The Stable — POTS Tracker journal
Notes on the practice.
Field notes, guides, and the thinking behind Stable — POTS Tracker.
Latest · 7 min read
Dating With POTS: How to Tell Someone New About Your Chronic Illness Without Making It a Confession
Dating with POTS means deciding when to tell someone new. Disclosure research says treating it as a confession backfires. Here's how to share it so it brings you closer.
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More from the journal
- 02
Chronic Illness and Friendships: Why POTS Keeps Making You Cancel, and How to Stay Close When You Can't Show Up
Chronic illness and friendships: why every POTS cancellation reads as 'flaky', the psychology of why friends quietly drift, and how to stay close from the couch.
2026-10-26
7 min read
- 03
POTS Imposter Syndrome: Why You Doubt Your Own Symptoms on Good Days, and How to Trust Your Body Again
POTS imposter syndrome hits hardest on good days, when you start to wonder if you made it all up. Here's the psychology behind that doubt and how to answer it.
2026-10-25
6 min read
- 04
Mobility Aids for POTS: Why a Shower Chair or Wheelchair Isn't Giving Up (It's Getting Your Life Back)
Mobility aids for POTS feel like surrender to many people. Here's the psychology behind that fear, and why a shower chair or wheelchair often buys you more life, not less.
2026-10-25
7 min read
- 05
POTS at Work: How to Ask for Accommodations Without Feeling Like You're Asking for Too Much
Need POTS workplace accommodations but dread asking? Hiding your symptoms costs more energy than you think. Here's how to ask clearly, calmly, and without apologizing.
2026-10-24
7 min read
- 06
Feeling Guilty for Resting With POTS: Why Lying Down Isn't Laziness, and How to Stop Making Yourself Earn It
Feeling guilty for resting with POTS? Lying down isn't laziness, it's treatment. Here's why the guilt hits so hard and how to stop making yourself earn the couch.
2026-10-24
6 min read
- 07
Fear of Fainting With POTS: Why Your World Keeps Shrinking, and How to Win Back the Places You've Stopped Going
Fear of fainting with POTS can quietly shrink your life to a few safe rooms. Learn why your brain learns to avoid places, and how to take your world back one step at a time.
2026-10-24
7 min read
- 08
How to Talk to Your Doctor About POTS So You're Taken Seriously (and Not Sent Home With 'Anxiety')
How to talk to your doctor about POTS when your heart rate looks normal in the exam room: why symptoms get dismissed, and how to bring evidence they can't wave away.
2026-10-23
7 min read
- 09
Grieving the Life You Had Before POTS: Why Chronic Illness Grief Keeps Coming Back
Chronic illness grief with POTS doesn't fade in neat stages. It comes back again and again. Here's why it keeps returning, and how to carry it without losing yourself.
2026-10-23
7 min read
- 10
POTS and Cold Hands and Feet: Why You're Freezing When Everyone Else Is Fine
POTS and cold hands and feet aren't a coincidence. Learn why your fingers go icy and blue while the rest of you sweats — and what actually warms them back up.
2026-10-22
7 min read
- 11
How to Explain POTS to Family and Friends So They Finally Understand
How to explain POTS to family and friends when you look fine and feel awful: why people misread invisible illness, and the script that makes it visible.
2026-10-22
7 min read
- 12
POTS Heart Rate Spikes: Why Making the Bed Sends Your Pulse to 140
POTS heart rate spikes during daily activities aren't anxiety — they're arithmetic. The stroke volume math that turns chores into cardio, and how to pace with it.
2026-07-12
7 min read
- 13
POTS and Vision Problems: Why Your Eyes Gray Out, Blur, and Sparkle When You Stand
POTS vision problems explained: why your sight grays out, tunnels, and fills with static when you stand — and why your eyes faint before you do.
2026-07-12
7 min read
- 14
POTS and Headaches: Why Standing Up All Day Gives You Head Pressure That Eases When You Lie Down
POTS and headaches go together for a reason: your brain runs on reduced blood flow every time you stand. Here's the real mechanism — and what actually helps.
2026-07-12
6 min read
- 15
POTS and Feeling Shaky: Why Your Hands Tremble and Your Body Buzzes When You Stand
POTS shaky hands and internal tremor aren't nerves or low blood sugar alone — they're an adrenaline surge your body uses to keep you upright. Here's the mechanism and what helps.
