The doctor came to discuss my blood tests. “Everything looks good,” she shrugged.
I knew he would send me home without any answers, so I spoke. At the risk of sounding “crazy”, I told her about the trend I noticed: every time I bent down (to get on the bike, shave my legs, clean the carpet, go to the bathroom, etc.), my heart I shuddered and felt breathless.
She looked puzzled and asked me to demonstrate while the monitors were still connected. As I crouched against the beige vinyl floor of the hospital, my heart rate jumped, just at the signal. The doctor immediately stopped our experiment and made me lie down again, where my heart rate returned to baseline.
The doctors continued to monitor me and wait for results until a shift occurred. When the night doctor came to discuss my symptoms, he concluded that there was no immediate threat and decided to send me home, where I could see a cardiologist. Hmm … tell me about the anxious, anxious mind.
I panicked at the thought of going home without an answer. Visions flashed through my mind that I had fainted while teaching the children, or had a heart attack in the shower. Besides, I didn’t have a cardiologist! I was otherwise a healthy 40 years old. My anxiety could not cope with another stress – especially great as this one.
Fortunately, the emergency physician showed compassion and offered another alternative: I could be admitted to the hospital overnight, stay on a heart monitor, and consult a cardiologist in the morning. The next morning I had an echocardiogram and saw a cardiologist. He immediately suspected a diagnosis and had the nurse perform an experiment. I lay down for 20 minutes, sat for a few minutes, and then stood up while connected to a monitor. As before, everything was fine until I straightened up: the pressure builded up in my chest, my breathing quickened, and my heart monitor jumped.
Proving the doctor’s suspicions, I was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia (POTS). This syndrome causes an increase in heart rate with major changes in posture, such as bending and standing. As a “syndrome”, it includes many symptoms, all of which appear in a continuum. Thus, my experience with POTS can be quite different from the other.
In general, POTS affects blood flow when going from lying to standing. While we take the simple act of standing for granted, it is widely used to internally coordinate this movement, including maintaining blood pressure and heart rate. Common symptoms include dizziness, fainting and uncomfortable, rapid increase in heart rate.
“It’s not dangerous, it’s just annoying and uncomfortable,” the doctor explained.