Pots
Medication
In my one of my pots
blogs, I said that I had tried a variety of different medications to help control
my pots symptoms. As the last one I was on didn’t have any success, I decided
to do some research on different types of medication that are available to POTS
suffers. One of the most important things I have learnt while researching the
different types of pots medication is that; there is not actually any
medication that has 100% been approved for POTS. Doctors have found
that medication that is used to help with the effects of different illness can
actually help relieve some of the symptoms that we POTS sufferers get. These
drugs can be a huge relief to some pots suffers, and help them live a normal
life. I have not mentioned all the drugs that can be used to help pots suffers,
but have picked the main ones that are mentioned on the pots Facebook, as they
seem to be the most used ones. While I have done research on all the drugs,
talk to your doctor if you are interested in taking any of them as they will
know the full benefits and side effects, as well as if this drug will benefit you
Ivabradine
I have started with this
medication as it was the first drug that I was given to help relieve some of my
pots symptoms, it is a popular drug with many UK pots suffers and has helped
many people.
Ivabradine’s main use is
to help prevent heart angina and to treat heart disease. It can be used to help
Pots suffers as it slows down the heart by just a few beats per minute. When
the heart is racing Ivabradine can help bring the heart down just a little bit
which can help the efficiency of the heart pumping blood around the body. This
can help relieve dizziness or the light headed feeling that many pots sufferers’
gets. Ivabradine is also a good alternative for people who cannot tolerate beta
blockers.
As with any medication
there can be side effects with this drug and they can range from headaches. Which
people can get in the first month, to dizziness and blurred vision, among
others.
I was prescribed 2.5 mg of
Ivabradine and found that It really helped with my chest pain and did make me
feel a little less bit dizzy but after 2
weeks of taking it I was told to stop for the mean time as it was lowering my
heart rate, which for me has been a
problem with many drugs. I do think that this is a good drug and I hope that in
the future I will be able to use it again
Midodrine
This drug is used to treat
people who suffer from low blood pressure, which many Pots suffers do. This
drug helps by stimulating the body’s nerve endings blood vessels, causing the
blood vessels to tighten, which in effect increases blood pressure. This allows
more blood to flow to your heart and brain and, will help relieve
symptoms caused from low blood pressure, such as dizziness and fainting.
Midodrine has previously
been removed from the drug market. This is due to Shire plc, the company who manufactures Midodrine, failure to complete
certain clinical studies; however it has been reinstated in the market due to
the drugs benefits.
The most common side
effects of this drug can be headaches, heart beat awareness, chills and
Goosebumps, amongst other symptoms.
I have never tried this
drug so I asked some of the pots sufferers on the Facebook page how they found
this drug. most of them were really happy with the drug and found it gave them
a better quality of life however some said that they had to be taken off the
drug due to not ‘taking’ to the drug. I would actually like to try this drug as
it seems it can be useful and help control some pots symptoms.
Beta Blockers
Beta blockers are used to
treat a number of different heart problems such as preventing angina, lowering
blood pressure and helping to control abnormal heart rates and rhythm. There
are many different types of beta blockers such as atenolol, bisoprolo, and
toprol. The medicine works by blocking the transmission between certain nerve
ending and these stops the receptors from being stimulated, this then helps
slow the rate the heart beat down when it is racing. Some of the side effects
of this drug is that it can make the heart rate turn bradycardia (which means
it goes rather slow) which in effect can lead you to feeling more dizzy and faint.
I have tried Beta blockers,
when I first went hospital, and only lasted on them a few hours; I was taken
off as they lowered my heart rate into the 30s. I don’t feel like I will try this
medication again as I had a bad experience while I was on it. But other pots
patients have said that to them beta blockers are really useful. I would advise
that if anyone does want to give them a try then you ask your doctor to put you
on a low dose and see how this goes.
Florinef (Fludrocritstion)
Florinef can be useful to
patients who have a low glucocorticoids, which are an important part of the
body as they help salt and water balance which helps keeps a person’s blood
pressure stable. It can help pots suffers as well as most of us suffer from low
blood pressure. Florinef helps the kidneys to retain more salt which helps your
kidneys converse water. This can help pots suffers feel less light headed and
dizzy, which I can imagine would come as a massive relief, and help improve any
pots suffers life.
The side effects of this
drug are swollen feet and ankles, abdominal pain and difficulty sleeping. It is
also important to talk to your doctor before taking this drug if you suffer
from high blood pressure.
The dosage for this
medication is between 1mg and 3mg a day, a lot of the pots Facebook members
said that they found this tablet helped them best if they took it first thing
in the afternoon and it could take up 6 months to see any improvement in their
symptoms.
I personally would consider
trying this drug as if it can even help with my dizziness a little bit it will
massively improve my life.
IV SALINE THERAPHY
Out of all the drugs that
are used to help pots sufferers this seems to be the one that is the most
talked about and desired on the pots Facebook. People have said that when they
have gone into hospital and had this it makes them feel normal for a few hours
or days. There are some patients who suffer from pots so badly that they will
have the IV at home, usually thought a chest port and that this has
dramatically changed and helped to improve their lives. Because we have to
drink a lot of water and take a lot salt just to be able to function, if you
have an IV saline it is like an instant hit of salt and water and as it goes
straight into the vein it works almost immediately.
The only down side is it
really hard to get your doctors to consent to having a home port IV saline as
there is risk of infection. I like many other ‘poties’ would love to have this
at home and would take the risk of an infection, just to feel normal again but
it is very unlikely I will ever get one so guess I will just have to stick to
guzzling water and eating salt all day, I know my life is so fun lol.
SSRI DRUGS
These drugs can be used to
help pots patients who are suffering with depression or anxiety. I am actually
taking Citalopram, 10 mg a day, for anxiety.
These tablets are actually helping me be less anxious as there was a
time just before I was diagnosed with pots I was really dizzy and was regularly
fainting and this made me not want to go out. I felt like I was just going to
faint and be unable to have a normal conversation with anyone due to me feeling
dizzy. I was actually told that all were symptoms were due to me being anxious
and depressed when I was put on these tablets and diazepam by my GP, so when I knew something was not
wrong I thought I was going crazy which made me more anxious. When I finally
went to a good hospital after fainting and injuring myself I was eventually diagnosed
with pots, which did help me feel a bit better but I do not yet feel ready to
stop taking the anxiety meds as I feel I still get scared at times of my new
life. I found that a lot of pots sufferers
suffer from anxiety and take different SSRI tablets and they do find them
useful as well. I am going to be starting cognitive therapy in the next few
weeks so I am hoping this will help me and then I will slowly be taken off
these tablets.
The side effects I first
got from taking these tablets were headaches and feeling a bit nausea but you
can also feel really tired and gain weight as side effects as these tablets.
Non medication treatments
Water intake and salt intake
Since I have been diagnosed
with pots I have had to increase my water intake to about 2 litres a day and
majorly increase my salt intake. To be honest I have found it annoying to
constantly be drinking water all day but I do feel that it really helps. The
first thing I do in the morning is have a big glass of water and it just makes
me feel like a can function. With regards to the salt I have noticed that if I have
not eaten any salt in the day then I feel much more dizzy than usual, so for me
it really is important that no matter how much I don’t like drinking so much
water it really is a necessity if you have pots.
Cognitive Therapy
Now having therapy is not
going to cure you and won’t help make a dramatic change in your symptoms but I think
that just taking to someone about how your feeling can help. I am starting this
therapy next week so I will do a blog on how I found it and if it helped.