Diet is an essential part of POTS treatment.
Patients suffering from POTS experience relief from its symptoms by following certain diet recommendations. Some of these include:
Increase fluid intake
This is the most common dietary recommendation for POTS patients.
There’s sufficient evidence that shows how increasing water intake helps in improving the standing blood pressure and heart rate.
If you’re curious if the fluid intake has just to be water, the answer is no.
It can also be in the form of other liquids like soups.
Increase sodium intake
Very symptomatic POTS patients are recommended to increase their sodium intake by 5-10g/day (some patients are advised to increase it by 4g/day).
Aside from adding table salt in the food, sodium intake can also be increased by eating foods that are high in salt (e.g. bacon, anchovies, miso, mustard, olives).
If salt can’t be added sufficiently in the diet, the use of salt tablets is another option.
Increasing salt intake must only be done thoug with the doctor’s recommendation. Increasing sodium intake without the doctor’s knowledge can be dangerous especially if you have a heart or kidney disease.
More tips for eating and cooking:
Eat small meals.
Make sure to have a well-balanced diet.
Avoid caffeinated and highly-processed food and drinks.
These food products tend to worsen the symptoms of POTS.
These are just some of the POTS syndrome diet recommendations. If followed religiously, it can make a difference in the management of your POTS symptoms.
Image: jenny downing via Flickr