What is HyperPOTS?

I have Hyperadrenergic Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome also known as HyperPOTS or HPOTS. I'm sure you're asking, "What is that?" Well, here you go...

Hyperadrenergic POTS is a syndrome that can be found under a more broad condition called "Dysautonomia.” Dysautonomia is a term used to describe an overall break down or failure of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). The ANS controls all the body systems that are automatic like the cardiovascular, digestive, brain function, thermoregulatory & sensory systems. For patients to become symptomatic, there needs to be a trigger to make it active, such as a virus, accident, surgery, or physically traumatic event.

A patient who is hyperadrenergic produces an excessive amount of norepinephrine (NE). NE is passed on from neuron to neuron as part of the ANS's communication highway. The excessive NE produced by a hyperadrenergic patient does not get picked up correctly by the firing neurons, so it goes into the bloodstream. Once the extra NE reaches the bloodstream, it can travel to every body system causing a wide range of symptoms. These symptoms vary from day to day & patient to patient & can include dizziness, tachycardia, high & low blood pressure, migraines, nausea, blood pooling in limbs (causing pain along with a mottled & purple appearance), syncope (fainting), heat surges, flushing, shortness of breath, brain fog, muscle & joint pain, excessive sweating, & much, much more.

Additionally, a hyperadrenergic patient's body does not respond appropriately to stress. When stress occurs, the body's ANS kicks in with the "flight or fight" response which triggers the production of NE. Stress to the body can be caused by very mundane every day activities like simply standing, sitting, & lying down, bending up & down, climbing up stairs, getting hot, holding the arms up in the air, lifting objects, becoming over-stimulated, & traveling by airplane. All of these things can exacerbate symptoms, not including the normal every day stressors of life.

Patients with HyperPOTS look perfectly healthy, but we are at war with our own bodies. With this, we can often be a little prickly. This means we can be difficult to get along with at times, demonstrate unprovoked/uncontrollable emotions such as anger, depression, frustration & crying (thanks to high levels of NE), and sometimes we have to cancel plans at the last minute because we literally cannot get out of bed. We are also in the process of realizing and processing that we can't continue to live life as usual anymore. With HyperPOTS, our lives change drastically. We can’t do the usual things when & how we want to, & there may even be some things that we can’t do at all anymore. Our bodies are betraying us, and we must slowly learn to live with that.