"It's Not PoTS." Doesn't Mean Nothing Is Wrong.

A 2024 study of 534 ME/CFS patients found that 91% showed abnormal reductions in brain blood flow and cardiac output when upright, despite passing the tilt table test with completely normal results.

Today let’s decode something that will resonate with anyone who has been told their tilt table test was normal, their bloods were fine, their ECG was unremarkable and yet they continue to feel dramatically worse.

A 2024 study published in Healthcare by van Campen, Rowe, Verheugt and Visser, with co-authorship from Johns Hopkins University, looked directly at what happens to brain blood flow and cardiac output during tilt testing in ME/CFS and PoTS patients whose heart rate and blood pressure responses appear completely normal. What they found dismantles a core assumption in how these conditions are currently tested and diagnosed.