2026-07-11
6 min read
- 16
POTS and Chest Pain: Why Your Chest Hurts Even Though Your Heart Is Fine
POTS chest pain is real, common, and rarely dangerous. Learn why a structurally normal heart can still hurt — and the mechanisms that finally make it make sense.
2026-07-11
6 min read
- 17
Why Bending Over Makes You Dizzy With POTS: The 15-Second Blood Pressure Crash
Why bending over makes you dizzy with POTS isn't weakness or deconditioning — it's a 15-second blood pressure crash called initial orthostatic hypotension. Here's what to do.
2026-07-10
7 min read
- 18
POTS and Talking: Why a Long Conversation Leaves You Dizzy, Breathless, and Wiped Out
Why talking makes POTS symptoms worse: speech quietly hijacks your breathing, drops your CO2, and narrows the vessels feeding your brain. Here's the mechanism — and what to do.
2026-07-10
7 min read
- 19
POTS and Hypermobility: Why Bendy Joints and Blood Pooling Come From the Same Tissue
POTS and hypermobility overlap far more than chance. The reason is one protein network: stretchy connective tissue means stretchy veins, and stretchy veins pool blood.
2026-07-10
8 min read
- 20
POTS Flares After a Cold or Flu: Why a Minor Illness Sets You Back for Weeks
A POTS flare after illness can last long after the virus is gone. Here's the real reason a three-day cold costs you three weeks — and how to shorten the recovery.
2026-07-09
7 min read
- 21
POTS and Air Hunger: Why You Can't Get a Full Breath Even Though Your Lungs Are Fine
POTS air hunger isn't anxiety or asthma. Learn why you can't get a satisfying breath while standing, what low blood volume does to your lungs, and how to fix it.
2026-07-09
7 min read
- 22
POTS and Feeling Full Fast: Why a Few Bites Leave You Stuffed, Nauseated, and Done
Feeling full quickly with POTS? Learn why early satiety, bloating, and nausea happen — the vagus nerve, delayed gastric emptying, and how to eat around a slow gut.
2026-07-08
6 min read
- 23
POTS and Fatigue: Why You're Exhausted Even When You Haven't Done Anything
POTS fatigue isn't laziness or deconditioning. Learn why chronic adrenaline and low blood volume drain you even at rest — and how to protect the energy you have.
2026-07-08
7 min read
- 24
Why Washing Your Hair Leaves You Dizzy and Breathless With POTS
With POTS, reaching overhead to wash or style your hair can trigger dizziness, a racing heart, and heavy arms. Here's the blood-flow reason and how to work around it.
2026-07-07
6 min read
- 25
Why Lying Down Makes POTS Symptoms Disappear Almost Instantly
Why lying down helps POTS symptoms fade in minutes: the gravity-and-blood-flow mechanism behind instant relief, when to use it, and when horizontal rest backfires.
2026-07-07
7 min read
- 26
POTS and Nausea: Why You Feel Sick to Your Stomach, Especially When You Stand
POTS and nausea go together for a reason: your gut runs on the same nervous system that misfires when you stand. Here's why your stomach turns, and what actually helps.
2026-07-07
6 min read
- 27
POTS and Sleep: Why You Wake at 3 AM With a Racing Heart
A POTS racing heart at night has a physiological cause: overnight blood volume loss and adrenaline surges. Here's why it happens and how raising your bed helps.
2026-07-06
7 min read
- 28
POTS and Caffeine: Why Coffee Helps Some People and Wrecks Others
POTS and caffeine have a complicated relationship. Here's the real reason coffee steadies some people and sends others into a racing, shaky flare.
2026-07-06
6 min read
- 29
POTS and Alcohol: Why One Drink Leaves You Dizzy, Racing, and Wrecked the Next Day
Why alcohol makes POTS worse: it dilates your blood vessels, strips your blood volume, and blunts the reflexes that keep you upright. Here's the mechanism—and how to drink more safely.
2026-07-04
6 min read
- 30
Pacing for POTS: How to Break the Boom-Bust Cycle of Good Days and Crashes
Pacing for POTS, explained: why pushing through a good day triggers a multi-day crash, and how the energy envelope and heart-rate pacing break the boom-bust cycle.
