Homeopathy for POTS: A Gentle Approach to a Complex Condition

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) is a chronic and often debilitating condition that affects the autonomic nervous system, leading to a wide range of symptoms that can interfere with daily life. For many, getting a diagnosis is a relief—but finding effective, long-term support can still feel overwhelming.

What Is POTS?

POTS is a form of dysautonomia, meaning the part of your nervous system that controls automatic bodily functions—like heart rate, blood pressure, and digestion—is not working properly.

The hallmark symptom is a rapid increase in heart rate (tachycardia) when standing up, often accompanied by:

• Lightheadedness or fainting

• Fatigue or exhaustion

• Brain fog and memory problems

• Nausea, bloating, or constipation

• Cold hands and feet

• Shakiness, anxiety, or palpitations

• Poor temperature regulation

• Headaches and visual disturbances

POTS is frequently triggered by viral illness, autoimmune conditions, hormonal changes, or chronic stress. It’s also commonly linked with mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS).

Why Consider Homeopathy for POTS?

Homeopathy offers a person-centered approach to chronic conditions like POTS. Rather than suppressing symptoms, it aims to stimulate your body’s own healing capacity by addressing:

• The root cause (post-viral, hormonal, stress-related, etc.)

• Your individual experience of the condition

• Your physical, emotional, and constitutional makeup

Because POTS varies widely from person to person, homeopathy is well-suited to its complexity.

Common Homeopathic Remedies for POTS Symptoms

Selected based on individual totality—this overview highlights key features that may apply to different POTS presentations.

🔹 Gelsemium

• Keynote: Trembling, heaviness, and weakness with slow onset of symptoms; dullness and lack of coordination

• Sensation: Heaviness of limbs, blurred vision, “drained” or sluggish feeling

• Modalities:
  – Worse from emotional excitement, anticipation, heat, or exertion
  – Better from rest, urination, and in a quiet, dark environment

🔹 Phosphorus

• Keynote: Tall, thin, sensitive individuals with dizziness, palpitations, and emotional openness; rapid fatigue

• Sensation: Burning, throbbing, fluttering, internal vibration or tingling

• Modalities:
  – Worse from noise, light, odors, fasting, lying on the left side
  – Better with cold drinks, company, and sleep

🔹 Carbo vegetabilis

• Keynote: Fainting tendency with bloating, collapse state, air hunger, coldness, and desire to be fanned

• Sensation: Suffocation, breathlessness, gas pressure, “circulation failure”

• Modalities:
  – Worse from lying down, after eating, warm rooms, exertion
  – Better from being fanned, belching, sitting upright, cold air

🔹 China officinalis (Cinchona)

• Keynote: Profound weakness and faintness after fluid or blood loss; oversensitivity to touch and noise

• Sensation: Hollow, empty, throbbing, distension

• Modalities:
  – Worse from light touch, drafts, loss of fluids (sweat, diarrhea, bleeding)
  – Better from hard pressure, warmth, eating

🔹 Lycopodium

• Keynote: Digestive and cognitive complaints with low stamina; symptoms often right-sided and worse in the afternoon

• Sensation: Gurgling, fermentation, insecurity in lower body, internal trembling

• Modalities:
  – Worse from 4–8 PM, cold drinks, tight clothing, emotion
  – Better from warm drinks, uncovering, passing gas

🔹 Veratrum album

• Keynote: Sudden collapse with cold sweat, fainting, diarrhea, and palpitations; extreme orthostatic sensitivity

• Sensation: Coldness, cramping, gushing discharges, sinking feeling

• Modalities:
  – Worse from standing, exertion, cold, fright
  – Better from warmth, lying down, stimulants like hot drinks

🔹 Naja tripudians

• Keynote: Cardiac weakness with palpitations, choking sensation, and strong emotional sensitivity (especially to responsibility and guilt); often indicated after grief or emotional strain. Useful in POTS when there's heart-centered anxiety, missed beats, fear of heart stopping, or grief-related onset.

• Sensation: Constriction (especially in the heart or throat), weight in the chest, fluttering; sensation as if the heart would stop if not willed to keep beating

• Modalities:
  – Worse from lying on the left side, emotional stress, pressure in the chest
  – Better with fresh air, open conversation, distraction

🔹 Baryta muriatica

• Keynote: Vascular degeneration, especially in older adults or those with premature aging signs; includes low blood pressure, dizziness, and sluggish circulation. POTS with vascular insufficiency, memory fog, slow reactivity, and diminished confidence or childlike emotional dependency.

• Sensation: Heaviness in head, throbbing in arteries, mental dullness or cloudiness

• Modalities:
  – Worse from exertion, pressure, and emotional tension
  – Better in open air and with warmth

🔹 Viscum album

• Keynote: Marked action on the vagus nerve and heart; fainting, vertigo, and slow, irregular pulse with heaviness or stiffness. Useful when parasympathetic dysregulation, bradycardia, or neuro-cardiac symptoms predominate.

• Sensation: Oppression in the chest, numbness or tingling in limbs, vertigo with nausea

• Modalities:
  – Worse from motion, exertion, lying flat
  – Better from slow movement, open air, warmth

Addressing the Root Causes

In many cases, POTS develops following an identifiable stressor—such as a viral infection (e.g., COVID, EBV), a trauma, or chronic immune imbalance. Homeopathy is uniquely suited to address these deeper layers, with tools like:

• Nosodes for post-infectious conditions

• Drainage remedies to support detox pathways (liver, lymph, nervous system)

• Emotional support remedies for anxiety, trauma, or long-standing grief

Lifestyle and Integrative Support

While homeopathy is powerful on its own, it works best when integrated into a supportive lifestyle plan. 

• Increasing fluid and salt intake (under supervision)

• Using compression garments to improve blood flow

• Engaging in gentle, recumbent exercise (like swimming or rowing)

• Addressing nutrient deficiencies (B12, magnesium, sodium, iron)

• Supporting MCAS or histamine intolerance, if present

If you’ve been struggling with the unpredictable nature of POTS, know that homeopathy offers hope—without side effects, suppression, or dependency. With the right support, many people experience steady and meaningful improvements.