Dysautonomia... POTS and IST

Nurses Disabilities

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I am interested in hearing the experiences of other nurses who have a form of dysautonomia whether it be postural tachycardia syndrome or inappropriate sinus tachycardia. Also interested in hearing about experiences with patients or people in your life who struggle with this disability. I am a 26 y/o male and a floor nurse in a LTC/Rehab facility. On any given day at work i'd say my average HR is 115-130 and BP sometimes on the lower end of normal 110/60. I take metoprolol ER and avoid caffeine at work but sometimes I am unable to tolerate work and fear I will pass out a work. The other day a resident vagaled out on the toilet, it was a heavier resident and two of us assisted them back to bed and elevated their legs. Afterwards my HR was rapid, I was SOB, feeling disoriented, everything was starting to go gray so I left the room immediately and sat down at the nurses station. I am concerned about how this might affect my practice, luckily I was not responsible for this resident and by the time I left another nurse was present. I am on my feet most of the shift and have good and bad days. I am doing everything I can to do my job and am always successful in completing med pass, treatments, charting etc. This is my first nursing job and I just feel like it is a matter of time before it starts to impact my job performance if I have a bad day or am forced to over exert myself. Do you disclose to employer incase anything does happen? I also have an anxiety disorder so I am reluctant to come out about my disability because it took so long to be believed or to get a diagnoses because of my hx of anxiety. If you suffer with this or know of someone who does i'm very interested in hearing your experience, what works for you, and feedback.

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Specializes in Urgent Care, Oncology.

Please feel free to PM me!

Yes, I too would like to know of other people's experiences. I am currently battling with POTS and just don't know what to do.

Specializes in Transitional Nursing.

I can't speak to this issue personally but my hubby has POTS. He's ridiculously tall and it really does a number on him. I feel like the extra height makes his syncope that much worse.

I'm curious, why metoprolol?

Metoprolol is what my cardiologist recommended but I am switching to propranolol because I have read POTS patients have better success with it. I am also tall. biski19 I understand it can be very defeating to have to deal with this and to be seemingly healthy it is easy to be written off by providers as not a serious issue since it is not life threatening. The disability that comes with POTS is said to be comparable to living with CHF or COPD. I recently suggested to my primary to have my aldosterone levels tested along with serum and urine electrolytes. My aldosterone levels were undetectable and my random serum sodium was very high at like 230 mmol/L which was written off as time of day and possibly diet but i'm gonna follow up with an endocrinologist. I was wondering if it could be an issue with regulating water and electrolytes. It sucks to be hopeful for something to be wrong but often dealing with a vague misunderstood diagnosis having answers can be relieving.

I also have POTS due to my Ehlers Danlos. I think it depends on what causes your POTS (partly) since mine is because my connective tissue is messed up and doesn’t get blood to my head fast enough so at work my HR usually standing/walking can be anywhere from 120s-170s. Usually it just makes me feel like crap, short of breath, heart pounding, usually I don’t feel super lightheaded to the point of worrying I will faint but there have been a few times I was really sure I would faint but ended up sitting down and was fine. I would say 15% of my coworkers know I have POTS and 70% know I have a lot of medical problems but I figure if I pass out, when I come to I can just say I’m fine it’s just my POTS and that will be the end of it. I don’t take meds but if I started passing out at work I would take meds. What helps me is a high salt intake and the right amount of water. Also compression socks make a big difference! I’ve considered also investing in compression leggings and compression shirts. If my POTS gets worse I’ll go that route. Good luck!

I'm 23 and also just got diagnosed with POTS. Unfortunately my employer can't keep me as an employee because my POTS is pretty bad. So I've been looking at going to Case Management or Occupational Health until I can get mine under control. I've been taking propranolol, midodrine, and Zoloft.

Specializes in Urgent Care, Oncology.
23 hours ago, BethArnold said:

I'm 23 and also just got diagnosed with POTS. Unfortunately my employer can't keep me as an employee because my POTS is pretty bad. So I've been looking at going to Case Management or Occupational Health until I can get mine under control. I've been taking propranolol, midodrine, and Zoloft.

If you have a compact license and are able to work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday there's a triage company out of NC that loves to hired disabled nurses. Feel free to message me if interested.

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