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Your autonomic nervous system is the part of your nervous
system that controls involuntary actions, such as the
beating of your heart and the widening or narrowing of your
blood vessels. When something goes wrong in this system, it
can cause serious problems, including
- Blood pressure problems
- Heart problems
- Trouble with breathing and swallowing
- Erectile dysfunction in men
Introduction to
Dysautonomia
Dysautonomias include (FMS) fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome,
syncope (blackout), panic attacks, anxiety, tachy- cardia, irritable
bowel syndrome (IBS,) & postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome
(POTS,)
A imbalance in the autonomic
nervous system called dysautonomia is seen in these patients.
The autonomic nervous system controls the “unconscious” bodily
functions, such as heart rate, digestion, and breathing patterns.
The autonomic nervous system consists of two parts: the
sympathetic
system and the parasympathetic system. The sympathetic system
can best be thought of as controlling the “fight or flight”
reactions of the body, causing fast heart rates, increased
breathing, and increased blood flow to the muscles that are
necessary when an individual is in danger or under stress.
The
parasympathetic system controls the “quiet” body
functions, for instance, the digestive system. In short, the
sympathetic system gets the body ready for action, while the
parasympathetic system gets the body ready for rest. In
normal individuals, the parasympathetic and sympathetic components
of the autonomic nervous systems are in perfect balance.
In people suffering from dysautonomia, the autonomic nervous system
loses that balance, and at various times the parasympathetic or
sympathetic systems dominate. Symptoms include frequent, vague
but disturbing aches and pains, faintness (or even actual
fainting spells), fatigue, anxiety attacks, tachycardia,
hypotension, poor exercise tolerance, gastrointestinal symptoms such
as irritable bowel syndrome, sweating, dizziness, blurred vision,
numbness and tingling, anxiety and (quite understandably),
depression.
Sufferers of dysautonomia can experience all the symptoms or just
a few of them. They can experience one cluster of symptoms at one
time, and another set of symptoms at other times. The symptoms are
often unpredictable, but they can be triggered with exertion,
standing up, or after ingesting certain foods. Since people with
dysautonomia are normal in every way, when the doctor does a
physical exam they often finds no abnormalities. Full treatment is
available at our clinic.
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