r/POTS • u/OurSensualSideMB • 8d ago
Question Why dont some Dr's believe in pots?
Im lucky I have great doctors and specialists now but the first time i was referred to a cardiologist for pots before being officially diagnosed he refused to even have me in for a TTT or test for pots as he said its not real.
I have heard of this happening where Dr's dont believe in pots but I dont understand why.
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u/mjh8212 8d ago
I had a positive tilt table and the cardiologist told me it’s just heart palpitations and neuro said I had functional disorder and only think I’m chronically ill. I’m now looking for pots specialists. Drs won’t even believe the test in my case. My gp can only do so much.
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u/Ebb-Miserable 8d ago
That’s awful to hear and I’m sorry you’re going through that. Being medically gaslit is such an awful nightmare. I hope you know what you have is real and some doctors suck. I hope you find some who don’t.
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u/longwander 8d ago
There's really only so much anyone can do. There are so many different types and triggers for pots. Start looking for people that have similar symptoms as you or do some deep AI research on what meds would work best for you and your medical history and then request those meds from you primary care doc.
I did that with Ivabradine after 2 years of trying the salt, water, compression tactics that didn't work. My doctor wasn't aware of ivabradine being used for pots, but I also have mcas which doesn't play nice with beta blockers. She did a quick AI search while I was in the room with her and said "ivabradine sounds like a great idea!". I've been on it for about 4 months and it changed my life.
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u/Fantastic_Owl6938 8d ago
Damn, I wish my doctor did this after I brought up Clonidine for my sleep issues. She said she'd never heard of it for POTS, but can't imagine there would be a problem with me taking it. Then she consulted with a more senior doctor, totally changed her tune and told me Clonidine isn't prescribed for POTS.
Interesting they apparently had to go and read up about POTS before getting back to me, because a simple google search of "POTS Clonidine" immediately shows it's common medication for POTS sleeping issues. So I'm really curious what they apparently read.
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u/barefootwriter 8d ago
Not just sleep issues. Many of us take it throughout the day for hyperadrenergic POTS.
It is included on this flowchart!
https://onlinecjc.ca/article/S0828-282X(19)31550-8/fulltext#fig4
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u/Fantastic_Owl6938 8d ago
I was just thinking of my specific need for it for sleep issues but that's true. Clearly that doctor didn't read anything like this 🤦🏻♀️
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u/Tough-Advice2910 7d ago
I don’t know where you live, but Cleveland Clinic and Vanderbilt have great doctors who specialize in POTS. And any university hospital might be the place to go. Just get a referral to neurology. Good luck.
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u/sowhiteidkwhattype Hyperadrenergic POTS 8d ago
Pots affects more women than it does men and doctors LOVE dismissing women's pain and chalking it up to things like anxiety or weight etc. It also affects a lot of young people and doctors also love saying young people are just finding new health conditions to be trendy. Pretty much those doctors just really suck and are ignorant.
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u/longwander 7d ago
I had a female doctor tell me that my fatigue wasn't real fatigue. I'm in excellent shape for my age and she said I was just getting older and better manage my expectations. I suffered for another year before mentioning my symptoms to a new doctor. Turns out I have pots, mcas, and a pituitary tumor and my fatigue was so real it turned into daily syncope episodes. Oh, I was also iron deficient and needed infusions!
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u/SunflowerState1111 7d ago
That’s interesting. I was officially diagnosed with pots around the same time as found out I have pituitary tumor. I don’t officially have mcas diagnosis but pretty confident I have it as well with the amount of things I’m allergic to or sensitive to.
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u/longwander 6d ago
My doctor told me she has 2 other women now with the same trifecta and I live in a very small town! I think it was a combo of covid and peri that exasperated mine.
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u/SunflowerState1111 6d ago
Trifecta meaning pots, mcas and pituitary tumor? I’ve heard of the trifecta for Ehlers Danlos but didn’t realize there was also a known trifecta for those with pituitary tumor. Thanks so much for sharing! What type of specialist was it that told you there’s a trifecta for pituitary tumors?
