This research from Vanderbilt Medical Center is a big deal. A cause of POTS may have been identified.
It is reeeally rare to read about scientific findings where there was 100% consistency across all test subjects. But that's what happened in this study: All 14 POTS patients, from two different clinics, tested positive for an autoantibody that interfered with vasoconstriction. Zero of the 10 control subjects had it.
The authors state that if an autoantibody is the cause of POTS, then it is an autoimmune disease, which are thought to be triggered by infections, illness, or maybe vaccinations. Only 6 of the 14 POTS patients recalled ever being ill in the previous 6 months. Two of the control subjects had been ill during that same time, but didn't produce the autoantibodies.
If POTS has an autoimmune cause, then there may be novel ways to treat it.
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