POTS
Standing up shouldn’t take everything you have.
A heartbeat that races the moment you stand. Dizziness, brain fog, and an exhaustion no one can account for. Normal EKGs and a suggestion that it might just be anxiety. POTS is real, it is measurable, and it is often the visible edge of something larger.
Start here
This cornerstone guide covers what POTS is, the three types, why it rarely travels alone, and where treatment begins. If POTS is new to you, start here.
Demystifying POTS
Understanding POTS can seem overwhelming, but realizing its connection to other conditions offers a pathway to effective treatment.
What POTS actually is
POTS, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, is a disorder of the autonomic nervous system, the part of you that runs heart rate and blood pressure without your ever thinking about it. When you stand, blood should be pushed back up toward your heart and brain. In POTS that reflex misfires, blood pools in your legs, and your heart races to make up the difference. The racing is the symptom people notice. The failed reflex underneath is the real problem.
This is why POTS rarely travels alone. The same connective tissue that lets joints bend too far also makes blood vessels stretchier and slower to return blood upward, so POTS and hypermobility show up together again and again. It can be identified in minutes from the change in heart rate on standing, and it remains one of the most commonly missed diagnoses in medicine.
Symptoms patients bring us
- Racing heartbeat on standing
- Lightheadedness or near-fainting
- Brain fog
- Fatigue
- Exercise intolerance
- Nausea · Heat intolerance
- Palpitations
30
a sustained rise of 30 beats per minute within ten minutes of standing is enough to identify POTS in an adult. Most patients wait years for anyone to measure it.
Everything else on POTS
Browse our library of articles on POTS, dysautonomia, and everything connected to them.
What if it's not just POTS...
Are you hypermobile?
Take the ConnectCODE Self Assessment to discover your individual ConnectCODE, and what impact hypermobility may have on your health.