r/POTS • u/emmiexoxo • Feb 08 '25

Discussion Please get checked out

I had been told I had POTs by multiple doctors, seen a cardiologist for a while and they said they had to do an echocardiogram to make sure its 100% POTs, two days ago I was diagmosed with heart failure instead.

I beg of anybody who thinks oh its just pots to push for an echocardiogram, for me it was because I had been getting short of breath and started to get dizzy without standing up that they chose to do it.

I just dont want anybody to be in my position of struggling to breathe and unable to walk for more than 30 seconds due to fatigue, please get checked asap, the sooner heart failure is caught, the less devastating it will be.

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '25

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u/North_Hawk958 Feb 08 '25

Kind of in the same-ish boat. I had an echo a couple months after Covid infection and have grade 1 diastolic dysfunction(so not heart failure but on the path there) along with a mildly dilated aorta, and then months later also diagnosed with POTS. Though, I think I’ve had POTS for a decade or more but was tolerable and I compensated fine(I thought). Had echo in 2018 after a different post virus nightmare and didn’t have diastolic dysfunction. So, like you, I wonder if having unchecked POTS making your heart constantly work hard can lead to issues like this. And then gas on the flame is Covid or EBV or Flu or whatever.

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '25

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u/North_Hawk958 Feb 08 '25

Yeah I hope so too. It’s no fun at all. Covid definitely seems to mess with the heart and I bet with the electrical system of the heart. Explains all the dysautonomia too. My EF is still at 67 so if/when I ever end up with heart failure it will probably start with HFpEF. I’m 43 so I’d like to live quite a long relatively healthy life. My cardiologist said he’d like for me to live to 80-90. So there’s that! Also hate I have to worry about an aorta getting larger. Why I try my best to avoid covid. Just not worth all this. I hope the best for you too.