Pain Reaction

[Mrs. Burschman]

I was wondering if this happens to anyone else:

Last year, I had an ovarian cyst rupture. It HURT. I was at work at the time, and I got really sweaty, lightheaded, and nearly passed out. My husband took me to the emergency room, and it took them four times to find any blood pressure at all.

I just had a similar thing happen this evening. I had some bad stomach cramps, and I got lightheaded, sweaty and nearly passed out.

I was just curious: Does this happen to "normal" people? Does pain cause this reaction if you don't have dysautonomia? The nurses in the emergency room didn't seem to think it was normal to find no blood pressure in someone who was otherwise fully functional.

I figure it's a good thing I don't want kids. I'd NEVER make it through childbirth conscious!

[firewatcher]

I don't know about normal people, but it happens to me too. My BP and HR goes through the roof! It was clearly demonstrated during that nasty cold pressor test at Vanderbilt! But then, that is the purpose of the test, to see your autonomic response to pain.

[Jan]

I have heard of people passing out when in a lot of pain. I would imagine it is due to low blood pressure? I would almost hope to pass out if I was in as much pain as you describe. lol

[Mrs. Burschman]

That's interesting about the cold pressor test. It sounds terrible! I didn't have that as part of my autonomic workup, but I bet I would have failed it.

[janiedelite]

During any painful event (getting an IV started, an EMG, migraine) I have a bizarre reaction where I start having uncontrollable tremors. They often start in my legs and work their way up. I never had this prior to POTS.

Oddly enough, when my mom was hospitalized for her one and only migraine last year, she had the exact same tremors (starting in the legs and went upward). She also produces high levels of adrenaline because of her carcinoid syndrome, so that's my guess as to the cause

After the painful event, I often get nausea and vomitting and worsening of orthostatic symptoms.

[sandymbme]

Any injury, migraine, cold, etc. has a terrible effect on me. Any physical stressor results in a chain reaction that at the very least causes my pots stuff to spiral out of control. I have learned the hard way to treat pain very aggressively as the consequences of trying to "tough things out" are brutal.

Sandy

[ajw4790]

Hi,

One of my worst triggers to my ANS symptoms is pain. It can make things go from my relatively normal to bottoming out it seconds.

As far as for "normal" people, I believe the same pain-ANS pathway exists, but their threshold for pain to activate ANS reaction is normally higher and the ANS reaction is normally more gradual and less severe.

[firewatcher]

Boy I had one today! I had to get a cortisone shot because of a torn rotator cuff (ah Pilates, all that exercise will improve your symptoms... ) Well, as I was walking up to check out, things got fuzzy around the edges and a wave of nausea hit. I told the nice office lady: "I'm still here, I'm just down here!" and sat down on the floor. The nurse comes rushing up to ask what was wrong and I croak "bucket!" Anyway, they finally let me leave when some of the color returned to my face. I don't know if it happens to normal people, but I felt like a complete fool.

[MelissaCrystal]

There are a lot of normal people who just faint easily to their reactions to pain---I've noticed that when I'm in pain, my pulse pressure narrows...which makes it hard to find my pulse. I'm sure the response is exaggerated in people like us, but I wonder if the same thing happens to normal people? Dunno.

[Tachy Phlegming]

I had to get inside out of heat some summers ago and broke a bone in my foot.

I immediately thought I was going to black out.

I was alone so I walked on the foot because I had to get inside and get ice.

For a long time, I kept feeling like I was going to pass out.

I contemplated calling for an ambulance (not for the foot of course) but just called my parents, kept them on the phone, and told them to call for one if I stopped talking.

Once I made it through that time, I waited hours before going to the emergency room (where my pulse was high as a kite) for my foot.

[sue1234]

I had to have a D and C two years ago(my meno body was not sloughing off my thick uterine lining!). The whole procedure lasted maybe 3 minutes. But the actual pain part was about the last 30 seconds. When she was done, she helped me sit up, she looked at me odd, and asked, "Are you o.k.?!?". In that last 30 seconds of pain, I had felt my face get burning hot, which has never happened in my life(many surgeries). So, when she said that, I just knew my face must have been bright red to go along with how burning hot it had gotten. It felt JUST like an over-the-top rush of adrenaline, and it was a very unexpected and new reaction for me.

[csnell325]

i know exactly what you are talking about... after three kids all c-sections and being a nurse... def know what you are saying .. I was always the nurse who could give shots and draw blood if i had to but could never take it and through all my pregnancies and tests and everything i still have extreme responses to pain ...blood being taken, shots, surgery, spinal block(OOWWWWW!!!!), and even extreme responses to stress where i either plumit and pass otu and flat line for a sec( turn blue appear to have tonic like seizure posturing) or complete opposite of extreme heat flush and intolerance of heat all in the same moment nausea, heart racing, chest pain, feeling like flight or fight basically and my body i guess does a toss up of which one it feels like doing at that moment

Needless to say you are by no means alone in that feeling at all!! and most dr.s and nurses have no clue about POTS or any ANs issues and look at you crazy and always have soem kind of out for your symptoms ..anything but what it actually is atleast!

[tinkerbella]

Ouch!!!!!! I can relate very well as I had an ectopic preg. that ruptured. The pain was sooooooooooooo bad that I STARTED TO PASS OUT.I WAS WORKING IN A HOSPITAL and they got me smelling salts and got me to the ER. I also had an ovarian cyst removed while in there and they thought they lost me while on the table...ALSO, needed to be transfused due to large amount of blood loss.

NEXT thing that did the same thing was adhesions from all the surgeries to repair all the damage done and I had to have more surgery to carefully remove them.

FUNNY AS I READ OLD NOTES, that anesthesia doc notes very high heart rate while under each time...

3rd time gall bladder, thought I would die and we were away at my sister's house and everyone was asleep and I had to search for Tums and take whatever for pain. I ended up in the ER a week later and surgery asap after. THE PAIN OF THE AFTER EFFECTS WERE THE WORST OF ALL......JUST BEFORE PASSING OUT I let them know one last time at the ER desk, that I was about to lose it and my total pain situation had changed....WHAT A NIGHTMARE, LITTLE did I know that my daughter was having an ultra sound of her uterus as my granddaughter was due any day, IN THE SAME HOSPITAL.

The last pain THAT I'LL SHARE, IS THE ATTACKS THATS AND DOUBLES ME OVER IN PAIN IS THE PAIN OF A DIVERTICULITIS. I HAVE LEARNED THAT PAIN ,THAT BAD PAIN IS MY BODY WARNING ME, to get medical attention ....SADLY THERE ARE AREAS OF MY BODY, that I no longer feel any pain at all, like my feet walking around on a broken foot till I find out later when I have to put my legs up....THEN, I SEE MY FOOT SWOLLEN SO HUGE, I know I have to go for a emergency medical checkup....

I'd like to put a great big band aid on all our aches and pains..... I wish that everyone is feeling better.

WE need to listen to what are bodies are telling us and stop if we are over doing. Get a doc's opinion when the pain is different or similar to a serious past pain....PAIN, IS TELLING US call the doctor when it brings us to the point of passing out...somethings wrong!

BellaMia~

[Mrs. Burschman]

OK, well maybe it's not just that I'm a weenie, then, if you all have similar reactions!