Antiphospholipid Syndrome: Is there a possible connection between POTS and DVT?
Interestingly, years ago I was diagnosed with POTS, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, which is a form of Dysautonomia. Dysautonomia is a dysfunction of the nerves that regulate nonvoluntary body functions, such as, in my case, blood pressure. In a normal person, blood vessels in your body constrict upon standing so the blood goes to your brain, but in POTS your blood vessels do not constrict and blood tends to rush to your legs and pool there. This is why people with POTS get light-headed and have a risk of fainting upon standing - the blood is going to our legs rather than our brain, where it's needed.
I think it's interesting that I have POTS, where blood pools in the legs, and I decently found out my grandmother had DVT, Deep Vein Thrombosis, which "occurs when a blood clot (thrombus) forms in one or more of the deep veins in the body, usually in the legs. Deep vein thrombosis can cauase leg pain or swelling. Sometimes there are no noticeable symptoms."
There is also this very interesting article about the relation between POTS and DVT potentially being undiagnosed APS, or Antiphospholipid Syndrome, also known as Hughes Syndrome. "APS is a complex autoimmune disorder that is associated with several different antiphospholipid antibodies.  These antibodies may be directed against clotting factors, platelets, and/or the cells that line blood vessel walls and they cause the blood to be too sticky. This results in an increased risk of blood clots in: 1) Arteriesâcausing most commonly stroke or heart attack. 2) Veinsâcausing deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of the legs and/or pulmonary embolus (PE) of the lungs. 3) Placentaâcausing recurrent miscarriage, stillbirth or low birth weight babies."
The article continues, "In addition to an increased risk for blood clots, a number of other manifestations may occur in APS due to âsludgingâ of the blood. The list of these non-clotting manifestations is long and they are less well known to most physicians.  Some of these manifestations include migraine," of which I have also been diagnosed with migraine long ago.
As for if POTS patients should seek testing for APS, the article reads, "At this time, I believe all POTS patients should be tested for APS; other physicians might disagree.  At the very least, I believe all POTS patients with any of the following should be tested for APS: migraine, memory loss, balance trouble, livedo reticularis, Raynaudâs phenomenon, history of miscarriage, another autoimmune condition, a family history of blood clots or a family history of autoimmune disease."
You can read the entire article here:
My brain loves to make little connections like this. I start researching one thing, which leads to another symptom that either I have or I have a family history of having, which leads to these little connections that I'm not sure are actually correlated or not. Nonetheless, I find the research incredibly interesting.
