If you’ve ever stood up too quickly and felt dizzy, your body likely made a quick adjustment to keep blood flowing properly to your brain. But for people living with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) or dysautonomia, that adjustment doesn’t happen as smoothly — and daily life can feel like a constant uphill climb.
POTS is a form of dysautonomia, a condition where the autonomic nervous system (ANS) — the system that regulates involuntary functions like heart rate, blood pressure, and digestion — doesn’t work as it should.
For those with POTS, standing up causes an abnormal rise in heart rate (often 30+ beats per minute) without a corresponding drop in blood pressure. That can lead to symptoms like:
While often misunderstood or misdiagnosed, POTS is very real — and for many, deeply life-altering.
POTS isn’t always a stand-alone, “why did this happen?” situation — often, it blossoms where multiple stressors meet. Functional medicine seeks to identify what lit the fuse so healing can go deeper.
Here are common contributing factors:
Many individuals report the onset of POTS following a significant illness. For example, viral infections such as COVID‑19 are strongly associated with dysautonomia, likely due to immune activation, inflammation, or vascular dysregulation. Frontiers, AAFP
When the body is forced into fight-or-flight mode repeatedly (fever, dehydration, rest interruption), it can tip the autonomic nervous system out of balance.
While vaccines are very rarely sole causes, there is evidence that immunologic stressors (including vaccinations) may be a triggering event — especially when other vulnerabilities are present. One systematic review found that new POTS diagnoses were more likely in the months following infection than vaccination, yet the possibility of a vaccine-linked onset cannot be ignored. BioMed Central, JAMA
In functional medicine we use this not to instill fear, but to highlight that any major immune event should prompt supportive rest, hydration, autonomic monitoring — whether illness, injury, or vaccine.
Physical trauma, surgery, or prolonged bed-rest can trigger POTS. These stresses may shift blood volume, autonomic tone, and vascular regulation — all key pieces in the POTS puzzle. The Dysautonomia Project
Some people may carry hidden vulnerabilities — such as connective tissue laxity (e.g., Ehlers‑Danlos Syndrome), mild autonomic dysfunction, family history of syncope, or underlying inflammation. These create a “primed” state in which a trigger (illness, stress) lights POTS. Wikipedia
In our functional-medicine framework at the Well-Rooted Health Collective, knowing what came before helps inform what comes next.
We don’t just ask “how do we slow the heart rate?” — we ask “what pulled the autonomic system off center?”
By exploring the triggers above, we build a plan that addresses root-cause contributors: immune load, blood volume, nutrient status, autonomic regulation, and lifestyle support — so you can move toward sustained wellness, not just symptom management.
Traditional medicine often focuses on managing POTS symptoms (like heart rate or blood pressure) through medications and lifestyle changes. While these tools can help, they don’t always address why the autonomic system is dysregulated in the first place.
That’s where functional medicine offers a different, deeper approach.
At the Well-Rooted Health Collective, we focus on understanding the whole person — uncovering the interconnected factors that may be contributing to POTS and dysautonomia, including:
By identifying these underlying imbalances, we can create a customized plan that supports the body’s ability to regulate itself again — from the inside out.
Our POTS and dysautonomia care plans often include:
Our POTS IV therapy at the Well-Rooted Health Collective is formulated to support hydration, blood volume, and autonomic balance.
It includes:
Many patients report improved clarity, stamina, and symptom relief following consistent IV support — especially when paired with functional nutrition and ongoing root-cause care.
💚 Our team can help determine whether the POTS IV is right for you during your consultation.
Living with POTS or dysautonomia can feel isolating — but there is hope, healing, and help available.
At the Well-Rooted Health Collective, we blend medical insight with compassionate, root-cause care to help you reclaim energy, balance, and confidence in your body again.
We take time to listen, test deeply, and create a plan that fits your life — not the other way around.
Whether you’ve been diagnosed with POTS or are just beginning to look for answers, we’re here to help.
📍 Well-Rooted Health Collective
Functional Medicine, IV Lounge, & Primary Care in Crystal Lake, IL & Functional Telehealth in Illinois (IL), Wisconsin (WI), Florida (FL)
📞 815-355-1605
🌐 mywellrooted.com
I recently moved here from out of state and have been having a very hard time finding providers in the area for my kids. After a long search, I found Well Rooted and am so happy I did. Excellent providers who truly care, who listen to the parents and child and are very knowledgeable. It is worth the drive and the cost.
They are excellent listeners. They focus on the root cause and finding actual, personalized answers for your child’s health & wellness struggles. So happy to have found them!
Fantastic personalized care you won’t find anywhere else. Staff is amazing! Providers are helpful, informative and respond quickly. So glad I found this place and I won’t take my kids anywhere else. It’s a 50 mile drive and more than worth it!
We don’t go to the Crystal Lake Well Rooted anymore since we moved going over to OakBrook. We saw Victoria was absolutely fantastic. She saw my son for the first 9 months of his life, and she not only provided phenomenal care for him, but also for myself as a newly postpartum mom. They are very respectful of your decisions as a parent at Well Rooted, and it’s nice to not feel like you’re being gaslit by medical professionals. I like how they have holistic remedies available for purchase as well. They also provided me references to lactation consultants, chiropractors, etc as well. My son is now almost 2 and thankfully very healthy. We love Well Rooted!
We love this office! Jessica was the first practitioner to tell me about sublingual therapy allergy drops for environmental allergies. I had 3 out of 4 of my kids suffer from extreme eczema. Daily itching, bleeding, open wounds. Other doctors and allergist just told me to keep putting lotion on because it was due to dry skin. Believe me when I say I lathered my kids multiple times a day and tried every natural product out there and it didn’t help! Steroid cream was the only thing that was able to calm it down but it would come right back once we stopped using it. Well, a year into the allergy drops and my kids have beautiful eczema free skin! No more tears, no more fear of swimming pools and fear of infections. All thanks to the wonderful providers at Well-Rooted Pediatrics!! They truly care and think outside the box to get to the root of the problem. I am forever grateful for them!
