MedicalNerd - A lot of people with POTS are unable to work, especially for very physical jobs. Some people find the drugs helpful, but I was told by my specialists that they are not more helpful than a placebo (which means that they DO work somewhat, but you might want to try other things rather than deal with possible side effects).
For me, it helped a lot to understand blood volume maintenance and how it was involved. My dysautonomia specialist (Lyme-literate) explained that if people are over-hydrated, then their electrolytes become diluted, so it's important to drink the right amount of water. (Your weight in pounds divided by 2, in ounces. I weigh 110lbs, so I should drink 55 ounces of water per day. If you exercise or it's a hot day, then you should drink more. In the summer, I feel best drinking about
75 ounces.)
Hydration won't mean much, though, without enough salt. Good quality sea salt or Himalayan salt (NOT iodized salt) needs to be consumed at a high rate, like around 2 teaspoons per day for most people. People who have trouble with this can take salt tablets instead, like SaltStick.
Compression stockings can be helpful for people with blood pooling int her legs, as the point of compression is to shunt blood back to the upper body. Some find these very helpful. I preferred the footless calf-only variety, but some like (or require) the waist-high footed kind.
To avoid deconditioning, try exercising in a recumbent position. Plenty of exercises and yoga poses can be done in bed or on a yoga mat. Keeping the lymph and circulation moving is important. For those of us with exertion intolerance, "exercise" is relative.
Do what you can do.
Another treatment that helped me was DNRS limbic system retraining.
Supporting your nervous system is important, since POTS is fundamentally a nervous system dysfunction (dysautonomia). People use various supplements for the nervous system, including magnesium, omega 3 fatty acids (such as DHA), lion's mane mushroom, burbur-pinella, and Jernigan Neuro-Antitox. The practice of tapping (EFT) also can be helpful, as well as mindfulness, yoga, guided visualization, embodiment, mental health therapy, and craniosacral therapy. Mind-boy medicine is fantastic for addressing issues with the nervous system because it's so easy to influence our nervous systems with our thoughts and feelings.
You can do some DIY biofeedback with a pulse oximeter as well. It's handy to have a blood pressure cuff, too.
Do you notice that your POTS is worse at certain times - stress, heat, low barometric pressure, pre-menstrual hormone dips, when you are sleep deprived, herxing, etc.?