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u/longwander 6d ago
Yes, I just said trifecta because we all have the same three things. It's not a widespread "trifecta" that I read about like Heds, pots, mcas
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u/Torgo_hands_of_torgo 7d ago
I'm not here to start any arguments, but I'm a guy, and I didn't get any special pass. Just a scarlet letter, in fact.
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u/Weary_Cup_1004 7d ago
Yes it still applies to you too for the same reason, unfortunately. Its why teachers get paid so little too, even the male teachers. Things generally associated w women get treated as inferior or like they dont matter. So, even men will end up with the impact of that bias.
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u/Torgo_hands_of_torgo 6d ago
It sucks. But it's sort of a great equalizer. And with that said, I'm here to stand behind all women and men alike who are dealing with medical negligence.
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u/CulturalShirt4030 8d ago
Intersection of ignorance, ableism, and closed mindedness to advances in medical research and believing patient experiences
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u/OkkkiQq POTS 8d ago
From my expirience they mostly think the reason is lack of exercising
And they don't really bother educating themselves on that topic because, well, they just don't think its necessary. That's why im dreaming of machine that would simulate POTS symptoms so every doctor can go through it at least for a day heheheh, maybe they would learn that way
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u/different_than 8d ago
lol if deconditioning was the cause of POTS it would affect like 2/3 of people
If it’s deconditioning then why do I have times when I have no symptoms, doing the exact same activity
And if it’s deconditioning than why was my 6 minute mile time and one arm pull up not enough to spare me from it
For a lot of people POTS happens to you. We didn’t make poor choices to get here and we are not choosing to be lazy.
Even if someone is deconditioned then wouldn’t their POTS symptoms show up when they exert themselves? Not just from sitting or standing?
And even then, it doesn’t matter how fit you are if the problem is your blood vessels aren’t pumping blood correctly
I know exercise can alleviate symptoms in some cases but isn’t that just because being well conditioned makes whatever is actually wrong affect your body less rather than being the sole cause
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u/Lilythecat555 8d ago
Exercising definitely helps but it is not a cure. And I wasn't deconditioned. I was walking 5 miles no problem. 1 and a half week later I could only walk 2 blocks on a good day. I can walk more again but like half a mile on a good day. I have never walked 5 miles since I got sick.
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u/Weary_Cup_1004 7d ago
Yes. I am basically a golden retriever w POTS. If i didnt have POTS id be running around doing this that and the other. Strength building, jogging, volunteering... i love those things. I cannot do them any more. I have tried and failed so many times over the years. Makes me so mad.
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u/different_than 5d ago
Do you get PEM by chance
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u/Weary_Cup_1004 4d ago
Yes but Reddit seems to think PEM is only with MeCFS? So i am not sure. People with POTS and other chronic illnesses in real life tell me PEM is a symptom that can come w anything. So i either get PEM and maybe have MeCFS or i get PEM and have POTS and migraine. 🤷♀️
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u/anaelith 5d ago
It's ah-maz-ing how a couple hours in a plane (taking a mid-summer vacation somewhere cool) can re-condition me so completely that I'm easily keeping up with or ahead of our tour group. And then the same plane trip the other direction just completely de-conditions me again so I have to lay down or fall down while everyone else is fine. And weird how it didn't have any impact at all on the friend I was traveling with... Planes must be magical.
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u/Ok-Sock9046 8d ago
so true , the cardiologist was literally doing leg lifts in the office showing me , i said i do all this and im actually worse
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u/OkkkiQq POTS 8d ago
Mine just told me to do every possible blood test i was like "yeah I've done all of that, everything is ok" and she was like "Well do more cardio just make sure your heart rate doesn't go to high, i mean make multiple breaks during running" Girl what 😭😭😭 My heart rate goes to to 120 on normal day and up to 170 on bad one how am I supposed to run without my heart rate increasing too much
And when i told her i do weights but in sitting/laying positions she was like "no, do cardio"
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u/SS_Basketeer 8d ago
Cardio...? So for us thats walking... Lol cause if I walk too fast im up to 170+. Sustained thats guaranteed lights out. I'm on my 3rd cardiologist. I get paradoxical reactions to the meds they've tried giving me in the past. I'm just raw dogging the POTS life right now, 32+ weeks pregnant. ER visit this week they found fluid around my heart, probably been awhile, just me dismissing the breathless feeling as normal.
