Anxiety and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia

[Starburst0128]

Does anyone else suffer from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia? I was just recently diagnosed about 6 months ago. I really believe my chronic stress and anxiety have caused it. I was wondering if anyone else has ever experienced this and what did they do for it?

Started off March 2012- I had a lot of major life changes happening:
Mom and I stopped talking because I decided to move with my fiancé. Not sure why she was so against it because he is an amazing man. Treats me and everyone including her with respect, he puts me first, job is amazing. Anyways I think maybe it might be that it was just always her and I for the longest time. My parents divorced when I was 15 because he started doing drugs and excessive drinking and starting hitting me and one night tried to kill me. He hit her when they first got married so no surprise that he would do it to me.

Moved away from home for the first time ever. Different state

Got married

Husband was sent away for a tdy for over a month

I couldn't find a job that I loved as much as my previous one.

My best friend moved away across country. My ex boyfriend from high school was harassing me and stalking me for a year now even though I was married and had no contact with him. When my husband left for his tdy I couldn't sleep because I was worried the ex would break in and kill me. He had PTSD and wouldn't seek treatment so he kept getting worse and worse for a few years. He started being mentally abusive to me and would never hit me but would get physical with material items around me. Anyways so I went a week without sleeping and one day I went to work, went to the gym, grabbed dinner and then came home and decided I can't go any longer without sleeping so I made myself a shot of crown thinking that should help, hours passed and still couldn't shut my eyes so I decided I'll take a shot of NyQuil. Boy was I stupid, I ended up in the ER with a heart rate of 200bpm and felt like I was dying. After that night I've never been the same. I've seen 4 cardiologist and everyone says my heart is healthy after numerous tests. Finally a doctor did a tilt table test after 3 years of battling this and said I had POTS but none of the treatments help me.
Anyways after my husband came home we moved to another state, thank you military and sadly it was to his home state with his awful family. They are very rude and use my husband for money. Not anymore now that he sees them for who they are. Heck when we announced we were having a baby they weren't excited and didn't care. Our son is 2 1/2 and they have seen him maybe 5 times max. My husband has been deployed 2 times and multiple tdys, I have had a hard time adjusting to the culture where we are and can't make any friends because I'm so scared to go anywhere because of my tachycardia and fear of being shot or mugged. We can't even go to the park because of how dangerous it is. What's weird is when I go back to my home state my mom and I made up completely :) thank God, all my symptoms go away and the pots is barely there. It's so weird. Can extreme excessive anxiety cause health issues like this?? I'm going to see a counselor on Friday because we just got orders to move in 2016 and I can't keep doing this. My son and I left the state my husband is in and came back home so I can function. I miss my husband like crazy. I have worried about my health ever since that night I ended up in the ER. I worry I'm going to die and leave my son. I know this isn't healthy but anyone experiencing this and have any advice I would really appreciate it. Sorry I'm all over this place with this post, trying to play games with my son.

[Goomba]

I have questioned if I have this or not at times, I'm pretty sure don't. But, my mom, sister, and grandmother have all developed it.

Can't speak for the gma, but my mom definitely battled stress, and my sister anxiety. Not sure if one lead to the other, but they are definitely present.

Both of them have been on a bunch of meds with varying degrees of success. Some work, some don't, some work briefly, but I know the meds fluctuate a lot.

I know that exercise and reducing stress has been the most consistent thing that has reduced the severity of their pots. Over the years my mothers has almost reversed completely. Occasionally she will have a bad day, but she mostly does great with that.

So, from what I have seen, anxiety and stress definitely exacerbate the issue. 100%. Reducing them and getting fit seem to treat it well. I have seen good improvements in their lives with medicine and exercise combined. Just meds didn't really do the trick, or at least to the point where they didn't fear going out.

Also, they do 0 caffeine and alcohol.

[Starburst0128]

Thanks for the reply! I think I was having panic attacks and then once I had my son all we did was sit on the couch and I think I've become deconditioned even though I'm thin. I use to be extremely active and since I started having the fast heart rates I stopped doing anything because I was afraid I would die. Heart disease runs in my family and I've watched my grandpa have two massive heart attacks so I freak myself out. I'm hoping to get on some meds for the anxiety and then start exercising and get back in shape. The reason I think I'm deconditioned is when I holy my leg straight out it immediately starts shaking. I think I've lost all muscle mass and need to get it back to see an improvement and maybe even cure my pots. Just have to get past the scared to get up and move.

