A Dramatic Departure from Traditional POTS Treatment
The Driscoll Approach™
Do you have Inflammatory POTS?
- Is your POTS a cardiovascular response to inflammation?
- Is your intracranial pressure abnormal?
- Is your POTS a neurological or neuroimmune condition?
- Is your digestion affected, and what can be done?
- Is your vagus nerve affected? Why vagus nerve stimulation won’t work (and what can be done).
- Is your brain affected?
- Do you exhibit symptoms of anxiety and depression that can occur in some neuroimmune conditions?
- Do you have undiagnosed chronic inflammatory disorders?
- Are genetics limiting your recovery? What can be done to work around those genes?
These questions and more are considered with every patient.
POTS Care is the only clinic dedicated to treating the underlying medical problems causing POTS, not just the symptoms.
This approach is a total transformation of the evaluation and treatment of POTS — something we call The Driscoll Approach™.
How Can We Do This Remotely?
Most patients don’t need to continue to see more doctors — their doctors have done a good job at ruling out certain problems. A visit with a cardiologist is a must, certainly, to be sure your POTS is not from a structural problem with the heart. But when doctors come up empty-handed, you need a team to do the brain work for you! We are that team! We will get the answers as to why you have POTS and then work with you on a plan to address the underlying problems. Every patient is different and every plan is different. At POTS Care, everything is customized. You can be certain that even remotely, we will get you the answers you need!
Two Month Comprehensive POTS Treatment Program
Our two-month intensive POTS Treatment program includes two days with us and two months of follow-up. (usually done virtually). We will lay out a complete summary for you — what is causing your POTS, what may be worsening some of the symptoms, and how we should approach treatment as you work your way through recovery. We are here to support you, answer all of your questions, and help you with every aspect of recovery. We would like to speed your journey for answers — there is no need to wait days, weeks, or even months between doctor visits to get the answers you need.
“We find that for the best POTS recovery possible, all aspects of the illness (and recovery) need to be addressed. We are here to help you with all of the pieces! Not only will we identify and treat the underlying medical problems, we will also address individual dietary needs, exercise (when is it helpful, when is it harmful, what types of exercise may be appropriate), how to return to a normal sleep pattern again, how to control surges of adrenaline (or anxiety) that can worsen symptoms, and we will hold your hand (virtually) for about three months.”
– Diana Driscoll, Optometrist
What Is Included In Your POTS Treatment Program?
Review of all of your signs and symptoms to date
We begin with a list of over 200 potential signs and symptoms!
These results immediately go into some sophisticated spreadsheets and algorithms to tell us where we need to begin to look for answers in your individual case.
“It is a rare patient who can come up with a symptom that I cannot relate to personally! In fact, at some point in my long illness, I had all but 8 of these 210 symptoms. No one was interested in looking for patterns in my case to help figure out what the underlying problem was. Even more frustrating was that my symptoms were changing almost daily! It was like chasing a moving target — and I was losing credibility with many of my doctors (“how can she have so many unrelated symptoms?!”). At POTS Care, every symptom can be a clue to your underlying cause of illness and we are here to figure it out!”
– Diana Driscoll, Optometrist
Review Of Your Brain MRI
If you have had a brain MRI (or we can order one if it is needed in your case), we will review it carefully! Although the report is good to see, we want to go through the images ourselves — looking for what others have missed. We will show you these images and discuss what they may mean for you and your recovery. With POTS, we want to consider even subtle irregularities in these images. If you have not had a brain MRI, we will prescribe one for you if it is needed.
Review Of Your Previous Medical Records
Most patients with POTS have seen an extraordinary number of doctors! Yet rarely is someone going through these records to help tie together disparate signs & symptoms. No one is looking for what is getting missed, nor are they evaluating results that may not be quite normal. We love to review these records carefully! We toss out labels that may not be correct and look at everything with fresh eyes. There are usually some important clues in those records, but someone needs to take the time to review them (and do so from a different angle). At POTS Care, we love this part of our job!
Ocular Testing
The eyes are the only place in the body that we can look directly at the blood vessels (without looking through tissue) view a nerve that is a direct extension of the brain (the optic nerve). The eyes are an excellent window to systemic illness (an eye doctor is often the first to diagnose diabetes, high blood pressure, or multiple sclerosis, for example). Blinking and tear production, for example, are controlled by the autonomic nervous system. We may request some ocular testing if we think it may be helpful in your case. Dr. Driscoll, Optometrist, found clues in the eyes of POTS patients early in her research. These clues helped her to with the next levels of her research.
“In one of our first studies, we had 30 patients with POTS and 30 age-matched normals come in for every ocular test possible! As the “blinded doctor” (I didn’t know what images were from patients and what images were from normals) I was correct in identifying the patients — solely by their ocular images — in almost 90% of the cases! Clearly, we were missing too much in routine testing and needed to be much more detail oriented when looking for answers for patients. Looking in the eyes of POTS patients was unique — I seemed to be the only doctor doing so! This is likely how I began to get answers that others had missed.
