What PoTS can involve
PoTS (postural tachycardia syndrome) involves the autonomic nervous system, the part of the body that quietly manages heart rate and blood pressure. For many people symptoms appear or build when upright: a racing heart, dizziness, near-fainting, brain fog, heat intolerance and a heavy fatigue, and often ease when lying down.
It's a real, recognised condition. It isn't anxiety, and it's very often mistaken for it. A record of what happened, when, and what you were doing at the time is one of the few things that speaks for you when a reading taken sitting down looks normal.
PoTS UK describes PoTS as an abnormality of the autonomic nervous system, and says a malfunctioning autonomic nervous system is sometimes called dysautonomia. PoTS UK's own awareness page says October is Dysautonomia Awareness Month, and the charity marks PoTS Awareness Day on 25 October. That page is linked in the trusted information below.
Symptoms checklist
PoTS symptoms checklist to take to your GP
Tick what applies to you, note how often it happens, and take it to your appointment, so the conversation starts further along. It describes your experience. It does not say what is causing anything: ticking most of these does not mean you have PoTS, and ticking a few does not mean you do not. Only a clinician can work that out with you.
Print the PoTS checklist and weekly diary Download as PDF
The list comes from the NHS and charity sources linked further down this page, and from what people living with PoTS tell us they keep an eye on. It is a starting point, not a test.
How a day can feel
If your days sound anything like this, taluvu was made with you in mind.
- “Standing still is harder for me than walking.”
- “I have learned exactly how long a queue I can manage.”
- “I feel best lying down, which isn't much of a life.”
- “The salt and the water and the tights and it still happens.”
- “People think fainting is dramatic. It's just Tuesday.”
These are the kinds of things taluvu invites you to say in your own words, never a checklist of what anyone “should” have.