[Goomba]

Yeah I know what that's like.

You want to get fit, but everytime you try there is a hyperawareness of the heart, which sparks fear and and a harder heartbeat, so becoming fit can seem near impossible.

I also am thin, and think feeling your heartbeat so easily is a byproduct of that. I can also see various parts of my body move with my pulse.

You have to accept that you will be ok. A fast heart is a part of moving around. A faster heart is expected when exercising. You've had the tests, so you know your heart is ok. Time to get back into shape!

[Starburst0128]

So true!! My cardio is getting in touch with a doctor in Dallas Texas who is a pots cardio and he came up with a pots protocol . It's a 3 month intense workout but has cured many many potsies. Maybe your mom and sister can look into it. His name is Dr Benjamin Levine. It's very possible you could have it as well. Have you ever had a tilt table test done or have your vitals taken laying down, sitting up then standing? Pots is very real and very disabling I feel for your family members who have it because it goes undiagnosed for so long and people think you are full of crap until proven there is something going on. An invisible illness is awful.

[Davit]

I don't have POTs but I do have tachycardia that I take medication for, I got used to it, even going to the hospital a couple times a year when it gets out of hand and I don't have what I need. I just drive myself there and they fix me and I go home a few hours later.
Anxiety would make it worse so I hope you get the answers you need.

[Starburst0128]

I would be so scared to drive myself. I have got to get over the heart fear tho. I am missing out on so much. Life use to not scare me now I'm like living in a bubble because I'm so scared my heart will go into a crazy rhythm and I won't get to the hospital in time. I even gave up my nightly glass of wine, barely drink a soda pop, stopped working out or doing anything that gets my heart rate up.

[Davit]

Actually there are some people that disagree with me so this post is totally my opinion.

Let me quote you "I have got to get over this heart fear". If you take out the word heart, what is left?
So now lets take me driving to the hospital. I have concern but not fear because I see my bp of 175/110 and a pulse of 140 as just a fact. A bit annoying because I'd rather be home. Or digging potatoes, but I have to fix this first because these are resting numbers.
The difference between us is my anxiety level never got higher than concern. Yours is up into worry. And as far as I' concerned that is the real problem. Worry either has no solution or too many. Concern has only one and you stick with that one. So my concern is that my pulse BP is too high and pulse is trying to lower it. One thought only. No unnecessary thoughts that I'll have a heart attack, or die, or drive off the road or that it is going to go higher when I get to ER. Those are worry. So I'm dealing with fear, not function, now function is someone else's problem. Mine is simply to go to the hospital so they can fix me and I can go home.

So what i'm saying is with HA, health is the symptom, thoughts are the trigger, so deal with the thoughts and the symptoms become facts and not fears. Heart rate goes back to being what it is, a fact, not a fear. You know if you exercise it goes up, that is a fact, it should not be a fear. Same with POTs.

Like I said though, this is just how I see it and why I never have HA.

[Starburst0128]

You have very logical grounded thinking. My husband is that way but sadly I have not been able to reach that point yet. I have let fear run my life for to long now and it's time to address it. Just hard.

[Davit]

I could get very technical on how to get rid of the fear but will take the Therapist route. (which I'm not) Since after all the explaining boils down to the same process. Think positive, but repetitively and beware of the riders, If ,And, and But. Use any one of these with a positive statement and it turns negative. I call them riders because they do that, they ride on good intentions destroying them. They can though if used with a negative thought change it to positive so they are not all bad. People use riders all the time without even seeing them. Sometimes only to prolong conversation.

[Starburst0128]

I def need to retrain my brain to think positive.

[Davit]