Concerning “invisible illnesses” — you cannot see what you are not looking for!”
– Diana Driscoll, Optometrist
Autonomic Testing
We do not need to do a true tilt table test in our office, but we will perform a “poor man’s tilt table test” (if possible) to check for general functionality, to see what direction your blood pressure heads when you are vertical, and to see if your oxygen saturation is affected. All of these things can provide more clues to your illness. We will also evaluate some subtle signs and symptoms that others have missed to help round out more of the full autonomic picture.
Evaluation Of Customized Blood Work
After reviewing your previous records and signs and symptoms of illness, we will create a customized blood work order. We will be digging deeply into many aspects of your health, and objective blood work can be hugely helpful in getting you the validity you need as a patient for the suffering you have endured. Fees for your blood work may be covered by your medical insurance company (not Medicare or Medicaid). Please check with your insurance company for details. If you do not have insurance or if you are coming from out of the country, please speak with our Patient Care Coordinator.
A Complete Treatment Plan
We begin working on your case as soon as you schedule! After two intensive days (virtual or in-person), we will provide you with a complete summary and treatment plan, prescriptions if needed, recommendations for supplements if needed, and guidance about diet, exercise, sleep and recovery. But we are not done yet!
Follow Up For Two Months
After we cover the comprehensive POTS Treatment Plan with you, we will continue to work closely with you to answer all of your questions, tweak things as needed, and fine-tune certain medications or supplements. Our goal is to put you back in charge of your health, and we can do so if we teach you as we go!
More Support!
In most cases of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, patients have been sick for quite a while. Normal sleep cycles are a distant memory, some are not sure what they can eat without getting sicker, and others would like to exercise again, but don’t know how or when that is in their best interest.
Even more difficult is the thought of being thrown into normal daily stress! Patients often learn to fear stress because it can make their condition worse. We want to help you through this, and give you some tools and advice concerning the process toward normalcy.
We will visit with you a couple of times a week through a series of carefully chosen audios. The audio series will continue for about three months. In these audios, we will educate you and help support you through the entire process. The audio series is great for both patients and caregivers. We also have a workbook to give to you which will help you acclimate to a more normal lifestyle and to help heal some of the wounds a serious illness such as this can cause.
“Honestly, I would love to live with every patient as they go through recovery! To be able to talk them through the day-to-day ups and downs and to counsel them through recovery would be amazing. These audios are the next best thing to me being there with you.”
– Diana Driscoll, Optometrist
Biofeedback
Many patients with POTS experience surges of anxiety and/or adrenaline that can worsen their symptoms. These surges have a medical basis but can appear as panic or anxiety to the uninformed. Because these surges can activate the sympathetic nervous system and worsen POTS, it is helpful to learn how to control them — while the medical condition is being treated. The combination of medication (or supplements) combined with effective mental management of these surges is a powerful part of our POTS Treatment Program and improves your recovery!
“We are here to help you with the underlying medical problem. Once we put that in place, biofeedback can then help you with these surges until you recover. You will love this biosensor! Unlike most biofeedback machines that only work when you are in front of the machine, this one goes with you! It became much like an old friend for me, gently nudging me when I started to tense up. One of my favorite things to do was this short biofeedback exercise where you breath slowly to turn grey dots to green. When they were green, my body was calm again. It was amazingly helpful.”
– Diana Driscoll, Optometrist
We have seen others offer biofeedback for $7,000 -$12,000! Biofeedback with a unique biosensor that goes with you is included as a part of your fee.
Let us figure out your medical condition, treat it with the lowest risk medications and supplements possible, educate you about your condition, and offer support through recovery.
This is truly a customized package for POTS recovery!
“As a patient, and a mom of affected patients, I went to dozens of doctors, hoping someone would look at my entire list of symptoms. I believed that if someone studied my entire presentation, they had a greater chance of identifying my underlying problems. Instead, I was shuffled from specialist to specialist, and no one considered my body as a whole. Most of the treatments I received were designed to treat my symptoms, not the underlying cause of my symptoms. We traveled across the U.S. for years, and I had numerous expensive and invasive tests, many which made me sicker – and yet we still had no answers. I see many others going through this expensive, frustrating journey and would like to dramatically change this scenario. At POTS Care, we will consider all of your symptoms simultaneously. We will dig deep for signs of illness that can be easily overlooked by others who are not looking at the entire picture. We will not assume your symptoms are all “in your head”, but instead, will consider often overlooked medical causes of obscure symptoms. If you have ever wished that a group of doctors would look at all of your symptoms, understand that your symptoms are not “all in your head” and believe that there is an underlying, medical cause for your illness, you have found that group at POTS Care.”
