Aaron Hartman, MDFunctional Medicine Specialist | Clinical Researcher

90% of People With POTS Are Told It’s Anxiety — Some Physicians Still Say It Doesn’t Exist #shorts

18 Aug 2026 · 2 min

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1:48

In this short video, Dr. Aaron Hartman highlights the widespread misdiagnosis of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) as anxiety, noting that up to 90% of patients are told their symptoms are “all in their head.” He explains that POTS is a nervous‑system disorder causing blood‑pressure and heart‑rate fluctuations, along with nervousness, sweating, temperature and hormonal regulation problems, sleep disturbances, panic attacks, and sometimes autoimmune or small‑fiber neuropathy components. Approximately 1 % of the population—roughly 3 million women aged 15‑30 in the U.S.—suffer from it, yet diagnosis can take years. A simple office test (a nasal/tilt test) can confirm the condition. Dr. Hartman mentions emerging therapeutic options such as low‑dose naltrexone, treatment of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), and IgG therapy. He urges viewers who have POTS to share what treatments have helped them, emphasizing the need to raise awareness and combat the gender‑biased gaslighting that often accompanies this condition.

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90% of people with this illness are told it's anxiety. There's nothing wrong with them. It's all in their head. Take your SSRI, your antidepressant anxiety medication, and you'll be fine. What can we get so wrong? What could be such a blind spot that we've overlooked for years? And actually, some physicians today, some providers today still say this doesn't exist. What am I talking about? I'm talking about POTS. POTS or Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome is a disruption in your nervous system that results in blood pressure fluctuations that can result in heart rate, nervousness, sweating. You can have temperature regulation issues, hormonal regulation issues, sleep problems, panic attacks. And actually, there's one type of which you can actually have some autoimmune issues, small fiber neuropathy, et cetera. Super common. Sometimes it can take years and years to diagnose. There's about 1% of the population has this between the ages of about 15 and 30, the most common ages of which people suffer with it. And it's commonly overlooked. And yet a simple office test, a nasoline test, can diagnose this. This is one of many examples of blind spots, things in our healthcare system that are overlooked that result in people being misdiagnosed, overlooked. And it's actually one of the things as well that lots of young women are actually gaslit with, told nothing's wrong with them, it's all in their head, and they actually have a diagnosable, treatable condition. If you're someone who's been dealing with POTS and this has happened to you, I'd love to hear below. And if there's something that's really worked really well for you that you've used that, oh my gosh, this was great, Of note, there's some interesting data on low-dose naltrexone as well as treating SIBO, which is a gut issue, and IgG to actually help with this. I'd be curious if you had something that's helped you, if you share below. This is something we need to learn more about and share because it's super common. 3 million women are suffering, people in our country are suffering with it, and we need to get the information out there. So, I'd love to hear from you. Take care. Talk to you soon.