Hi All!
POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) is a rare disorder that is well-known to NORD. I've personally spoken with people who, literally, cannot be upright -- even
sitting upright -- for any length of time.
One man -- a computer/software specialist -- works from his bed, lying flat, with a specially-made computer table that enables him to use his laptop more comfortably.
There are degrees of POTS severity, and some sufferers are severely incapacitated -- like that young man.
Here's a link to an abstract of a good article on the hyperadrenergic form of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome from PubMed --
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21947988.
It was written in 2011 by a group of cardiologists from University of Toledo Medical Center, Toledo, OH, USA. Any of you can download the full text in a pdf file
for free by clicking on the top right corner icon --
"full text available at." Some quotes that I found of interest from the article are:
"Although the exact etiology remains elusive, we know that the syndrome of postural orthostatic tachycardia is not a single clinical entity, but rather a heterogeneous group of various related clinical syndromes having a final common presentation of orthostatic intolerance."
(***Just fYI for those who may not know -- "orthostatic intolerance" here means that one can't tolerate standing up. There are pulse and blood pressure changes that make it basically impossible.)
"Hyperadrenergic POTS patients report significant tremor, anxiety, and cold sweaty extremities when upright. Many will report a significant increase in urinary output after being upright for even a short period of time, and over half suffer from true migraine headaches."
"Patients with hyperadrenergic forms (of POTS) tend to have diarrhea rather than constipation...In our series, almost 30% of patients had gastrointestinal symptoms in form of nausea, bloating and diarrhea."
The authors also noted --
"In our study, most patients demonstrated symptoms of adrenergic overactivity in the form of palpitations, tremulousness and almost one third of our patients were hypertensive, receiving more than two medications to control their blood pressure."
I can see why one could form the conclusion that POIS may be a subset of POTS -- either the hyperadrenergic form or the more common -- but still rare -- form of POTS that results from autonomic nervous system dysfunction -- causing a drop in blood pressure. There are some similarities in symptoms of POIS.
Some questions that I have are -- does POTS (either form) result from ejaculation? Does ejaculation lead to the same measurable findings as those in the established forms of POTS? Does that feeling of "brain fog" accompany POTS?
Perhaps some of you would be willing to take your blood pressure at home (with a home blood pressure kit) and also take your pulse rate -- after ejaculation, at regular intervals, for about 1-2 hours. You'd also need to note if there were symptoms of difficulty standing upright (i.e. feeling faint, feeling like you're going to fall down, etc.) The article advises that it's after 10 minutes (or less) that these symptoms usually become
intolerable -- in other words, you've got to sit or lie down before you fall down. I think this means that probably the best way to self-monitor after ejaculation would be to take your B/P and pulse sitting or reclining, then stand upright for ten minutes or so, then check your B/P and pulse while still standing -- over a set period of time. Not easy or pleasant -- but it might be very helpful in trying to figure out at least something
measurable about POIS.
I don't know the answer, obviously, about if POIS is a subset of POTS -- I mention the questions and the suggestion of self-blood-pressure and pulse recording because it's important to not jump to conclusions (stated with complete respect!).
Daveman always says, "What we have is POIS!" He's right, but finding MAJOR similarities in other disorders -- and/or self-monitoring measurable things like B/P and pulse in a scheduled way-- could shed some light.
In any event, those B/P and pulse reading could be very helpful in determining whether or not most -- if not all -- POIS sufferers share those measurable findings.
Kurtosis -- please let us know the results of your tilt-table test!
Stef
