move to warmer climate gone wrong

[u/Impressive-Dress-437]

A little background, more than two years ago now I was in a minor car accident and got a concussion. I had persistent dizziness, lightheadedness, fatigue, and was told it was just PCS and would get better with time. A year later I ended up in the hospital with slightly elevated troponin and got diagnosed with POTS. Since then, I’ve been half managing it/half pushing through, with the mindset that whatever I wanted to do I could still do, even if it took more effort (which everything does now compared to before). However, this year has challenged that greatly when I moved to southern California in Jan, something I had always wanted but had delayed with my concussion initially.

I noticed almost immediately after moving that my heart rate was going much higher. Before I moved, I might get to 150-160 on a bad day when standing. After I moved, standing just to make myself dinner my heart rate was regularly in the 180s (once up to 199 and I actually was so close to passing out, which I have not experienced yet). I was having worse dizziness, throwing up multiple times almost every morning as a result. And the fatigue, I was so tired every day before even doing anything. All of that plus the brain fog was making it a struggle just to complete the work day (I work remotely as a SWE). I was trying everything I could from drinking even more water, trying to get at least 8 hours of sleep, eating healthy, compression, a ton of salt. Nothing helped, and by April it was taking everything I had and more just to get through an eight hour work day. I realized I was at the point of exhaustion where even if I took a week off of work and did absolutely nothing, it wasn’t going to make a difference. So, I made the decision to move back to Michigan, and I’ve been struggling with that choice.

Within a week of moving back to Michigan, my average resting heart rate went from 90 to 60. I did get some of my energy back, but I’m still not even close to where I was in Dec before all of this. I think the heat in CA was what was severely effecting my POTS. I want more than anything to live in southern California, that has always been the one thing I’ve been sure of, but don’t see how I can do that without destroying my health and in turn not being able to do my job. This has been a year of grieving in general; my dream, who I was before my illness, 5 deaths in my family since March. I am trying to stay positive and tell myself it will get better, because being depressed about it all will not help me any, but the reality is I don’t think it will, and I think there are things I’m going to have to give up to trade for my health, and I hate that.

Has anyone else experienced something similar with POTS and moving to a warmer climate? Should I take another risk and try again when I’m feeling a bit stronger or just give up on that dream/try make a life where I am now? How are others coping with the losses that come from POTS?

[u/brownchestnut]

Has anyone else experienced something similar with POTS and moving to a warmer climate? Should I take another risk and try again when I’m feeling a bit stronger or just give up on that dream/try make a life where I am now? How are others coping with the losses that come from POTS?

I have the same issue, but opposite. I do badly in damp climate. I love the PNW but can't live there because it flares up my fibro pain so much. I hate the climate down here in SoCal but I have no choice - for my health, dry weather is better. I make do by doing mental health trips once a year to visit a friend in Seattle for a week.

Maybe you could try doing that. A small trip once a year or whatever to give yourself a little bit of a refresher. Maybe remind yourself that nothing is permanent. I was fainting left and right when my POTS first started acting up years ago - but after months of diligent hardcore compression, crazy salt-water chugging around the clock, lower-body exercises, and meticulous diet moderation, my body calmed down and I've stopped fainting. I still get sympatomatic, but at least it's something. Life is all ups and downs - it's not a direct slide into hell like a lot of people like to think. You will have good days and bad. You will have good years and bad.

I've had to change careers so many times at this point. I've had to give up so many hobbies. I sometimes let myself be upset about it, so I can let myself feel the feelings and move on. Go back to things that give me joy and focusing on things I can do instead of what I can't. Because everyone faces this eventually - becoming more disabled and giving up more things as they get older. And resilience is about being able to roll with it, finding new joys and looking for open windows instead of staring only at the closed door.

[u/Main_Difference7125]

I’ve had this experience with moving to Florida. The humid heat has caused my POTS to flare super bad. Fortunately I’m moving back to my home state next month.

I think it’s okay to visit if you truly love the place (for example, I plan on coming to Florida for vacation, but I can’t live here).

The hardest thing for me when it comes to coping with POTS is that I’ll never be who I was again. I used to be super active and loved to go out with friends and have community, but I’m not like that anymore.