POTS (and pans)
Jan 28, 2025

I was updating the styling on my blogposts and got to the Specialist Apathy one and figured I'd say, update on that, I'm pretty close to my strange heart problems being diagnosed. Doctors keep annoying me with their strange antics but we've almost made it, and the answer we've almost made it to is... POTS, or Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. I had looked at it before, and had a couple people point it out to me, but I kept seeing that "postural" part being emphasized, and from measuring my pulse and blood pressure on my own, I couldn't see a huge spike when I stood up/sat down. But now several other symptoms have pointed that direction, including having to go to the emergency room after a brand new thing happened to me, swallow syncope, or basically, "swallow fainting".

Basically, I was in my kitchen (which is super narrow, about 3ft wide,) and I got a soda out of the fridge to drink while I cooked myself dinner. I was standing, opened the drink, had a big gulp, and suddenly my chest hurt like crazy. I figured it was maybe just, like, the worst case of heartburn I've ever had? So I put my elbows on one of the counters, leaned over, and was hoping to wait until it settled. Next thing I know I'm just barely wobbling off of the floor, my body flailing around like I'm on a boat during a storm, and my nose is bleeding. Best I can decipher, I fainted, causing my face to hit the counter I was leaning on, and then, due to the shaking, I wobbled back and my skull played pinball off of both sides of my kitchen counters/cabinets. I hit it again on the oven as I desperately tried to stand up while still unsteady. I wasn't even gonna do anything about it, until I told my friend who lives nearby, just so someone nearby knew to check in on me, and then my friend said "I'm taking you to an emergency room NOW." Which, in hindsight was probably the safest thing to do, given all the head-slamming. Though looking at the bill, I almost wish I had brain damage...

But yeah, come to find out swallow syncope is also associated with POTS. And with how high my pulse is on a pretty constant basis, as well as having high heart rate variability and a family history of EDS, POTS seems the most likely cause. And if it's not... I've got no clue. Maybe like that nurse said, I'm just out of shape. But regardless I'm considering finding some POTS-specific guides on how to minimize symptoms, I don't know if there's any certain exercises or diets that are reccomended. I should really get more serious about my health, not just in the "losing weight" way but the... everything else way, too.

Anyways, I'm probably going to call it quits on both blogging and coding for the evening as I've been quite exhausted today. Just happy to see that I finally got somewhere on my medical journey after so long of not getting answers.

.chase