Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. I can only speak to my own experience and hope that gives you some insight into what POTS is and how it can affect you or the people around you.
Dizziness
This feels like when you step off a tire swing, get off a spinning chair, or on a rocking boat. Disorienting but not brutal. This can last all day when I am standing.
I have 2 types of dizziness, one being my “normal” dizziness and the other being vertigo. If you want to know more about vertigo check out my page on it here. My normal dizziness is very circumstantial. If I’m standing I feel dizzy, if I’m sitting or laying down I generally don’t. When I change by position , my tachycardia picks up, mainly because my blood pressure drops.
Dizziness is reported in 99% of people with POTS so it is extremely prevalent in this illness.
My Solutions
For me “fixing” the blood pressure helps a lot so I drink some Liquid IV and put on compression stockings. I can’t say this makes it go away but it does help.
Balance Issues
I always feel off balance and off kilter. When the dizziness is bad, I tend to cling to the wall or smooth surfaces. I do find that when the POTS is bad overall it makes the balance issues worse. I feel well balanced when the POTS is good.
My Solutions
I do think yoga helps. I like the Down Dog app and I normally pick the routines that focus on balance.
Vertigo
This feels like the spins when you’ve been drinking or when you’re on a tire swing. This normally only lasts a few seconds to a minute tops.
When I was around 16, I started to feel dizzy in a different way. We went to the neurologist and he could see by my eye the moment that it was vertigo. There are two types of vertigo, 1 that affects your inner ear crystals and the other that is peripheral vertigo and central vertigo.
Peripheral vertigo has a sudden onset, it does not affect your balance or coordination and it is affected by your movements, it tends to go away or at least come in phases. This can be fixed by your ear crystals being realigned by having a doctor blow air into your ear (I’m sure there’s a lot more to it than that). I know people who have fixed it by doing certain poses and moving their heads around a certain way.
Central vertigo has a slower onset, is not affected by your movements, it does affect your balance and coordination, and can last forever. I happen to have central vertigo. I have had it for more than a decade and it is just a part of my everyday life. I find that when I am sick, like with a cold or even hungover, it is worse that day. When my ears pop it can be bad as well.
My Solutions
I don’t really have a solution to vertigo. It is totally worth seeing a doctor about your ear crystals if you have just started to experience symptoms.
Further Reading
Kakavand, Bahram. “Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) (for Parents) – Nemours KidsHealth.” Kids Health, https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/pots.html. Accessed 25 March 2023.
Lee, Dara K. “POTS: Diagnosing and treating this dizzying syndrome.” Harvard Health, 6 October 2021, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/pots-diagnosing-and-treating-this-dizzying-syndrome-202110062611. Accessed 25 March 2023.
Olsson, Regan. “Do You Have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)? | Banner.” Banner Health, 7 January 2022, https://www.bannerhealth.com/healthcareblog/teach-me/do-i-have-postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome-pots. Accessed 25 March 2023.
“Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).” Johns Hopkins Medicine, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome-pots. Accessed 25 March 2023.
“Postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS).” NHS, https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/postural-tachycardia-syndrome/. Accessed 25 March 2023.