Low Toxin Lifestyle Pregnancy induced POTS- "autoimmune?"

[kamiak]

I've really been enjoying reading all of the testimonials on here, and seeing people sort through things in the spirit of this forum. Since I know there are lots of fellow problem solvers on here, I figured I'd put this out there and see what theories you all have. Mine are half-baked, mostly. But at this point anything is worth considering, so here we go....


I have had 2 pregnancies in the last 3 years. Both went quite well overall, I had zero medical interventions and delivered at home with a midwife. However, something happens that nobody can really seem to help me with. At about 20 weeks gestation both times, I began to have extremely low blood pressure. Not all day long, just in the mornings. It didn't matter when I woke up or what I did. I tried everything, from eating first thing and drinking salt water before getting up to taking large amounts of b and c vitamins, magnesium, and potassium, high protein, herbs, you name it. Anything that was supposed to support healthy blood pressure and support the adrenals, I tried, and nothing made a dent in it. I was quite literally completely incapacitated for the first half of the day. It would often be 1 or 2 o'clock before my blood pressure stabilized and I could actually function. This was extremely hard, especially the second time around because I felt the dizzy spells were more intense and lasted longer and I also had a toddler to take care of. The only label anyone could offer me was POTS, but along the lines of gestational diabetes because the odd thing was the SECOND I delivered the baby, poof, no more POTS. Also, I really didn't have the other symptoms of POTS, nor did it come and go throughout the day. Once my blood pressure stabilized after a few hours, I was good to go for the rest of the day. No more laying on my side, trying to catch my breath and not faint.

One theory I've revised several times is that this is due to a TBI I had 7 years ago. I suffered whiplash, a serious neck injury, and occular damage. I couldn't drive for several months and did PT as well as therapy to "retrain" my eyes to work together. I've had damage to my peripheral vision and visual sensitivities ever since, as well as other unpleasant things. I've long been interested in fully healing my brain and eyes, but I've been searching for how. It's occured to me that this could play a part in what appears to be an nervous system malfunction that's only symptomatic when I have expanded blood volume.

The other theory has only recently began to form since finding low vA. POTS is not technically an autoimmune disease as I understand it, and I've not seen Grant refer to it at all in his book with the others. However there seems to be enough reason to believe it's in the same genre for me to wonder-- is this just damage to the epithelial tissue of the adrenals? Or the peripheral nervous system? But then why only come out to play during pregnancy (at least, for now.) I have so many questions since finding the vA and autoimmune connection, and wonder am I on the right track but not quite hitting the mark? Or maybe I'm looking in the wrong places entirely. If you've read this far you know as much as I do now, really. This is critical to me though. If I can't get to the root of this, I don't know how many more pregnancies my body can handle, especially if my second one being much harder is any indication of how this "disease" will progress. We want to be happy with as many children as God gives us but I have a hard time accepting that we might have to put a cap on that prematurely because of some mysterious medical event. If you love a good puzzle, give me your best take. Idc if it has nothing to do with my theories, which are as I said are half-baked as it is. I'd just love some fresh eyes on this situation! We'd like to try for a third in the next year or so.

 

[pubh12]

I’m also curious how POTS ties into the low vA , as I have it as well. I strongly believe it is autoimmune

 

[Nick]

In the book "The Invisible Rainbow," Arthur Firstenberg talks about the symptoms of "irritable heart" or "soldier's heart," as the syndrome now called POTS was first called, being an effect of sensitivity to radio waves, first observed en masse among soldiers using the newly invented radio communication technology. Firstenberg believes that the most vital people, especially young people and pregnant women, are the most sensitive to electromagnetic pollution. I personally also found that supplementing progesterone made me more sensitive to EMF.

In the toxic bile theory framework, copper and iron toxicity, as well as the overall toxicity of the bile, the amount of bile getting into the blood, and the general burden on the detoxification systems of the body are some of the factors that increase electromagnetic sensitivity. Although everyone is sensitive to some degree by nature of life being an electromagnetic phenomenon, these are some of the things we can address as individuals, as well as limiting the parts of out EMF exposure that are avoidable.

 

[kamiak]

In the book "The Invisible Rainbow," Arthur Firstenberg talks about the symptoms of "irritable heart" or "soldier's heart," as the syndrome now called POTS was first called, being an effect of sensitivity to radio waves, first observed en masse among soldiers using the newly invented radio communication technology. Firstenberg believes that the most vital people, especially young people and pregnant women, are the most sensitive to electromagnetic pollution. I personally also found that supplementing progesterone made me more sensitive to EMF.

In the toxic bile theory framework, copper and iron toxicity, as well as the overall toxicity of the bile, the amount of bile getting into the blood, and the general burden on the detoxification systems of the body are some of the factors that increase electromagnetic sensitivity. Although everyone is sensitive to some degree by nature of life being an electromagnetic phenomenon, these are some of the things we can address as individuals, as well as limiting the parts of out EMF exposure that are avoidable.

This is very interesting because I supplemented progesterone with my second pregnancy to combat morning sickness. It worked, and later on helped with my insomnia too. That pregnancy was notably harder with the POTS symptoms though. I chalked it up to my body being more weary from my previous one.

My first baby also had "colic" that we now believe was at least partially due to EMF sensitivities. I was more aware of mitigating these when my second was born but still wasn't really sure what to do.

This is something I will definitely keep in mind going forward, thank you!

 

[kamiak]

I’m also curious how POTS ties into the low vA , as I have it as well. I strongly believe it is autoimmune

Sorry to hear that! My midwife has a sister with POTS, which is why she first suggested the possibility. She said that while some of my symptoms were out of the ordinary, it overall reminded her of her sister and she also strongly believes it's autoimmune.