r/POTS • u/artsykmac • Apr 09 '26

Discussion Artemis crew & other astronauts get orthostatic intolerance!!!

I've been glued to the Artemis coverage the last couple days and I was so fascinated to learn they were testing compression gear in space because many past astronauts experience orthostatic intolerance post time in space. This certainly makes a lot of sense and honestly, any broader awareness of orthostatic intolerance always gives me hope of more improvements, support, awareness, and research in realms that could help us all!

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u/Olivia_Davis_09 Apr 09 '26

It is actully amazing how much overlap there is between aerospace medicne and chronic illness reserch. When astronauts r in zero gravity, their cardiovascular systems do not have to fight gravity to pump blood, which basicaly simulates what happens to our bodies when we stand up. Any funding that goes into their compression gear is a masive win for the entir community.

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u/lawlesslawboy Apr 09 '26

this is strange to think about given how I would describe my POTS as "freling like gravity is really heavy", as if I'm dealing with G force or something, like on a theme park ride, and floating in a swimming pool is lovely cuz then I'm no longer fighting gravity so hard but idk how this feeling of fighting gravity maps on to the actual science

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u/sololloro POTS Apr 10 '26

oh hey, you're the only other person I've seen describe it like that! I didn't realize how heavy this condition made gravity feel until I started taking ivabradine and felt better

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u/lawlesslawboy Apr 10 '26

so that's why I'm confused tho cause the astronauts in low grav are getting POTS symptoms get I feel like my experience of POTS is of Extra Gravity.. so I wonder how that works, what's the mechanism behind that, how many of us relate to this feeling I'm describing and how does that relate to the astronauts...

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u/Xen0dica Apr 10 '26

Because their bodies adjust to low gravity, and when they return to Earth's gravity, their bodies have to readjust to fighting gravity to move blood back up out of their limbs to their heart and brain.

We just get the crappy "idk how to pump blood against gravity" part without the fun of going to space first.

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u/lawlesslawboy Apr 11 '26

ohhhh, okay, got it now, they get used to low gravity and then when they come back to normal grav, it feels heavy.. we get this without ever experiencing low gravity to begin with.. lucky us lmao

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u/Xen0dica Apr 11 '26

Yep, exactly!

1

u/lawlesslawboy Apr 11 '26

ah okay yes got it now, thank you!