2026-07-04
7 min read
- 31
POTS and Frequent Urination: Why You're Always Running to the Bathroom
POTS frequent urination isn't in your head. Learn the fluid-shift cycle that sends pooled blood back to your kidneys, why you pee so much at night, and what it means for your symptoms.
2026-07-03
6 min read
- 32
Flying With POTS: Why Air Travel Triggers Flares and How to Land Feeling Human
Flying with POTS can start a flare before you even board. Here's how cabin altitude, dry air, and long sits strain your system — and how to plan around each one.
2026-07-02
7 min read
- 33
POTS and Your Period: Why Symptoms Flare Before and During Menstruation
POTS symptoms and the menstrual cycle are linked through hormones and blood volume. Here's why your heart races more before and during your period—and what to track.
2026-06-27
7 min read
- 34
Counterpressure Maneuvers for POTS: How to Stop the Dizziness Before You Faint
Counterpressure maneuvers for POTS — leg crossing, squatting, and muscle tensing — push pooled blood back to your heart and can stop dizziness before it tips into a faint.
2026-06-27
7 min read
- 35
Why Standing Still Is Worse Than Walking With POTS: The Muscle Pump That Keeps Blood From Pooling
Standing still in line feels worse than walking a mile with POTS. Here's the skeletal muscle pump behind why standing still triggers symptoms, and how to fight back.
2026-06-26
7 min read
- 36
POTS and Purple Feet: Why Your Legs Turn Red, Blotchy, or Mottled When You Stand
Why do your feet turn purple with POTS? The color change when you stand is blood pooling in your legs made visible. Here's the mechanism behind dependent acrocyanosis.
2026-06-26
7 min read
- 37
Compression Garments for POTS: Why the Stomach Matters More Than the Socks
Compression garments for POTS work best when they cover the abdomen, not just the calves. Here's the venous pooling science behind where the blood actually hides.
2026-06-24
7 min read
- 38
Why POTS Feels Like Anxiety: The Adrenaline Surge Behind the Racing Heart
POTS adrenaline surges can feel identical to a panic attack, even when your mind is calm. Here's the norepinephrine mechanism behind the shakiness, dread, and racing heart.
2026-06-23
7 min read
- 39
POTS and Coat Hanger Pain: Why Standing Up Makes Your Neck and Shoulders Ache
POTS coat hanger pain is the deep neck and shoulder ache that flares when you stand and eases when you lie down. Here's the blood-flow mechanism behind it.
2026-06-23
7 min read
- 40
Why POTS Symptoms Are Worse in the Morning: The Overnight Blood Volume Problem
Why are POTS symptoms worse in the morning? Overnight your blood volume quietly drops. Here's the autonomic and kidney science—and how to wake up steadier.
2026-06-22
6 min read
- 41
POTS and Heat Intolerance: Why Hot Weather and Warm Showers Make Symptoms Worse
POTS heat intolerance explained: why hot weather, warm showers, and summer flares trigger dizziness and racing heart, plus practical ways to stay cooler and upright.
2026-06-22
7 min read
- 42
POTS Brain Fog Explained: Why Standing Up Clouds Your Thinking
POTS brain fog isn't in your head the way people mean it — it's reduced cerebral blood flow when upright. Here's the mechanism and what actually helps.
2026-06-21
7 min read
- 43
Why POTS Symptoms Get Worse After Eating: Postprandial Blood Pooling Explained
Why do POTS symptoms get worse after eating? Postprandial blood pooling sends blood to your gut and away from your brain. Here's the mechanism—and what actually helps.
2026-06-20
7 min read
- 44
Recumbent Exercise for POTS: How to Start Moving Again Without Crashing
Recumbent exercise for POTS lets you rebuild fitness lying down, so your heart isn't fighting gravity. Here's how reconditioning works and how to start safely.
2026-06-17
7 min read
- 45
Salt and Water Intake for POTS: Why Hydration Alone Isn't Enough
Salt and water intake for POTS works by expanding blood volume, not just quenching thirst. Here's the physiology behind fluid loading—and why plain water fails.
2026-06-15
7 min read
- 46
How to Track POTS Symptoms at Home: The 10-Minute Stand Test That Reveals the Pattern
Learn how to track POTS symptoms at home with a simple 10-minute stand test, why orthostatic heart rate matters more than one reading, and how to spot your triggers.
2026-06-14
6 min read