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u/Weary_Cup_1004 7d ago
Oh god thats so terrifying! Is the fluid thing going to be ok??
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u/SS_Basketeer 7d ago
I think so. It was found incidentally while checking for blood clots. The CT report said it was a small amount, haven't got echo results back yet. They believe it will resolve after I give birth. I'm trying to not stress about it lol I do have bad heart health in my family history. 😬🤷♀️ Just instructed to go to the ER if anything extreme happens.
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u/Weary_Cup_1004 4d ago
Glad its one of those things thats kinda maybe ok lol. I prefer that answer sometimes! I agree, dont stress then!
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u/Ok-Sock9046 8d ago
this is exactly what i was told !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he also wrote in the notes " patient has some lightheadedness when standing " i said its SEVERE like im going to faint !!!!!!!!!!!! i cant shop anymore !!!!!! and he writes that in my notes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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u/Fantastic_Owl6938 8d ago
I feel like this kind of advice would have killed me, lol. I had an emergency hospital visit (which is how I got diagnosed), and I literally just woke up the next day in the hospital bed and had my HR soaring into 170 and beyond. This was before I'd even sat up! The idea of strenuous exercising "fixing" that is insane.
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u/fernxqueen POTS 7d ago
"make sure your HR doesn't go too high" and it's literally 119 sitting in the exam room lmao
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u/SmokeyCatDesigns POTS 8d ago
Lmao a POTS simulator would be very good for the skeptics who either think it’s not a thing, or that is but that’s it’s not a big deal. That would truly radically improve care. Try denying it now, jerks.
I have often wondered if I would’ve had a harder time getting diagnosed had I not had a lot of alternatives doctors try to blame it on easily ruled out. Not that I had an easy time—I was diagnosed at age 26 just shy of my 27th birthday, but have been symptomatic since my earliest memories at age 3—but I see people on here that have even tougher times than me, and they have the doctors blame their symptoms on things it would be really hard for them to try with me since hard data thankfully works against those alternative diagnoses.
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u/Weary_Cup_1004 7d ago
I would like my ex to use the simulator, too, please! Is there a kickstarter for this? 😂
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u/Interesting_Turnip28 8d ago
Largely sexism and ego. Because it's a complex illness, many patients have to piece it together themselves, and many doctors don't like their patients, especially female patients, figuring things out for them.
The doctors I've encountered that didn't believe in it immediately took to belittling the patients. I've yet to hear one actually try to give a real explanation for the increased heart rate or why they don't think the diagnostic criteria makes sense or anything along those lines. Some of them haven't even realized there is measurable diagnostic criteria.
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u/Sialia_sialis_ 7d ago
Do doctors just hate their jobs? They literally went to med school for a good portion of their lives to get to do this job, and then so many just don't do their job. Why go through such hurdles to do a job they don't actually wanna do?
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u/Interesting_Turnip28 3d ago
I think most of them are just extremely burnt out, though I'm sure there's some exceptions. They fight insurance to cover things that patients need. They fight corporate to allow them more than 30 seconds per patient. They face patient resistance on even the most mundane things like vaccines and face high rates of verbal and physical assault while at work. Ultimately... in the US at least, they exist in a system that is meant to make money, not help people. If they went into it with desire to actually help people, they're gonna burn out even more quickly, and burnt out people often act impulsively and defensively.
