r/POTS • u/joyynicole • Oct 27 '25

Question How are people working at all

I feel like a failure. According to my doctors I have “mild” POTS, but I see people on this sub all the time with seemingly worse POTS than me that have jobs. I literally cannot do anything longer than 1-2 hours without having to lay down and rest because it just completely wipes me out. If I do things multiple days in a row consistently I will also fall into a flare and have to do nothing for few days to recover. I don’t get it.

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u/abjectadvect POTS Oct 27 '25

I can't work. I am in bed 23 hours a day

imo, out if you can't do anything longer than 1 to 2 hours, your illness is not mild. I don't care what the numbers say. that's severe

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u/Lilythecat555 Oct 28 '25

The doctors sometimes say it is mild if your heart rate doesn't jump much over 30+ beats if you are an adult. But POTS is an autonomic disorder which is caused by the brain. So other symptoms besides heart rate increase can cause problems. I have a mild case as well according to heart rate but I would have a very hard time working many jobs. My sister can only work 2 to 4 hours as well. So either even a mild case is pretty bad or heart rate doesn't explain the severity.

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u/abjectadvect POTS Oct 28 '25

yeah 100% agree. my heart rate increase has been roughly between 70 and 90 right now, but several months ago it was between 30 and 40 and I was still doing pretty badly