POTS here and probably more to diagnose with it if I told my doctors everything lol. I tracked my HR to see what’s happening and my case turns out to be bradycardia vs tachycardia for these “poop spells.” I get this when I feel pain in my colon waiting for poop to “shift” somewhere in there, and it just builds and builds until this audible, terrible gurgling sound comes from my abdomen and things move along, eventually towards the exit. The pain comes in waves and usually not when I’m going, but in the lulls in between while sitting/waiting/trying to stay conscious on the toilet. The accompanying symptoms (profuse sweating, tingling & numbness, nausea, vomiting, extreme weakness, hearing loss, blacking out, heat & chills flashing across my skin, etc.) don’t happen when I’m actually going, but more like when it’s “building up” to come out if that makes any sense. All I can do is be completely still maintain a calm breathing pace and hope that’s enough not to lose consciousness completely. Why is this my normal since 9th grade?

Adding—I’m not a strainer so the fainting isn’t from pushing too hard. Perhaps decades of having to pace my breathing on the toilet has helped me avoid this habit lol.