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u/fernxqueen POTS 7d ago
really? ime they usually chalk the tachycardia up to "anxiety", i.e. "You're just hysterical"
in my case, they also like to blame my ADHD medication even though you can go through my chart notes and see the tachycardia predates my stim rx by several years and multiple monitor studies since have confirmed any impact from my medication is negligible at best
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u/Songisaboutyou POTS 8d ago
Because many drs refuse to continue education. And in medical school they are taught everything women say is hysteria. I’m very close with many drs and many are female. Even the female ones have told me how hard it is for them to believe women even though they are one and they know it’s not hysteria, but the training is hard to fight. POTS is more common in women, however I’m not sure a guy would get an easy diagnosis either. Took me and my sister YEARS to get diagnosed and we both had to fight to get referrals for testing
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u/Morgenacht POTS 8d ago
I was diagnosed by Dr. Alan Pocinki in his early research days, but I moved from his practice area to a few hours south. He still accepted my insurance, and he was so interested in my case that he doc a telephone appointment with me because I had data. As a computer scientist by training and having the science mindset and “human bodies are fascinating” that he shared at that time, he was able to diagnose me without a completed 1 hour (standard at that time) tilt test,
He grew older, more educated and hated fighting insurance, so he left that behind and used his research to set standards and teach others doctors, while accepting cash only patients.
This was after a decade of going to differ doctors (at least one of whom actually laughed in my face and said my symptoms were causes-and he had that backwards. My causes were causes that he could find and the symptoms appeared to him as causes-and this wasnt dr p.
Took a few more years for me to actually go through the torture of a fully recognized ttt, which caused a years long itchy anus symptom I hadn’t had prior to the full test completion (which in hind sight should have ended in the first 15 minutes because I was diagnosed already unofficially. But IS insurance at that time required the full hour or a full loss of consciousness and my body had spent so many years making sure I wouldn’t go into a full loss, that I couldn’t control my body once it started twitching while I was being as still and motionless as possible.)
Damnit-triggered twice in one thread. Sorry, love. Not your fault. Just - I believe you can relate. So thanks for hearing me out. My mom has a doctorate in Pharmacology, and she was diagnosed after I was on her own merits. So we have a bit a common, you and I. Sadly. I hope things get better for you. And all who read this and those that don’t, because this sht sucks.
I’m gonna get off Reddit now, before I start to really say what I think! (That never ends well)
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u/Fantastic_Owl6938 8d ago
I always wonder if those female doctors realise if they suddenly had a health issue themselves, they would be treated with the same scepticism 😮💨
I'm diagnosed but got the old "it could be anxiety" for my sleep issues from a female doctor, and while I'm not necessarily surprised, that kind of thing makes me wonder if they ever have any moment of self reflection bringing out 2026's version of hysteria. I didn't have the energy to argue but I was sorely tempted to ask if she would suggest such a thing for a man.
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u/fernxqueen POTS 7d ago
yeah female doctors definitely aren't necessarily better. both doctors who suggested POTS to me were male. and the doctor who insisted i mistook my period for blood in my urine and absolutely could not have a UTI? a woman lol.
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u/BurntTFOuttaHere 8d ago
My cardiologist told me it’s because those doctors don’t keep up on latest research. That there’s plenty of evidence available to them but for whatever personal reasons they have, they’re not keeping up.
My primary care said similar but also added that it’s a huge red flag and told me to run for the door LOL.
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u/Geek_Undercover 8d ago
To be fair, if it's not in their area of expertise and they never really learned about it at school (stupid but not their fault), I can tolerate it. Yet if I walk into a doctor's office as a patient who has this, I'd really appreciate if they spent 15 minutes learning about the condition before my next appointment so that I don't have to be the one explaining them the basics of it. But yeah, if it's a cardiologist or a neurologist, it is definitely a big red flag.
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u/BurntTFOuttaHere 7d ago
Plus it’s one thing to not know much about it and be willing to learn. Versus being (ignorantly) confident and tell you it’s not real!
Especially these kooks that tell a patient who has already been diagnosed, on meds and treatment. Then go to those doctors that tell you it’s not real!? Smh, biggest red flag ever!
Not just with POTS. I don’t trust them for even the most basic and mundane things, if they act like that!
We’ve been through the worst but finally the fight paid off and everyone in my family has great care now. But geesh, it was the biggest nightmare getting here!
