Verapamil

I was recently diagnosed with OI and POTS and was told that I may have to start taking verapamil. Since this is normally used to treat hypertension, how would it help hypotension?

[mtgardner]

I have seen it used to bring down the pulse rate in sinus tachycardia and to lower the blood pressure in patients with both hypo and hypertension.  Marie

[DysautonomiaPrison]

If you are prone to constipation, many of us are, verapamil may make it much worse. It did for me and the doctor told me my body would get used to it in a couple of weeks....it did NOT and I had to stop taking it plus it did nothing for my tachycardia.

Good Luck, Jane

[LivingInHope]

I had a doctor tell me an anectodotal story about a man with low blood pressure.  The blood pressure medication, which normally lowers blood pressure, raised this man's.  The blood pressure medication type he took  reduced his heart rate and thus allowed his heart to work more effectively, causing an actual increase in his blood pressure.

I took verapamil a couple of different times for my P.O.T.S..  The first time, I thought it might have done a little bit of good once I worked my way up to 180.  I decided to go off it because I wasn't sure how much it was really helping my P.O.T.S. and it didn't seem to be helping my migraines, which I also suffer from.  The second time I tried it again because I was concerned about standing spikes in my blood pressure, but when I got up to the 180 mg level, my blood pressure dropped a lot and I got a migraine headache I felt the medicine was responsible for.  So, I went off it again.

If your doctor thinks you should try it, you might take a stab at it, as long as he prescribes it and monitors you closely.  Maybe you'll be like the man in the story a doctor told me!  If you find it doesn't help or makes things worse for you, I imagine your doctor would be one of the first to help you go off of it!

[mtgardner]

Many people on this forum take Beta Blockers for their tachycardia.  I don't have POTS but PAF and I can't take Beta Blockers because I get allergy shots and the two aren't normally combined.  When I had a problem with BP/heart rate my doctor put me on 180 mg. of verapamil.  It helped lower my spikes of high BP and lowered my higher plateau. I have not had the constipation problem and I don't have migraines so didn't have that consideration.  I think like any other medication individual response is key as SurgiMenopause pointed out and your doctor needs to know your reaction.  Also what works now may not work down the line.  I think Beta Blockers are more normally used for POTS in this situation from what I read.  You can always ask your doctor why he picked that particular medication.