sue1234 Posted August 6, 2009 Report Share Posted August 6, 2009 I was re-reading some of the older posts. I was on another forum for dysautonomia(POTS) and there was a discussion there also about high insulin levels. The new thing I would like to add is that I read somewhere(didn't write it down, but some medical article) the other day that insulin causes vasodilation, so was wondering if that could cause the pooling, initially, then the body senses the hypovolemia, then the catecholamines kick in. Can we get some feedback, stories, or any thoughts on this subject? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjt22 Posted August 6, 2009 Report Share Posted August 6, 2009 Darn. I used to have a host of articles saved that sort of put a few of these pieces together. Here's one...it's speaking of inappropriate sympathetic activation in regards to hypertension, but it's interesting:http://hyper.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/41/6/1223 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjt22 Posted August 6, 2009 Report Share Posted August 6, 2009 Bear with me...I'm trying to hunt some pieces down...http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/26/11/3035.abstracthttp://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pi...939475305001511 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayjay Posted August 6, 2009 Report Share Posted August 6, 2009 I don't know if this is of interest... but I struggle with Low blood sugar. Does that mean your insulin is high or low? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted August 6, 2009 Report Share Posted August 6, 2009 Cortisol is essential to vascular response and low-cortisol means high-insulin and low-sugars... also low energy, orthostatic hypotension, postural tachycardia, etc. But one is supposed to be screened for Addisons to end up with diagnosis of POTS, so at least by conventional measure & understanding, cortisol is off the hook in POTS theories (but happens to be an exact match for my personal set of symptoms and can be accounted for by mild pituitary/hypothalmus damage). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futurehope Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 Cortisol is essential to vascular response and low-cortisol means high-insulin and low-sugars... also low energy, orthostatic hypotension, postural tachycardia, etc. But one is supposed to be screened for Addisons to end up with diagnosis of POTS, so at least by conventional measure & understanding, cortisol is off the hook in POTS theories (but happens to be an exact match for my personal set of symptoms and can be accounted for by mild pituitary/hypothalmus damage).Erik,I'm looking into my cortisol numbers now to see if I need a boost. I took the salivary cortisol test at 8 AM, 4 PM and 11 PM and am eagerly looking forward to see if my numbers are the reason for the weak, dead feeling and the low systolic reading that I have.Hopefully, I'll find out Monday. Before doing the above test, I first got my thyroid into the proper range (with my endocrinologist's help, of course).P.S. How did you get pituitary-hypothalmus damage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 I'm looking into my cortisol numbers now to see if I need a boost. I took the salivary cortisol test at 8 AM, 4 PM and 11 PM and am eagerly looking forward to see if my numbers are the reason for the weak, dead feeling and the low systolic reading that I have.Hopefully, I'll find out Monday. Before doing the above test, I first got my thyroid into the proper range (with my endocrinologist's help, of course).P.S. How did you get pituitary-hypothalmus damage?Not confirmed, but if I have the damage, it was from head injury which preceded these symptoms by about half a year. It would be classified as hypopituitarism or panhypopituitarism (across ACTH, ADH, TSH, FSH, GH, etc.)... or be termed secondary/tertiary insufficiency of another gland (adrenals, thyroid, etc.). The odds of spontaneous failure of those things is next to nil... but once a known insult to the region has occurred, it reportedly becomes as likely as any other explanation for symptoms. I have read that it can result from head injury, infection, toxin, etc.What caught my eye is that they say multiple hormones and any extent of disfunction can be involved... making clinical and testing situation even more challenging than they are. Also, one known scenario just happens to present symptoms identical to POTS w/OH (but without overt Addison's).MRI might be in the picture eventually. Coincidentally, an old friend was awarded DOD TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) recognition not long ago, having imaged previously undetectable damage (of assistance to those suffering IED injuries and such). Quite proud of him. He's a neuro doc and if things look to be going that direction for me, I may ask him for a little favor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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