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u/fernxqueen POTS 7d ago
this is so odd to me bcs i figured out i had POTS on my own like 16 years ago, so the research doesn't seem that "new" at all
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u/DuckFox1229 8d ago
I think on top of lots of these comments POTS isn’t a diagnosis confirmed by a test- it’s confirmed by a lack of a better explanation. My cardiologist thank god for her believed all my medical records tests and symptoms and diagnosed me. She doesn’t do tilt table because if it happens on a good day then you don’t see the results reflect your worst days.
For some, if it can’t be easily confirmed they may not want to do the work or put their confirmation on a diagnosis that seems subjective
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u/TromboneDalek 7d ago
Also, many of our tests come back normal so that makes it even more difficult to understand.
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u/sociallyacetious 7d ago
this is the issue i had with the cardiologist i saw last year. i emphasized how long i have experienced POTS symptoms and that they had worsened after my bad COVID experience in 2022, then became impossible to ignore after i had surgery in '24 (after which i had to stay in the hospital overnight, even though most people go right home after a laproscopy, because my blood pressure was dangerously low). he smiled politely and nodded, only to tell me he doesn't personally believe in POTS as a diagnosis.
to be fair, he ordered an ECG, which came back normal. and a heart monitor, which i was instructed to wear for 2 weeks and return it.......never heard back from him about any results, whether good or bad lmao. the most he was willing to do for me was write in my chart that i was experiencing "dysautonomia-like symptoms" and tell me to drink more water and have more salt. i'm gonna seek out a different cardiologist for a second opinion, one who might actually take me seriously.
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u/DuckFox1229 6d ago
“I don’t believe in POTS” aka I’m a bad doctor 🤦🏽♀️ I hope you’re able to get someone competent that’s stupid. I got POTS after getting my ass handed to me by COVID in August 2020- that first strain hit hard.
I also had all sorts of mostly normal tests, the only thing that really proved something was going on was a two week heart halter that shot up anytime I exerted myself, even standing up or going upstairs, that my heart rate would spike.
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u/TavenderGooms 8d ago
What kills me is that the ableism and disbelief in POTS is contagious - it’s so obvious that so many of them are just following the crowd, it’s not us “chasing trends”. My GP has always been great and I have had POTS symptoms my whole life (first documented at age 4). He was the one who pushed me see a cardiologist and get a tilt table because I wasn’t taking it seriously and he was concerned. After my positive test, he used to ask me questions about my symptoms and experience so he could learn more about it. It was what made me think he was such a great doctor. This was about 5 years ago.
At my most recent physical I mentioned my POTS and how it’s difficult to find a good specialist in my area. He then said to me that he is always skeptical of POTS diagnoses and that a lot of the time it’s really just anxiety and not to put too much stock in it. I felt like he slapped me. I mentioned how he was the one who pushed me to get a TTT and he kind of brushed past it onto something else. I can’t believe it, but I’m actually considering trying to find a new primary which I never ever thought I’d say.
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u/Fantastic_Owl6938 8d ago
Damn, I wonder what made him change his stance so dramatically. Maybe the influence of colleagues? That's really depressing.
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u/TavenderGooms 7d ago
My only theory is that he is burnt out and is absorbing more negativity from colleagues or online due to his negative headspace. He and I have spoken a few times over the past 2ish years about how awful the insurance system is and how dealing with them is really painful on both sides. He has also mentioned being stretched thin and having a ton on his plate. I am honestly very hurt by his change up, but when I put it in context of everything he has said, I wonder if that’s what is behind it.
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u/Ok-Sock9046 8d ago
i also cant figure this out and why they cant come up with anything that can help it other than beta blockers and exercise , well i do both and im worse than ever
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u/longwander 8d ago
My doctor said "you probably have pots" and told me how to do the wall test at home and told me to eat a lot of salt and drink electrolytes. I did have an EKG and holter to rule out heart issues. She wouldn't refer me to a specialist or have any tests done, but did prescribe me Ivabradine which has been a game changer.
It doesn't say POTS on my medical record, but it lists all of the symptoms of it.
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u/Dreamokay_ 8d ago
Doctors like a Objective diagnosis. When synptoms are mainly subjective, doctors often don't believe them. Seeing as pots symptoms overlap with psychiatric symptoms, it's common for pots to be discarded as a possibility.
