Ever heard of POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome)? According to POTS UK, it's estimated to affect around 0.2% of the population, but if this is you, you'll know how profoundly it can affect your health. With symptoms like dizziness, palpitations, brain fog, crippling headaches, and fatigue becoming part of daily life. Frustratingly, POTS can also often take a long time to be diagnosed and is frequently overlooked, with the average diagnosis taking around 7 years. But the good news is, whether you've been diagnosed or you suspect you might have POTS, there are some supplements for POTS that could be your secret ally.
While we're not suggesting that supplements can cure POTS, they can play a valuable supportive role in managing your symptoms by helping to address some of the underlying imbalances often associated with the condition. If you're wondering, “What’s the best way to supplement if you have it?”, taking the right vitamins for POTS alongside lifestyle changes – such as increasing salt and fluid intake, wearing compression socks or stockings to reduce blood pooling in the legs, and engaging in regular, gentle exercise – could make a significant difference in how you feel.
What exactly is POTS, and are there any specific supplements for POTS?
When you have POTS, your autonomic nervous system doesn’t regulate blood flow and heart rate properly, especially when you move from lying down to standing up. Blood pools in the lower part of the body when you stand, reducing the amount that returns to your heart and brain. Your body tries to compensate by speeding up your heart rate, but it often doesn’t fully correct the issue. This could leave you feeling dizzy. Many people experience palpitations, feel fatigued, and struggle with brain fog, shakiness, and nausea.
Things like dehydration, heat, illness, or prolonged standing can trigger POTS. It’s often associated with other conditions like Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (To find out more about this, read our blog on EDS and supplements that could help here), autoimmune disorders, or long COVID. Thankfully, POTS isn't life-threatening, but the debilitating symptoms it triggers can have a negative effect on day-to-day life.
Unfortunately, there is no cure that can fix this issue with your autonomic nervous system, but there are supplements for POTS that could mitigate some of the issues associated with the condition. Such as electrolyte imbalances, nervous system dysregulation, and chronic fatigue. Here's what might help:
Our top 6 essential supplements for POTS:
1. Sodium + Potassium
Low blood volume is one of the main triggers of POTS symptoms. Adding sodium and potassium to your supplements for POTS regimen can help alleviate this, because sodium helps the body retain water, which increases blood volume and improves circulation, making it easier for the heart to pump blood to the brain when standing. Meanwhile, potassium works alongside sodium to regulate muscle contractions, including your heartbeat, and helps maintain stable blood pressure.
Together, these electrolytes support the autonomic nervous system and reduce symptoms like dizziness, rapid heart rate, and fatigue. Our handy Fasting Aid patch contains both sodium and potassium and is an excellent way to help balance electrolytes in your body. Pop one on before you get up in the morning, so it can get to work before you start the day.
2. Magnesium
Magnesium can be an especially helpful one of your supplements for POTS because it plays a critical role in muscle and nerve function, including the regulation of heart rhythm. If you're low on magnesium, this could also make common POTS symptoms like muscle cramps, fatigue, irritability, and an irregular heartbeat worse.
Another way Magnesium could offer a helping hand is that it supports the parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes relaxation, and counteracts the overactive 'fight or flight' response many people with POTS experience. Lots of our customers also swear by magnesium patches to help improve sleep quality and reduce anxiety, both of which can worsen POTS symptoms. Three ways magnesium might help you feel better!
Health experts recommend taking an easily absorbed form like magnesium glycinate, which you'll find in our Tri Mag Complex patc, alongside theronate and malate. Using a patch to top up your magnesium also means more of the active ingredients make it into the bloodstream, because they are delivered via the skin, rather than the gut – the ideal way to get your vitamins for POTS if you’re also living with absorption problems.
3. Vitamin D – one of your must-have supplements for POTS and general good health
Vitamin D deficiency is one of our top recommendations for everyone, regardless of health status, so you should definitely add it to your supplements for POTS list. As well as supporting immune function, muscle strength, and bone health, the big D also helps with nervous system regulation, which plays a key role in how the body responds to standing, when many POTS symptoms can flare.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means it relies on proper digestion and fat absorption to be utilised by the body, something that can be impaired in people with gut issues, or malabsorption, both things lots of people with POTS experience. Perhaps why vitamin D deficiency is more common if you’ve have POTS. But a transdermal patch, like our easy-to-use Vitamin D3/K2 patch, delivers vitamin D directly through the skin, bypassing the digestive system entirely, hurrah!
4. B vitamins
If you're living with POTS, it's common to struggle with chronic fatigue, brain fog, and low blood pressure – all things that topping up your B vitamin levels might help with. Why? B vitamins, particularly B1 (thiamine), B6, B9 (folate), and B12, play key roles in energy production, nerve function, and blood cell formation.
Vitamin B12 is one of your must-have vitamins for POTS because it's especially important for nerve health and red blood cell production, which supports oxygen delivery throughout the body.
So, when choosing supplements for POTS, make sure you pick one that contains B12, B1, B6, and B9. Step forward our B12 Plus patch, which contains all these and crucially, delivers the B12 and B6 in highly bioavailable forms, methylcobalamin for B12 and methylfolate for B9. This means they can get to work even faster, helping to reduce neurological symptoms and boosting your overall energy levels.
5. Omega‑3 Fatty Acids
Another essential in your supplements for POTS arsenal is Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Omega-3s can have a beneficial effect on blood vessel function, reduce inflammation, and support brain health, all areas that can be impacted if you've got POTS. Some research also suggests omega-3s may help regulate heart rate, potentially easing symptoms like palpitations and lightheadedness.
The Omega-3 Plus patch is a super easy way to top up your levels each day. Simply pop one on and away you go. Each patch contains both EPA and DHA, the fatty acids particularly associated with heart health, which you might find most beneficial. Even better, because the nutrients are delivered transdermally, there's no strong fishy-tasting pills or powders to contend with, something that can put lots of people off this great supplement.
6. Coenzyme Q10
Fed up with feeling constantly wiped out? Fatigue is one of the most common POTS symptoms and can take a toll on your quality of life. But CoQ10 might help, and is well worth trying as one of your supplements for POTS.
CoQ10 helps cells produce ATP, the body’s main energy source, and many of our customers tell us that it reduces fatigue and improves brain fog, both common complaints if you've got POTS. Research suggests it could also help support heart function and a more stable heart rate. Plus, CoQ10 is an antioxidant and could also help lower inflammation and oxidative stress in your body, which can both worsen your symptoms.
Our CoQ10 Plus patch is an effective and gentle way to try CoQ10 if you've got POTS because there are no pills to swallow. Exactly what you want if you're already feeling nauseous (another common POTS symptom), as some oral supplements can trigger tummy upsets.
