How is POTS diagnosed?

How is POTS diagnosed? Well, POTS can be diagnosed several ways. One is a tilt table test where someone lays on it and you put them back. You look to see if they have a change in their blood pressure and the pulse based on blood pooling in their feet. The other ways are you can actually do nerve biopsies, looking for nerve damage in the nerve endings. This one's not done by most places. There's one called a pseudomotor reflex, and it's looking to see if you can make someone sweat in their hands and feet, which is another kind of dysautonomia. So there's several different ways, but the most commonly way to diagnose it is based on symptoms and a tilt table test. Sometimes practitioners can do a poor man's tilt table test called a nasaline test. That's usually what I do in my office. I can't pick up most pots with that by watching people lay down, sit, and stand. It's an unofficial, easy way that any practitioner in the country can actually look and find out if someone has pots. Not the most sensitive way to do it, but it's a really quick and easy way to get a general idea someone's symptoms may be related to dysautonomia.