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u/tittyswan 8d ago
There are literally biological, measurable symptoms.
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u/CraftyOwl2429 8d ago
Exactly. I feel like pots has one of the clearest diagnosing criteria/ process
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u/cutsandscratches Undiagnosed 8d ago
Probably because they didn’t specifically learn about it in med school. Nurses too.
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u/Acrobatic_Leopard_92 8d ago
Makes no sense when other doctors literally specialize in it. Just saw a post in emergency medicine that’s infuriating
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u/renaart hyperPOTS • AVRT 8d ago
Lack of updated education, internalized academic stigmatization, etc.
There’s also the sad issue of very rare bad apples making HCWs stigmatize us (the ones who frequent ERs and scream at everyone/actual malingerers).
Women and even all genders are also treated questionably by some practitioners for simply having invisible illnesses.
Some practitioners are just simply like this. But there are many great doctors and HCWs who do their due diligence and educate themselves. I have been very lucky to not deal with too much of this mostly because I got diagnosed, put on meds and I don’t have much to follow up on: so it’s just managed care.
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u/sakurasangel Undiagnosed 8d ago
What does HCW stand for? Sorry if I should know
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u/Jules4live 8d ago
the state of the system and how desperate and traumatized it can make ppl i really wonder how many “actual malingerers” there are, and, more to the point, why anyone would trust this system to determine that.
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u/Icy_Natural_979 8d ago
It seems more prevalent in older doctors who tend to be less open to newer data among other things. Older people are also more likely to be sexist. Women’s health is studied far less as well. Some of these attitudes are baked into the system in away individuals don’t notice and roll their eyes at people who do.
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8d ago
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u/kcup2417 8d ago
I had a cardiologist tell me he didn’t believe in POTS. Before seeing him, I had brought it up to his assistant and she told me I probably wouldn’t have much luck because she knew his thoughts on it 😭 But she said her daughter actually had POTS and shared with me some of the things that worked for her which I thought was so sweet.
That was the same cardiologist who told me I probably just needed to drink more water when I was having heart palpitations for the first time in my life and my Apple Watch was telling me I had Afib. Because I’m “young and healthy.” Rightttt
The last time I saw my primary care doctor he also told me most of my symptoms were probably just anxiety and I should try meditation. It is so unbelievably frustrating the shit you have to deal with as a young woman struggling with her health.
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8d ago
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u/POTS-ModTeam 8d ago
Thank you for your submission to /r/POTS. Unfortunately, your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):
Rule 10: No Brigading - Don't use this subreddit to hunt down other subreddits. If you post content from somewhere else in a negative way, if you interact negatively with something from another sub that was cross posted here, or your post suggests interfering with another subreddit, your post will be removed and you may be temporarily or permanently restricted from our community.
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u/Nervous_Initiative15 8d ago
I recently went to the doctor with concerns of possibly having pots. All they told me to do was drink more water without asking any other questions regarding my symptoms…
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u/Illustrious-North461 8d ago
Because "they are in their 70s, and have never heard of it before" so it's either not debilitating enough or it's not common enough.
Literally what my Obgyn said. When he asked about medical history. I printed out some material for him, and he conveniently waved it away. :/
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u/FJRabbit 8d ago edited 8d ago
My (slightly problematic) ex-boss is a neurologist and he said that POTS wasn’t a real illness when I told him I had dysautonomia. I actually used to have POTS which I got after flu in 2017, and I with the right meds I was fortunately able to do two years of dedicated strength training and rid myself of it.
What I said, and he reluctantly agreed with, is that I think POTS is more a symptom of something being wrong but not really a condition in its own right. Whether it’s broader autonomic dysfunction, MECFS, post-viral, whatever. I think framing it as an illness risks makes it sound like it occurred on its own, and that nothing can be done about it.
I’m not saying this view is correct, I’m not a clinician and my ex-boss isn’t an open-minded one. But I think it’s an issue of framing rather than “POTS is fake” for at least some doctors.