The Last Stop On Your POTS Treatment Journey
– Diana Driscoll, Optometrist
POTS RECOVERY
meet The Patient
Kerry’s Story
“They say that words can be impactful, change one’s view of things, and help you to see in a way that maybe you haven’t before. Therefore it is so important that I get this right even knowing words will never suffice. However, I am writing down my experience to not only tell you that Dr. Driscoll has literally saved my life, but that you can feel better too and you have to be your own advocate to do so sometimes. DO NOT stop believing you can get well. I promise, you can.
I saw Dr. Driscoll and her amazing team at POTS Care only a month ago after suffering terribly for 4 1/2 very long years. I believed I had POTS (I had done enough research to know it was at least a possibility), yet I had also gone the way most of us do initially – to the doctors we know and hope to trust. Unfortunately, with this condition, most of the doctors simply don’t understand that one person could actually suffer from so much and daily. Additionally, you are shuffled from one specialist to another and they often are not communicating between each other about their findings. They check their box and send you yet again… on your way.
I spent thousands and thousands of dollars to try to get well. I was put through a blood patch procedure in my spine because my doctor “thought” I had a CSF leak. No real evidence of one, he just “thought” so. I had seen every doctor in my town and doctors at UCLA and Cedars Sinai. Cardiologists, neurologists, ophthalmologists, ENT, nephrologists, GP’s, rheumatologists, and more. Not one of them was able to help me at all. I was prescribed many beta blockers and other drugs that in the end made me much worse. Hence? I even developed a fear of taking medication.
That was 4 1/2 years ago and as I mentioned, I do in fact have that condition in conjunction with Inflammatory POTS. My life was literally taken away from me as I knew it and it could have been helped and saved that day. I was terribly ill chasing about 100 symptoms daily.
I had read about Dr. Driscoll for years and there was something special about her. Something pulled me to her. A connection, understanding, warmth. I couldn’t nail it at the time but they ALL turned out to be true once I met her.
As I mentioned earlier, I had hoped my doctors would help so I waited 2 1/2 years to reach out to her. I IMPLORE you not to do that. These are days you will never get back. One day I took the leap because I couldn’t live my life the way it was anymore and knew I no longer had anything to lose. I am so blessed and grateful that I did!
Dr. Driscoll and her team work so carefully together for YOU on YOUR case and do not shuffle any tiny piece aside. They put every symptom you have ever had, examine clearly your MRI’s, CT’s, blood work, eye exams, and put it all together in a way any one of your doctors can’t and probably will never do. Not because they don’t want to or don’t care – It is because they don’t understand the entirety of the disease and how it can be helped.
I would be remiss if I did not mention Sarah. She is a huge part of my success, extraordinary at what she does, and is always there for me during this time of recovery. Together they are literally changing people’s lives and hopefully one day, having done so enough times that the knowledge of IIH and POTS has made its way to every doctor’s office in the country, possibly the world. We as the patients who are suffering so much deserve that.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart Dr. Driscoll and the team at POTS Care! You will forever be in my debt.”
Anna Mae’s Story
Hi to everyone, I wanted to let you know that I’m happy with the help I got from you… I’m keeping on improving, it is a slow recovery, but I really appreciate all you did for me.
I’m taking my medicines every day, consistently, and I know that is important. Diamox, for one, helped so much with my high pressure. I really like the audios too. They are very informative and helpful.
Thank you so much for your help and for being available if questions arise. I’m so glad we chose POTS Care for my care!
Maria’s Story
“POTS Care is a team I learned is worthy of my trust. The most important thing for me was the genuine loving and compassionate attitude flowing from everyone.
Dr. Driscoll has gone through some of the worst things as a patient herself, and thereby blesses her patients with warmth foreign to some doctors I’ve worked with. God is constantly creating beauty out of ashes by the way He uses Dr. Driscoll to reach out to her patients.
Dr. Driscoll and her team remained smiling and caring even when I thought I threw them a curve ball. They rode the waves with us! She is very knowledgeable, having been a part of all the research.
I am so thankful Dr. Driscoll understands POTS and its underlying cause in each individual case. May all the honor be to God!”
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Just Diagnosed with POTS?
Just Diagnosed with POTS?
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Options For Care
Consultation: $275
Would you like to speak with Dr. Driscoll, a former POTS patient and autonomic expert?
- 30-minute phone consultation with Diana Driscoll, OD, FAAO
- Dr.Driscoll can discuss your case and offer guidance based on her decades of personal experience.
POTS Care Package™: $775
The POTS Care Package™ offers a dramatic departure from the current approach to POTS!
The latest information and education on Inflammatory POTS and how to start feeling better today!
- 30-minute phone consultation with Dr. Driscoll
- Mobile App with 3 months of audio support and education!
- Supplements valued at over $500
- Recovery workbook/journal, biofeedback device, dietary and exercise guidance — and more
Individualized POTS Treatment:
We will locate your underlying causes of POTS and provide you with. a complete treatment plan.
After seeing thousands of Inflammatory POTS patients over the last decade, the team at POTS Care is thrilled to offer educational programs for practitioners and patients (coming soon)!
