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Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)

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The world of science is bursting with rectifications and when it comes to medicine, it is scientist’s goal to prescribe what is best for the patient. A doctor cannot prescribe what is best for a patient if they do not even fully understand the disease they are facing. Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) is one of the many diseases we do not know about and it makes sense that many doctors would turn out to be treating its symptoms incorrectly. Our knowledge on medication has grown over the years in the case of POTS and we have come to learn that there are medicines we should not prescribe to the patients. These medicines happen to be any type of norepinephrine reuptake transporters (NRI) that contain atomoxetine. This type of medicine …show more content…

Raj and other researchers performed. These patients were to take both NRI, the drug that blocks the action of the norepinephrine transporter protein, with atomoxetine, cognition-enhancing medication. The patients were also prescribed a placebo, a harmless medication that serves as a physiological prescription, at a different time. They did not know what medication they were taking at what time. After the patients underwent days of their medication, Satish R. Raj and other researcher’s gathered the patient’s burden of nine symptoms – headaches, blurred vision, mental clouding, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, chest discomfort, tremulousness (shakiness), lightheadedness, and nausea (Satish R. Raj). Along with this data, the researchers also recorded the heart rate (HR) and blood pressure of each patient. All data was collected two hours after a standing study as well as two hours after a seated study. When the heart rate was recorded after the standing study, there was “a significant increase in HR” (Satish R. Raj) for the NRI with atomoxetine intake. The placebo had not caused any effect during the standing study. “Baseline seated HR was not significantly different between atomoxetine and placebo” (Satish R. Raj). The difference between the standing and seated studies did not affect the data because the researchers also collected data after four hours of the seated study and the results suggested that there was an ample increase of the HR during the NRI medication compared to the placebo. The only aspect that did not change significantly during the treatment of NRI was blood pressure and the “atomoxetine was associated with… a trend toward higher standing SBP” (Satish R. Raj). This suggests that even if there wasn’t a significant change in blood pressure if more time passed by of the treatment of NRI and if the patient contributed to a longer standing test, the patient would have much

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