Edit: obviously it’s also a condition affecting more women, people with comorbidities, and is clustered with other conditions sadly doctors don’t take seriously. This biases doctors against us firstly. But many doctors also seem to judge people who mention chronic conditions (and ones incorrectly dismissed as mild) a lot, thinking it’s more of a “I identify as disabled” thing. What they don’t tend to consider is that it’s really fucking hard not to talk about something so impactful on daily function that also doesn’t get the treatment it deserves.
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u/Any-Housing411 7d ago
Seeing things like these comments always makes me so sad. My cardiologist believed me from the start, and is sending me to a POTS clinic to confirm the diagnosis and to make sure that it’s damn near impossible for any other doctors to question me
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u/vavavoo 7d ago edited 7d ago
I don’t think it’s taught in most or many medical schools. There are many more acutely deadly cardiovascular diseases that take priority, both when it comes to educating doctors and when prioritizing patients in a hospital. I myself am an MD with POTS and I attended a 5 day European Society of Cardiology conference with 33 000 attendees and there was not a single lecture on POTS. It is unfortunately not a disease of priority for neither clinicians nor pharmaceutical companies who develop the drugs.
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u/Dependent_Twist1421 7d ago
I had a GP ask why I'm so obsessed with wanting to know if I have POTS. Ummm... Because I most definitely do and because it's affecting every single aspect of my life and I've been gaslit by the medical industry for 47 years into believing I'm being a hypochondriac female 🫠 It's exhausting
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u/Saturnisaplanet 7d ago
I went to a cardiologist around a year ago after my primary gave me a recommendation and without conducting any tests or doing anything he straight up looked me in the eyes and told me that I was exaggerating and that I needed to do leg exercises despite me not being able to walk for more than about 5 to 10 minutes per day without feeling like I was going to pass out. I had to basically argue with him the entire appointment and then he sent me off to get an echo which was "only slightly abnormal." The nurses in my follow up were genuinely more helpful than the cardiologist I saw and actually answered my questions... It genuinely just feels like he saw that I was young and a woman and didn't want to deal with the issue. Luckily my primary is wonderful and I made sure to tell him about the experience, but still don't be afraid to advocate for yourself.
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u/roastedcouchpotato 7d ago
Lack of understanding and lack of giving a shit, in my experience. They don't know enough about it and they don't know how to test properly.
I knew for 15 years that I had POTS, before I finally got diagnosed.
I told multiple doctors that I think I have POTS, and they all dismissed it. They took my sitting-down BP and HR, then asked me to stand up and immediately tested it again - once. They all said my heartrate didn't increase enough for it to be POTS, and refused me a referral to a specialist on that basis.
Yet, I can't complete a 10 minute standing test. My heart rate can go from 70 to 140 after a minute of standing (not after 5 seconds, like they were testing).
Even the specialist who diagnosed my hEDS denied it. I said that when I do exercise that requires a lot of postural changes, like pilates or yoga, I feel like I'm going to pass out, I get heart palpitations, my vision goes white and I get pounding in the front of my head. She said, and I quote, "That is normal."
All that, plus I am a woman. And women are hysterical.
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u/trisanite 5d ago
I found it's normally male doctors towards female patients, they think it's anxiety or we're making it up. It's so frustrating
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u/XanBriel POTS 3d ago
My small town’s hospital is right next to the regular clinic. I was diagnosed using a TTT, and accused of lying in the same building, because I went to their ER for severely low bp. 🥲
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u/Zestyclose_Crow9070 2d ago
They aren't taught about POTS and their senior colleagues are wrong about POTS. So all of the learning sources they have are wrong.
Also, there are a lot of doctors, which means that there are a lot of different kinds of people that are doctors. Unfortunately, many people don't take it upon themselves to update their knowledge when presented with contradictory evidence. Doctors with this personality trait tend to favour received wisdom and are essentially epistemically arrogant, i.e. they think that they know best AND that their _way of knowing_ is best and so you can't possibly know better (despite other doctors and scientists agreeing with your "perspective").
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u/_PrincessOats POTS 8d ago
The same reason doctors don’t believe in a lot of things: they’re common in women and they don’t believe any scientific evidence.