OB let you eat a lot of salt? Can that harm the baby? I do not have any issues with high BP. Salt is good for me.

2-Could you keep up your excersize? Do you think I could keep up my 5 day a week 140 heart rate cardio? Or is that bad for baby?

3- what if they put me on bed rest? What are the chances of that? I don't see why I would have to be because of my pots, but if something else happened, and I had to be put on bed rest, I just feel like that would be really bad.  I'm pretty sure if I stopped cardio all together, I would feel verrrrry sick.

4- what are the PROS/CONS of c section vs natural birth?

5- after you had your baby, did it like, kill you to have to wake up so much during the night? If I don't get a good nights sleep for a few nights, I do feel sick.

6-  Can you take Celexa while pregnant?

7- I truly want to have a child in the not too distant future, I just don't want to loose myself along the way.

[Leelee12345]

Hi there Evenida!! My name is Leigh Ann . I am 27 years old and I have been diagnosed with POTS since I was about 16 years old. I got my diagnosis from Vanderbilt in TN. I am like you on how I keep symptoms at bay!! Workout,sleep 8 (or 9) hours per night , keep a schedule, drink fluids and eat salt. I was taking 100mg Zoloft and 50 then down to 25 mg of a beta blocker. ( now I'm medicine free for 3 weeks)
I got married about a year and a half ago and last march we were in your position wondering what the heck to do... I decided to wean completely off my meds and it has taken me until last month to wean off. It was tough to wean off and I did pass out one time due to dizziness and my sleep schedule was off due to travel. I'm doing well so far right now!! I have been very emotional though and kind of weepy. I'm sure it's bc of weaning off an antidepressant. .. Anyways,  I'm not pregnant yet but now we are finally high risk pregnancy doctor shopping... 2 doctors have already said they refuse to see me bc they don't feel familiar with my diagnosis. One doctor is willing to take me on.
I have an appointment in December to ask him the plan like some of ur questions.. C section vs natural, exercise/salt intake, etc etc.
I DID contact my diagnosing doc from Vandy... I haven't been to Vanderbilt since I was 16 and they pulled my file right up and said they were more than happy to consult with my high risk OB. I think maybe Mayo might do the same if u just try to call them.?
Well that's where I'm at... Where are u at from ur last post..?.

[Heiferly]

What you want to do is ask for pre-pregnancy planning with the High Risk OB team at your hospital. That's who will be managing your pregnancy once you get pregnant, and they can help you with questions about what meds you need to get off of *before* trying to conceive, which ones you will take only during certain trimesters of the pregnancy, other things to consider with regard to your medical history and what you can do to get your body ready to conceive and carry a baby, etc.  This is VERY beneficial and will answer most of your questions!!

Here are some threads that have talked about pregnancy and childbirth here in the past:

http://www.medhelp.org/search?utf8=%26%23x2713%3B&query=pots+pregnancy&camp=top_nav_search