Is an Inversion Table helpful for POTS people (blood flow to head) ?

[Bansaw]

I hear some different opinions on an inversion table for POTS sufferers.

I'm thinking bloodflow to the head might always be helpful, but I've read one or two people not recommending an inversion table.

Any comments ?

 

[L'engle]

I'd be really careful about this. How do you feel if you lean over with your head lower than it normally is? Are you ok with picking things up off the floor by leaning over and having your head down as a result? I find that feels terrible.

I would think this could lead to high blood pressure in your head while you are upside down.

 

[BrightCandle]

This devices are mostly good for releaving pressure from the lower back, that is why they tilt the entire body this way. You could certainly test if you felt better just by leaning your head off the bed, if that is an improvement and leaves any lasting feeling then potentially a tilt table like this might help. For me at least head lower than most of my body is not nice at all.

 

[Judee]

I've actually heard that putting your bed on a slant but with the head higher than the feet can help with dysautonomia. Like you, I initially thought it would be the other way around.

This site gives some explanation: https://dropitlikeitspots.com/elevating-the-head-of-the-bed-for-pots/

 

[linusbert]

I hear some different opinions on an inversion table for POTS sufferers.

I'm thinking bloodflow to the head might always be helpful, but I've read one or two people not recommending an inversion table.

Any comments ?

View attachment 50748

do you know the story of john jones? sad story.
the man had the bad situation in being stuck in a cave head in a downwards position. he died because of this.
the human body is not made to be head down over longer periods of time.

therefore i would strongly advise not to do this for prolonged time. i dont know about the short time effects for pots people, but long time in that position = bad!

if you want to have more blood in your head, why not just elevate the legs?
though i do know nothing about POTS so i dont know if elevated legs might be beneficial or not.


btw, if you are interested in the story of john jones...

Spoiler: offtopic

 

[kushami]

I hear some different opinions on an inversion table for POTS sufferers.

I'm thinking bloodflow to the head might always be helpful, but I've read one or two people not recommending an inversion table.

Any comments ?

View attachment 50748

I tried to post an answer the other day but it doesn’t seem to have worked. Apologies if it shows up later and I’ve answered twice.

Yes, I have tried “sitting upside down” to relieve OI symptoms. (Note: I have chronic OI, not POTS.)

Basically, I sit on my couch, then rotate 180 degrees atvthe hips so my feet are where my head would be and my head is where my feet would be.

I stay like this for about a minute. It temporarily relieves my OI symptoms, but they creep back in 15–30 minutes.

As another person suggested, you could try lying with your head off the edge of your bed plus cushions arranged to elevate the body to approximate the effects of an inversion table. Or maybe try it out with your physio, if you have one and they have a treatment table that tilts.

I find bending forward unpleasant, yet being with my head down is okay. I think when you bend forward, some of the discomfort can be from compressing your abdomen and lungs.

Anyway, I would say to cautiously give it a try using bed/cushions and with somebody standing by to help you up (but not if you have a neck injury or instability or any other condition e.g. reflux that might be adversely affected by putting your body in this position or the strain of doing so).

 

[Judee]

So this is a little off topic for answering the OP's original question but it does have to do with restoring proper blood flow to the brain. (I only watched the 2nd part of this topic of his so that's what I'm posting. It's pretty complete but I still have to go back and see what he is discussing in the first part.)(I also don't know how we would duplicate what he did in a home setting.)

I just found him online today and really like his thinking on helping his patient improve on this. Not that other things like salt loading, etc can't help but this was a completely new way of hearing someone think about improving POTS and very interesting:

...talking about salt loading this doctor talks about how regular saline IVs can help. I know some here already do these, maybe you could post how you got your doctor to order those, but I just thought I'd put the link as well.

 

[Rrrr]

I just posted a new thread on a new study that just came out. the thread is called:

Head-down tilt reduces the heart rate in postural tachycardia syndrome in acute setting: a pilot study​