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Could this be pots?

Fuzzyhead

Senior Member
Messages
372
I have had m.e for 12 yrs and in november i was in the shower and i felt all shaky and like i was going to faint. 2 days later i went to get up out of bed and i had horrendous vertigo and brain fog. Over the following weeks i had awful headaches and it felt like my blood supply was cut off to my brain, sweating, shakiness, awful fatigue etc. I had loads of tests including a brain ct scan which revealed 3 shadows so i had an mri last thurdsday. I haven't had the resuts yet but the more i read about pots the more i think this could be my problem. I go dizzy every time i lay down or get up from laying and when i get up in the morning.
 

jimells

Senior Member
Messages
2,009
Location
northern Maine
You might consider the Poor Man's Tilt Table Test: all you need is a clock with a second hand:
1. take pulse laying down resting.
2. Stand up and take pulse at 1, 3, and 5 minute intervals

If your heart rate increases by 30 or more beats per minute, you might have POTS.
 

Sallysblooms

P.O.T.S. now SO MUCH BETTER!
Messages
1,768
Location
Southern USA
If your bp does not rise 30 or more when you stand, it could be Dysautonomia without POTS. I know how hard this is. I have gotten much better thankfully. Mine is POTS, but it is all the autonomic nervous system.
 

Sea

Senior Member
Messages
1,286
Location
NSW Australia
I go dizzy every time i lay down or get up from laying and when i get up in the morning.

If you're getting dizzy with positional change which includes when you lay down as well as when you get up as you said, that sounds less likely to be POTS and more like vertigo which has a range of different causes.

The dizziness in POTS comes from the lack of oxygen to the brain which is restored when you lay down. The Postural in POTS indicates that the problems happen when you stand up. That doesn't mean there are no symptoms when you lie down, but dizziness brought on by laying down doesn't really fit.

I hope you get some answers soon Fuzzy
 

golden

Senior Member
Messages
1,831
Hi FuzzyHead,

I was thinking of you recently hoping you were OK and wondering about your scan results.

There were some informative answers on this thread I started when I finally learned about POTS ...

http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/pots-data.21673/


But I also was getting really badly dizzy on moving my eyes - i dont know why - even when i was lying down ...

it is all righting itself over a long long time.
 

Allyson

Senior Member
Messages
1,684
Location
Australia, Melbourne
If you're getting dizzy with positional change which includes when you lay down as well as when you get up as you said, that sounds less likely to be POTS and more like vertigo which has a range of different causes.

The dizziness in POTS comes from the lack of oxygen to the brain which is restored when you lay down. The Postural in POTS indicates that the problems happen when you stand up. That doesn't mean there are no symptoms when you lie down, but dizziness brought on by laying down doesn't really fit.

I hope you get some answers soon Fuzzy

Sounds good Sea but I used to have it only when i stood up and lately get dizziness lying down too - I had my blood volume tested and it is low by about 700 mls ! so that might explain why dizziness could happen lying down too - I think - not a POTS expert though so you could be right.

cheers and good luck with it Fuzzyhead

Ally