The Affects Of Asthma On PoTS

As well as October being Dysautonomia Awareness Month, the 25th is the first Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Awareness Day. Dysautonomia is a collective term for a number of conditions affecting autonomic function – PoTS is one of these conditions. When thinking about how to mark these two events, I realised that I haven’t yet spoken about what’s been going on with my health the past few months – both in terms of my asthma and the effect it’s had on my PoTS. So I thought that now would be a good time to fill you in on the affects I’m currently experiencing of asthma on PoTS.

Photo credit: Alex Cetera Photography

Note: This isn’t intended to be medical advice. I am purely sharing my own experiences. Please always consult a trained medical professional.

If you’ve been a regular reader of my blog, you’ll probably know that my PoTS was largely manageable with non-pharmaceutical measures. Then pregnancy threw a spanner in the works and I was unable to stand up safely. After having Elise, I started a beta blocker. This helped a lot, though it didn’t get me back to my pre-pregnancy level.

Fast forward a year and my asthma, which has always been well managed, is suddenly problematic. There’s a working theory on why this has happened, but it’s not particularly relevant to the affects of asthma on my PoTS, so I’m going to skip over it for now.

My asthma is at the point where I’m experiencing regular flare ups that require a nebuliser and has required a 999 call and a trip to A&E in the back of an ambulance. During these flare ups, I’m put on a short course of steroids and my preventative steroid/ventolin mix inhaler dose has been doubled since starting. You’re probably starting to wonder what this has to do with my PoTS…

… The first flare up saw me heading to the GP surgery – I’d spent the weekend having difficulty breathing and wanted to get checked out. My peak flow reading was very low and I was barely able to speak at more than a whisper. This was my first time being put on a nebuliser. As well as the short course of steroids the GP put me on and being bumped up to the next step of preventative inhaler, my beta blocker was stopped. The reason for this was that beta blockers can interfere with how inhalers work. A this point my choice was either breath or stand up safely – breathing wins every time.

So now I’m back to unmedicated PoTS symptoms that are having a significant effect on daily life. But the affects I’m experiencing of my asthma on PoTS symptoms doesn’t stop there.

One of the symptoms I’ve experienced during the asthma attacks that have required treatment with a nebuliser, is an increased heart rate. That’s an increased heart rate on top of my already higher-than-average heart rate, thanks to PoTS. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there – a common side effect of using a Salbutamol inhaler is an increased heart rate. A side effect I experience quite significantly.

At the moment, we need to get my asthma stabilised. Once it is, there is a medication that the autonomic clinic have suggested to my GP that we try. So there’s the potential for improved management of my PoTS, but not immediately.

So there we go. Another tale of one chronic illness impacting another.