What is POTS?

[Violeta]

Does your doctor know what POTS is?

 

[rosie26]

I never knew the name of this symptom until I came to PR last year. I am staggered that doctors don't know much about it either. Seems like we have a lot symptoms that are not understood yet.

 

[ahimsa]

I never knew the name of this symptom until I came to PR last year. I am staggered that doctors don't know much about it either. Seems like we have a lot symptoms that are not understood yet.

Like you, I'm baffled that so many doctors know nothing about POTS, NMH, Orthostatic Intolerance, and all the other "flavors" (many names, overlapping definitions) of autonomic dysfunction.

I understand that the specific names, diagnostic criteria, causation, etc. may be in dispute. Specialists in this area often disagree on the details. That kind of thing is understandable.

But ever since the Johns Hopkins study that was released in 1995 (Bou-Holaigah, et al) there has been a growing body of evidence that many patients with an ME or CFS diagnosis have some kind of autonomic dysfunction.

In fact, autonomic problems are now part of the checklist in at least one (ICC? can't remember...) set of diagnostic criteria. This is in stark contrast to the old CDC website (from a few years ago) which used to state categorically that CFS patients did not have any problem with orthostatic intolerance.

How autonomic dysfunction can be completely ignored by so many doctors, for all these years, is beyond me!

 

[ahimsa]

Does your doctor know what POTS is?
<video link deleted>

I posted my earlier response before I watched the video. I thought it was going to be more serious discussion of POTS so I waited until later to watch it.

Oops! I didn't realize it was a parody video. It was quite strange.

 

[Violeta]

I posted my earlier response before I watched the video. I thought it was going to be more serious discussion of POTS so I waited until later to watch it.

Oops! I didn't realize it was a parody video. It was quite strange.

Yes, it's silly. Just one person's way of saying how frustrating and ridiculous it is that doctors don't know what it is or what to do about it. It's a pathetic situation.

 

[ahimsa]

Yes, it's silly. Just one person's way of saying how frustrating and ridiculous it is that doctors don't know what it is or what to do about it. It's a pathetic situation.

I got it! I just did not want to take your thread too far off topic.