I Get Dizzy Standing Up, Do I Have POTS? (with Camden Hebson, MD)

Have you ever stood up quickly and felt a little lightheaded or felt your heart racing? What if, out of the blue, that started happening EVERY TIME YOU STOOD UP?

This can be reality for folks with POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), or other forms of "orthostatic dysfunction". It can be quite debilitating, especially since it seems to target young athletic folks. Also, like many other health conditions which can manifest as nebulous, subjective symptoms (fatigue, dizziness, heart racing, brain fog, etc)- patients with POTS often feel misunderstood, ignored, and gaslit by their healthcare providers (who may not be well trained in these conditions.)

Let's fix all that, shall we??

Your Doctor Friends came across a great article in the Washington Post titled "They're young and athletic. They're also ill with a condition called POTS" that featured our guest today, Camden Hebson, MD (as well as his colleague at University of Alabama Birmingham, Sara Gould, MD). Among other expert opinions in the article, Dr. Hebson outlined the increasing diagnosis of POTS, especially in young athletes. What is it? Who gets it? Why do we think this happens? How can we manage it?

Resources for today's episode include:

UAB website for Dr. Hebson's and Dr. Gould's Sports Medicine Cardiology Clinic for Young Athletes.

The website for Dysautonomia International, a great advocacy organization for folks with POTS, and other similar autonomic nervous system dysregulation conditions.

Vanderbilt University Autonomic Dysfunction Center website outlining all their recent research projects and publications.

Cleveland Clinic's website on POTS.

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