Dysautonomia 101

Autonomic Nervous System Dysfunction (involuntary control)

  • Heart rate, digestion, breathing, perspiration, body temperature, involuntary muscle activation, salivation. 

  • The body has three regulatory nervous system pathways that are always “on” and monitoring the body. 

  • The body has a tendency to only want to activate one of these systems at a time.

  • Sympathetic nervous system controls heart and skeletal muscles and prepares your body to “fight or flight” (increases heart rate by activating the muscles around the heart, dilating and tightening blood vessels to get more blood to body muscles to be able to “run away from the lion” or get more blood to your brain (keep it from pooling in your feet) when you stand up 

  • Parasympathetic nervous system controls things like digestion and urination.  

  • Resulting symptoms from autonomic nervous system dysfunction (aka dysautonomia) depends on the organ system most affected by the broken feedback loop: lightheadedness with standing, palpitations, blood pressure and HR fluctuations, abnormal dilation of pupils (blurry vision), excessive fatigue/thirst/sweat, difficulty with swallowing, slow digestion, bloating, constipation, acid reflux from delayed gastric emptying, incontinence, poor temperature control, heat intolerance, variable anxiety, disturbed/non-restful sleep, allodynia

  • It’s been found that there is a correlation between the number of joints affected by hypermobility and the higher degree of autonomic dysfunction.

  • POTS vs orthostatic intolerance: POTS is defined as a rise in heart rate of greater than 30 beats per minute after 5 minutes of standing from supine. People with POTS typically don’t also have a decrease in blood pressure (some do). Drop in blood pressure with standing is called “orthostatic intolerance.”

POTS

Symptoms

  • Heart rate increases upon standing 

  • BP tends to decrease, HR increases

  • Palpitations

  • Dizziness

  • Blood pooling in legs

  • Near fainting or fainting

  • Brain fog/difficulty concentrating

Treatment suggestions

  • Rest, awareness of symptoms, pacing

  • Increase fluid/salt intake

  • Compression garments

  • Exercise beginning in supine and with legs

  • Change positions slowly

  • Manage body temperature

  • Meds to be considered: midodrine, ivabradine, fludrocortisone (check with your physician)


[Please note: Wendy4Therapy is not a medical doctor and is not licensed to provide an official medical diagnosis. Education provided here is for your information only, and it is expected that you visit a medical practitioner who is licensed to provide a diagnosis for further exploration. Wendy4Therapy can take you through the diagnostic criteria but cannot formally diagnose EDS or related conditions. Please do  not reproduce without permission. This is GENERAL and not intended to be customized for individual patients. Please follow consultation and recommendations of your healthcare provider for specifics to your condition.