Which Symptoms Fall Into Ans Dysfunction?

[Tammy]

For most of my symptoms I see an electrophysiciologist, but alot of the symptoms I get doesn't fall into heart issues (and I know they are all connected somehow, but my EP only treats me for the irregular rhythms and BP fluctuations.) So I'd like to focus on the ANS with this natural doctor but not sure which ones fall into this. Would the times I feel extremely weak after reading a book to my daughter, and my nails turn purplish, and I feel like my heads in the clouds be considered ANS dysfunction... or does this fall into another anatomy area? Also the heat and cold intolerances... where do they fall into? Thanks for any help with understanding what symptoms are relating to which system (cardiac, endocrine, nervous system, etc.)

- Tammy

[MightyMouse]

Autonomic systems include most of your body's automatic functions, including body temperature, digestion, bowel and bladder functions, bp and heart rate regulation. I've copied and pasted the description of this from the DINET main page on POTS overview.

The autonomic nervous system is responsible for regulating a multitude of organs and functions throughout the body. Some of these functions include temperature, respiration, pupil dilation and constriction, salivation and the digestive tract. A patient experiencing ANS dysregulation may experience abnormalities in the many organs and functions the ANS regulates. For example, around one third to one half of POTS patients have digestive troubles (Fischer, 2007). The problem is that blood flow is not matching the need, so blood is not going to the right part of the intestinal system when it needs to. As a result, these people have trouble with nausea. For a smaller percentage of patients, the trouble is that there is too much blood in parts of the intestines. The body is attempting to digest food when there is no food to digest. This leads to cramping and colicky-like pains (Fischer, 2007).