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Q: Pots
asked by: Goeagles on January 18th, 2005
New User
How many people have heard of this? Im guessing none out there on this forum. I am 14 years old and I am currently living with a condition called pots, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. This is a rare illness that most people become diagnosed with after a severe virus flu/mono/strep and others. We dont know anything about it yet and it was just recently discovered in the late 1990's. I was lucky and got diagnosed fast, march 1st 2004 to be exact, for actually only having it without knowing for 6 months. I didnt know where to post this becuase it can be many things, nausea disorder/headaches/hypotension but I chose neurological disorders because thats what this is classified as. The cardiologists we see say that the nervous system is not doing its job so we end up feeling certain symptoms. The symptoms that are possible are extreme nausea, vomiting, migraine, hypotension, tremors, seizures, passing out, dizzyness, palpatations, unable to concentrate, paleness/modeling, weakness, appitite loss, joint pain, insomnia, and many others. Mine include most of these throughout the day and cuts me off from school,friends,sports, and any other activity.. Doctors say that the virally infected ones (me many others) will get better. But the familial disorders wont. Familial are usually within infants and are there when the child is born. Well I just wanted to see if anyone would look at this and please try and get this out to other people or other medical sites for an awareness kind of campeign? I dont exactly know how but I just thought might as well post it where some people will see it.. The website explaining more on what kids like us have (currently being diagnosed newly every month and probably only about 2000 diagnosed in the country) is www.Dynakids.Org. If you go to events then to watch short clip of throwing seeds then you will see me. Im the one in the gray shirt that at the end flings his sleeve around because the little rainbow sprinkles (seeds of happiness) got down my shirt. If you discover any sponsors willing to help us or anything that can get the word out to mass amounts of people please contact the founder of dyna and say that tim referred you to them. Thanks and I hope everyone has a great day
tim
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harmony58
replied on January 25th, 2005
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Pots - Yes This Can Be Part of Neurological Disorders
Tim,

you sound very informed. And being informed is often one of the best things you can do to make good decisions for yourself and your health.

This is an appropriate place to post. There are neurological disorders where part of the clinical pattern of specific symptoms and comorbid illness include autonomic manifestations such as pots and oi.

Although not the exact same thing as pots, as noted in the quote below, orthostatic intolerance was diagnosed by my cardiologist, as part of my neurological disorder by using a tilt test.

"...Typically, this form of syncope is not posturally induced but occurs in all positions. While most children and adolescents with syncope or orthostatic intolerance do not have cardiac disease, our first task is to rule out heart disease.

Therefore a cardiac examination along with pertinent laboratory screening tests are often required and may include electrocardiography, echocardiography (cardiac ultrasound) to rule out structural heart disease, and event monitoring using transtelephonic devices to rule out important arrhythmias which often are the immediate precipitant for cardiac syncope.

In addition a good neurologic examiniation is important and may also include some tests..."

http://www.Nymc.Edu/fhp/centers/syncope/hu t and instrumentation.Htm

this site is excellent. They even have pictures of head up tilt testing equipment so you can see what you are getting into!

In my particular case, my doctor prescribed midodrine to control my symptoms. I understand what you are experiencing in part and it does impact your life and your quality of life in many ways. To be more specific, it really, really sucks!

You sound like a very valuable member of www.Dynakids.Org.

Warm regards,
kate
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cattale
replied on January 30th, 2005
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I Was Also Diagnosed With Pots
I was diagnosed back in december 2004 by the mayo clinic with pots, ehlers-danlos(connective tisseue disease)2003, herpetic encephalitis(born with chicken pox)1972, and also a handful of heart issues. They are unsure if the pots is related to the ehlers-danlos or something else. I had autonomic testing done, and only showed minor problems. It's something i've always noticed i've had, but never really said anything. I honestly think it's related to the connective tissue disease, because of the laxity of the collagen tissue with surrounds every major organ. If you are suspect to one these coonective tissue disorders, I would reccoend the mayo clinics in the us.
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Goeagles
replied on January 30th, 2005
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Yes I was diagnosed in mayo clinic. Well basically a doctor from mayo. They set me up with medicines and certain lifestyles to help me.
Tim
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harmony58
replied on January 30th, 2005
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Commonalities: Pots, Eds, Oi, Neurological Disorder Cfs
J pediatr. 1999 oct;135(4):494-9.

Orthostatic intolerance and chronic fatigue syndrome associated with ehlers-danlos syndrome.

Rowe pc, barron df, calkins h, maumenee ih, tong py, geraghty mt.

Department of pediatrics, center for hereditary eye diseases, wilmer eye institute, johns hopkins university school of medicine, baltimore, maryland, usa.

Objective: to report chronic fatigue syndrome (cfs) associated with both ehlers-danlos syndrome (eds) and orthostatic intolerance.

Study design: case series of adolescents referred to a tertiary clinic for the evaluation of cfs. All subjects had 2-dimensional echocardiography, tests of orthostatic tolerance, and examinations by both a geneticist and an ophthalmologist.

Results: twelve patients (11 female), median age 15.5 years, met diagnostic criteria for cfs and eds, and all had either postural tachycardia or neurally mediated hypotension in response to orthostatic stress. Six had classical-type eds and 6 had hypermobile-type eds.

Conclusions: among patients with cfs and orthostatic intolerance, a subset also has eds. We propose that the occurrence of these syndromes together can be attributed to the abnormal connective tissue in dependent blood vessels of those with eds, which permits veins to distend excessively in response to ordinary hydrostatic pressures. This in turn leads to increased venous pooling and its hemodynamic and symptomatic consequences. These observations suggest that a careful search for hypermobility and connective tissue abnormalities should be part of the evaluation of patients with cfs and orthostatic intolerance syndromes.

Pmid: 10518084 [pubmed - indexed for medline]
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cattale
replied on January 31st, 2005
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Goeagles For You
When did you start noticing symptoms that alarmed you and/or your family?
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BBpots96
replied on March 21st, 2005
New User
Pots
I began with symptoms of pots following a car accident in nov. 1996. My symptoms became progressively worse. I have bee on disability since june 2004. This is the second time since 1999 that I have been on long term disability. My cardiologist has adjusted my meds again and I am keeping the faith that my health will improve soon.... To tim... Have you heard of Dr. Blair grubb?? He is a national pediatric pots specialist in toledo, ohio. He may be able to help you if you have not already met him.
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zcheck
replied on July 23rd, 2005
New User
Hey
I know this is kind of old but I just found this website.

I was dignosed last year end of aug. By Dr. Blair grubb at mco well muo. They switched their name from college to university. I never really understood why people have pots or anything. I was doing a search and I would like to talk to others that have it try to understand it more...

Please contact me...

thank you
kate
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