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PotsTrack
Guide

How to prepare for a tilt-table test

Practical patient-perspective notes on what to do, eat, drink and bring in the week before a head-up tilt-table test.

Reviewed 2026-05-15 · 7 min read

The week before

  • Ask the cardiology / neurology department what they want you to stop taking, and from when. Beta-blockers, fludrocortisone, midodrine and ivabradine are commonly held for 24-48 hours; SSRIs and SNRIs usually continue.
  • Hydrate normally in the days leading up — don't suddenly ramp up or down. Same with salt.
  • Sleep on the same schedule you usually keep. A wildly different night before will skew the baseline.

The morning of

  • Most centres ask for a light breakfast at least two hours before. Check the letter.
  • Wear soft, loose clothing. The compression stockings you usually wear are usually held for the test — they want to see the response without them.
  • Avoid caffeine and nicotine on the morning of the test.

What to bring

  • Your medication list (names, doses, last-taken times).
  • A symptom log from the past few months. A clean PDF — like the one the PotsTrack app exports — saves the registrar a lot of squinting at handwriting.
  • A water bottle for after. The test usually leaves people light-headed; the day is not finished when the table comes down.
  • Someone to drive you home, or money for a taxi. You should not drive after a tilt-table test.

What actually happens on the day

You lie flat on a tilting table for 5-10 minutes while the team attaches ECG leads and a BP cuff. The table then tilts you to roughly 60-70 degrees head-up — not fully vertical — and you stay there for up to 45 minutes. Symptoms, heart rate and blood pressure are recorded continuously. If you faint or become severely symptomatic, the table is brought back down promptly.

The result is one of a few patterns: normal response, POTS pattern (sustained tachycardia), orthostatic hypotension, neurally mediated syncope, or mixed. Your specialist interprets it alongside the clinical picture.

After

You will likely feel washed out for the rest of the day — the test deliberately provokes symptoms. Hydrate, eat salty food, lie flat if you need to. Most people are back to baseline within 24 hours.