Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome

Hello! Im 33 yrs old and just got dx w/ POTS. Very scared! It happened out of the blue w/ no symptoms. I just passed out at work. Its been 3 weeks now. I tried Florinef for one week w/ no success. My doctor just put me on Atenolol 4 days ago. It seems to be lowering my heary rate. It went from 100-110 standing to 80-85. I have low blood pressure to begin w/ 95/65. It now goes down to 85/58. When I try to stand and walk I feel just plain weird. Brain fogged and lightheadness. Not sure if its my body getting use to the medicine or BP too low. I just want to live my life again! I have to small children and i havent been able to work. Any input would be greatly appreciated.  Thank You!

[cheshire_cat]

I was suffering from similar symptoms although not usually a full faint. I was on other medication so they couldnt confirm it to be POTS. However the advice was for similar symptoms.... I was advised to avoid alcohol (I soon realised that alcohol was causing pulse to race), anything with caffeine (including chocolate, coffee, tea and some fizzy drinks like sports drinks), anywhere hot like saunas, hot baths etc because it dilates the blood vessels and will make you feel worse (even a hot meal could have this reaction for me and a cup of coffee could make me need to lay down). I was told that I must drink 3ltrs of fluid a day to help with the low blood pressure.  I also had low sodium and given your sudden onset of symptoms this needs checking if it hasn't been done already! If you have low sodium then a high salt diet and/or salt tablets may help and if that doesnt work they may add in fludrocortizone (spelling may be wrong) which helps you to absorb salt and increase blood volume (if its low) thus helping the BP. If your blood volume is low then your heart has to race to pump the blood and oxygen around the body hence the increase in pulse when you move around but this needs confirming. I am just telling you what I was told but your condition may be slightly different. My medication was probably also playing a part in my symptoms. I used to struggle to be upright for more than about 2 hours a day because I felt so rough but things have improved!  The tests I had were a 24hr ECG which showed the increases in pulse (BP 24hr may be better), a tilt table test so they could establish what changes were happening during episodes and a 24hr sodium test. They found that I only needed small changes in BP to cause a big drop in heart rate.  I hope that helps a little.  I would have a chat with your doctor to see what they suggest. Have you had many tests to confirm the diagnosis and does this advice match what you were given?