I mentioned riders here some where but I'll mention it again, but first a note. The organs of the brain have very specific purposes. Hippocampus (it looks like an upside down sea horse) Sorts things and also controls memory to some extent. Everything passes through it, Hypothalamus uses memory to decide normal actions and symptoms. Amygdala are attached to hippocampus. They with hippocampus form your fear centre. So a thought passes through hippocampus and if it is positive Amygdala having nothing related to it in it's memory passes it on to hypothalamus and hypothalamus uses memory to decide on an action if the thought is instruction or storage if it is a fact. Once the action is performed it gets stored as a fact. Pleasant things like sunsets, food, sex, good movies.
Negative thought passes from hippocampus to Amygdala where it finds something related to it in memory and either with the help of hypothalamus stores it and updates it's memory or if there is danger (perceived or real) goes into panic mode and instructs Hypothalamus to react which it does with symptoms and actions. This too cycles back to memory as an update for next time.
Positive thought can not cause anxiety or panic because it bypasses Amygdala. So if you think positive your anxiety and panic level drop. BUT. And this is where riders come in. Three words are the main riders everyone uses, I just did with but. If, And, But. Use any one of these in a thought and it reverses the thought. EG: I'm having a lot of fun here (positive thought) but, I shouldn't be here. (Negative thought) The rider just made a positive thought negative and that is how Amygdala will treat it. But reverse it. I shouldn't be here, but I'm having fun, and it now is positive and bypasses Amygdala and Hypothalamus stores both as facts, In future you will know you shouldn't be there, but it is a fact, not an instruction because it isn't in Amygdala's memory so it doesn't cause panic.
Most riders in those with a panic disorder are of the negative type. And most are unintentional, just conditioning. So you need to think more than just positive you need to watch for the riders. Don't use them or turn them around. Try it for a few days and see the difference.

[Davit]

A note on up dating Amygdala's memory. A person develops a fear of change, A very common fear. The biggest change a person can have is health. A person learns something about ALS and puts it in memory. At this point it is just a fact so bypasses Amygdala's memory. Now a person for any number of reasons but usually related to change starts to build stress. They might get tired or feel weak and ask memory why. Memory says it could be this this or this. Bingo, ALS is the thing that would cause the most change, this negative thought has no choice but to go to Amygdala where Amygdala asks Hypothalamus how dangerous because it has nothing in memory. Hypothalamus says it kills according to my memory. Amygdala puts it into it's memory as something serious enough to panic. So now ALS thoughts that were just a fact are now an instruction trigger. ALS kills, If I have ALS I'm going to die. All because of a fear of change. So change is the thought that needs to be changed not ALS which is just a fact among many. If you challenge negative thoughts a lot of times you find they are not triggers but symptoms of a trigger. Is it any wonder anxiety is so hard to cure. Still it all starts and ends with positive thought. And it can be cured.

[Starburst0128]

You make some great points. It's going to take awhile for me to retrain my thought process because I have been dealing with a lot of negative things for 4 years but I can do it and the situation will be changing in about 6 months. It's hard when I don't even realize my thoughts have turned negative :( I use to be such a happy positive person and this move really zapped me and I allowed my thoughts to go wrong. Huge adjustment with moving twice, marriage, having a child and dealing with my husbands family or has completely rejected us. But then again that's life and I can't always use that because I am the only one in charge of me just stinks when you keep getting knocked down time after time. I need to stay off dr Google. Do you know much about mindfulness? I'm starting meditation and bought some adult coloring books. I have no hobbies since my son was born he has been my sole focus and that's great but now he is older I realized I should have never stopped doing the things I love.

[Davit]

There is a lot on mindfulness and the person that knows the most about it and has tons of information is Terry (mynameisterry) on the Nomorepanic site. Mindfulness is looking at yourself and how you fit into your surroundings in a positive rather than negative way.
You might already be doing that but I fear your focus may be on your rejection which is a negative way to see how you fit in your surroundings. It colours your other thoughts. If you google Terry+mindfulness+NMP, you will get an example of him. We have a lot of information in some information threads on NMP, we were attacked by the old boys club. Terry who has been attacked before went quiet, I was stupid enough to standup for what I believed in, after all it was the base of my recovery. Pages and pages of useful information, too much to ever do again. And all it got me was a few recovered friends who are doing well and banned. I'm not venting, it is a fact only that I can't change. People on both sides are still mad.
Mindfulness is a very good coping skill, it gets combined with CBT to be MCBT. Done right and positive it gives you a foundation to build your positive thinking on.
If you visit negative people you can do what is called parroting, using their attitude in your conversation. In no time flat you even sound like them. They are happy people because they transfer their negative to you. You can be happy in their presents, bitching and complaining along with them, but crash and burn shortly after with no obvious reason. The reason though is you have no way to get rid of the negative thoughts floating around your memory now.

[Starburst0128]

Awesome! Thanks for the info I will look into the information from Terry. I love. How y'all understand and get it.

[Davit]

Terry has spent years studying, and so have I. He is very popular. He has a list of a lot of useful mindfulness sites. He is good with OCD and HA, I'm more anxiety and GAD.
Information is power.