#Mayo Clinic page: here are all the causes of tachycardia

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Medical side of tumblr help me out here

Is there any reason to be concerned if I’m chronically tachycardic, but everything else is aggressively normal?

Details:

- I’m on an ADHD medication. I expected this to cause my high heart rate. Initial hypothesis: 100+ bpm is caused by my Vyvanse

- Results: On Vyvanse, at a clinic, my lowest resting BPM was 125. Off Vyvanse for a week, at same clinic, my lowest resting BPM was 116. That number was also after sitting still for ten minutes listening to calm music with noise cancelling headphones.

- Conclusion: The ADHD med, while contributing, does not solely explain the tachycardia

- Further data: every physical I’ve had since high school lists my heart rate as over 110BPM. At said physicals, my blood pressure is always normal (close to 120/80), and no significant results show up from blood tests. Everything they measure is in normal range, except my heart rate is constantly hovering between 110 and 130.

- I was able to get my heart rate below 100 by laying still for several hours doing nothing, after waking up from being asleep for a full night. It was at 93BPM.

- Possibly relevant information: I’m diagnosed with autism, which means sensory stimuli are often disproportionately stressful, and I’m actively receiving EMDR therapy for trauma and anxiety symptoms. This could be a psych/physiological thing.

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October is Dysautonomia Awareness Month!

Hello!! I was unsure about it but I had a few of you say I should sooo here we go! My name is Lauren and I have a “rare” disease called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), a type of Dysautonomia. Today I am going to talk about it. I know this is long, but it is important I promise!!

Dysautonomia is a disorder of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). It typically results in failure of the sympathetic or parasympathetic nervous system but can also make them overactive. These parts of our nervous system are responsible for circulation, blood pressure, heart rate, temperature regulation, breathing, adapting from sitting to standing, short term memory, digestion & excretion (yep, what you think it is), the ability to sleep and wake, bladder function, adrenaline and tons more. even the photo below is not even a third of the possible symptoms. 

There are more than 15 types of known Dysautonomia, but the most common are Neurocardiogenic Syncope and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. This page talks about most of the types, I am really only a POTS expert. 

So POTS, what I have, is characterized by tachycardia resulting from orthostasis. That’s a fancy way of saying that when I go from sitting to standing (orthostasis) my body cannot regulate my blood pressure or heart rate, resulting in a super fast heart rate (tachycardia). This is more than the dizziness you might feel if you get up too fast, my heart rate regularly gets into the 180s and I often temporarily lose vision, hearing, and consciousness completely. Most POTS patients also experience chest pain, extreme fatigue, blood pooling in the legs, and tremors. These are the hallmark signs but most of us experience some combination of a dozen or more symptoms. A feature of POTS is also a low blood volume and autoimmunity (where my immune system attacks itself).

Some of these symptoms sound like we’re just out of shape and looking for excuses. The reality is, this is a neurologic condition that can affect anyone of any athletic ability. Olympic speed skater Brittany Bowe was diagnosed with POTS in the peak of her career. She continued with her career but some of us are not so lucky. 25% of POTS patients are so disabled we cannot attend work or school. It’s a spectrum, and some days are better than others. With treatment, a lot of us can go weeks at a time without a flare up. But again, everyone is different.

But how bad is it? If you’ve never experienced these symptoms, it may be hard to grasp just how debilitating they can be. Mayo Clinic found that POTS patients have a quality of life similar to patients with congestive heart failure, COPD, or end-stage kidney failure. It can be really sucky, to say the least. I have been in bed all day, and typing this up is giving me chest pain and my heart rate is 163bpm. 

Sadly, unlike heart failure, kidney failure, and COPD, there are zero FDA approved treatments for POTS and other forms of Dysautonomia. In the US, 450,000 people have this. However, POTS is crazily under-diagnosed! Despite being more common than well known diseases like multiple sclerosis, 73% of patients have encountered a doctor who doesn’t know what POTS is, and it takes an average of 6 years to even receive that diagnosis.

So how do we get by with no treatments? The far and few specialists have come up with some things that seem to help our quality of life. Blood transfusions and saline infusions multiple times a week can help symptoms. Some doctors use beta blockers (a type of heart medication) to treat heart symptoms but POTS is a neurological condition, not a cardiac one. At home we are told to wear compression socks to help the blood in our feet get back to our chest, and to get lots of salt + electrolytes to maintain our blood pressure. But studies have shown that high salt intake accelerates autoimmunity.... a possible cause of POTS. It’s a bad cycle but it’s all we really have for treatments.

This is why I think awareness is so important! Dysautonomia is considered rare, when in fact it is not! We are a large group of people and we deserve real treatments, more research, and a cure! Thank you so much for reading all of that, it means so much to me. If you have any questions my DMs and inbox are always open!! (As is the google)