Patients With Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome Have Different Experiences in Health Care in Canada and the U.S, 2021, Juliette Hall et al

Among the 5733 participants who indicated their geographic location (Canada: n = 221; US: n = 5512), the majority were female (94%) and over 18 years old (89%). Patients in Canada reported seeing more doctors for their POTS symptoms before receiving a diagnosis than did US patients (6.0 [4.0-10.0] vs 5.0 [3.0-8.0]; P < 0.001).

Diagnostic delay was significantly longer for patients in Canada than for those in the US (2.2 [0.8-6.6] years vs 1.3 [0.3-5.3] years; P < 0.001) (Figure 1). Canadians were more likely to report suggesting POTS to their doctor before their doctor suggested it (43% vs 34%; P = 0.01). Even after diagnosis, a greater proportion of Canadian patients had a doctor tell them they had never heard of POTS (78.1% vs 67.3%; P < 0.001).

Canadians reported higher rates of symptoms like blurred vision (83% vs 75%; P = 0.007), tremulousness (84.9% vs 76.3%; P = 0.006), and tachycardia (99.5% vs 96.7%; P = 0.035) than Americans.

https://www.onlinecjc.ca/article/S0828-282X(21)00416-5/fulltext

 

Exactly my experience, and it's been 12 years ! When the cardiologist diagnosed me with POTS, my doctor spontaneously said, a little off guard, "I've never treated that !" and yet he had a detailed procedure to follow written in the cardiologist's report as to what treatments to try.

 

I tried to explain my symptoms of OI to my GP without actually saying OI because I knew she wouldn't know what that was. Her eyes squinted and it didn't register, but she did send me to a heart clinic.