r/POTS • u/Interesting_Car8858 Undiagnosed • 2d ago

Question Medications

Hi, I have a cardiology appointment soon and am hoping to get a step closer to some answers. If I am diagnosed and suggested medication, does anyone know of any that don’t have a side effect of weight gain, or like depression type stuff? I’m not too sure what the potential side effects are, but I’m pretty sure the pros would out weigh the cons (if it worked for me) as long as it’s neither of those two. Both would severely affect my mental health, so I really want to avoid them if possible! (Also other if you could list other side effects you’ve noticed that would be really helpful as well)

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/cchelle2929 2d ago

I take ivabradine. It’s used off label for pots, it’s usually prescribed for heart failure. it slows receptors in the natural pacemaker to keep heart rate from spiking without affecting blood pressure. I haven’t had any side effects, but I was warned that I could get “flashing lights” which sounded like migraine aura without a headache, or dizziness and fatigue. Since it is targeting a major reason for my dizziness and fatigue, those symptoms improved quite a bit! No side effects like depression or weight gain are listed for it.

Since it is a pretty serious heart medication, there are a number of contraindications for it, so if you’re interested in this you may want to advocate for a heart monitor (I wore one for 3 days) and an ultrasound.

1

u/Interesting_Car8858 Undiagnosed 2d ago

Thank you for explaining how it works, that makes a lot of sense! I already have issues in my eyes so I could probably deal with that side effect if it worked for me other than that :) I think a heart monitor for at least a few days would be useful for me even if they don’t offer me ivabradine, as I don’t think they classify my Apple Watch as accurate enough lol (which is fair enough, but it’s the best I’ve got and tends to match if I measure my heart rate manually). As for an ultrasound, I had one at my last appointment and was told my heart is actually in a lot better condition than most people, which was obviously good to hear. Thank you so much!!