treatment - new to this

[anigail82]

So, I was reading some of the postings about medications and it's pretty disheartening how many drugs some people are taking.  I just found out I have some sort of orthostatic tachycardia/hypotension and am worried about what drugs I should take and how they will affect me.  My symptoms aren't bad day-to-day, but I have a really hard time standing for very long, which is making work very hard now that I'm graduating from the classroom into actual stand-all-day work.  Several times I've had to sit down quickly or leave the room to throw up - pretty embarassing.

I'm just wondering what sort of drugs I can take alone, or in combo, that have been affective for others with minimal side effects?  I will of course be talking to my doctor about this next week, but a little research beforehand is never a bad thing, right?  If there is already another posting on this, I apologize... link please?

[Heiferly]

Hey, just a friendly reminder that although we get rather accustomed to seeing a lot of POTS on our forum, anigail82 didn't actually say the diagnosis was POTS in this case so we need to be mindful of not diagnosing others or jumping to conclusions. Thanks folks!

[canady2009]

Hi, I have POTS too. I have been suffering with it for several years but was just recently diagnosed this past year. Since then, I have done alot of research on POTS and learned alot about it. Non-drug treatments include increasing salt and water intake and compression hose to raise BP, because the blood volume is low in people with POTS. Medications that can be used are Florinef, which increases salt and water retention to raise BP and lower heart rate. Also mestinon, and pyridostigmine are drugs that cause vasoconstriction to allow blood to flow upwards more easily. Also, antidepressants and beta-blockers may be used. I am not sure which meds are safe to combine or not, but I am sure that a doctor or pharmacist could answer that question. I wish you good luck as you begin treating your POTS and that you can find a treatment regimen to reduce your symptoms and improve your quality of life. Take care of yourself !!