The University of Toledo

10/09/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/10/2025 06:45

POTS Patient Finds World-Class Care in Toledo

POTS Patient Finds World-Class Care in Toledo

October 9, 2025 | News, UToday, Alumni, UToledo Health
By Tyrel Linkhorn


Chris Bowers had stumped specialist after specialist.

Doctors had run a litany of tests, including studies of his heart, lungs and kidneys, but had found nothing that could explain the worsening lightheadedness, fatigue and shortness of breath he was experiencing.

Dr. Blair Grubb, a cardiologist with UToledo Health, speaks with his longtime patient Chris Bowers. Grubb diagnosed Bowers with POTS 20 years and has successfully helped him manage his disease.

Bowers - just 50 years old at the time - couldn't make the 100-foot walk to his mailbox.

"You wonder about your future. Am I going to have to go on disability? I still had kids at home," he said. "It's pretty easy for your mind to go to a dark place."

A visit to Dr. Blair Grubb, a cardiologist with UToledo Health, finally provided Bowers the diagnosis that had eluded him for years. He had postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, a chronic condition in which the body is unable to maintain an adequate heart rate and blood pressure during upright posture.

It was a major relief for Bowers to know what was wrong. Better still, POTS was a treatable illness, and Grubb is one of the top experts in the field. With medication and management strategies, Bowers began feeling better within a few months.

Now, nearly 20 years after that first appointment, he rarely thinks about the illness that once had him pondering his own mortality. He walks three miles every morning, completes a daily strength training routine, keeps up his home near Defiance and earlier this summer went on a lengthy trip with his wife, crisscrossing the western half of the country to visit some of the nation's best-known national parks.

"Coming here made a huge difference in my life. I'm healthy now," Bowers said. "Dr. Grubb is so laid back, so knowledgeable. At that first appointment, he spent 40 minutes explaining things and answering our questions, reassuring me that my heart and brain were fine and telling us how we were going to treat it. I've trusted him ever since."

Bowers' story of an elusive diagnosis is a familiar one for many POTS patients.

"For a very long time, POTS was not well known. Physicians weren't familiar with it or even aware of its existence," Grubb said. "It's not difficult to pinpoint what's going on if you know what you're looking for, but it was so obscure it was often overlooked. There's a lot more awareness now, but it can still take time for patients to get diagnosed."

Just like Newton's apple or water flowing downhill, our blood is subject to gravity. When we stand up, gravity naturally pulls blood downward away from the brain. To prevent this, our brain sends a message to tighten the blood vessels in the lower half of our body, keeping our blood pressure stable. In people with POTS, that response is impaired, allowing blood to pool downward.

That can lead to feelings of fatigue, brain fog, a rapid heartbeat, anxiety, lightheadedness, shortness of breath and even a loss of consciousness. Some patients also experience pain, gastrointestinal issues and bleeding disorders.

"Like any illness, there is a spectrum with POTS. Some people have mild forms of it, while others can be completely bedridden and unable to do the simplest of activities," Grubb said. "We've gotten better at treating it. For most people, we're able to help them return to their normal lives or something close to it. Mr. Bowers is a great example of that. He's been doing really well now for a long time."

Bowers' primary symptoms were lightheadedness, shortness of breath and an uncomfortable tightness that he described feeling as though someone had firmly wrapped their arms around him from behind. There were times he nearly lost consciousness.

Frustratingly, doctor after doctor and test after test came up empty. There seemed to be no good answer.

It was an endocrinologist Bowers was seeing for nodules on his thyroid who first put the pieces together, suggesting his symptoms sounded like POTS - something he'd never heard of - and telling him he needed to go see Grubb.

With nearly 40 years of experience studying and treating the condition, Grubb is one of the world's leading voices on POTS, drawing patients from across the country.

The first time Bowers and his wife, Pam, sat across from Grubb, they knew they were finally in the right place and in good hands.

"Dr. Grubb has a way of coming in and presenting himself that makes you feel like he has all day to sit and talk with you. He's one of those people that's able to convince you that you're really important," Pam Bowers said. "We feel very blessed to be a part of this. A lot of people live in places where this kind of care is not readily available to them."

Though Bowers' symptoms were largely emblematic of POTS, he's somewhat of an atypical patient by his age and sex. More than 80% of those diagnosed with POTS are women, and symptoms typically start in their late teens or early adult years. Looking back now, he and his wife wonder if that may have played a part in his delayed diagnosis.

However, that's now two decades in the past. Today, Bowers is grateful for the care he's received, the life he's been able to live and the possibility of serving as an inspiration to others that long-term recovery is possible.

"I'm doing really well," he said. "For me and a lot of others, this is a manageable condition. You just need to get the diagnosis right and find the right doctor."

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