Nela Posted August 11, 2010 Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 Okay...I have read and read but things still aren't entirely sinking in... Can someone please help me understand? I mean, with dysautonomia there are different types right? So how does it affect so many things? Like for example: glucose. How would it cause you to have such highs and lows? Wouldn't a certain type cause either a high or low? I'm not really sure I am understanding... Isn't there a general dysfunction that can exist in the nervous system that makes everything go out of whack and produce highs and lows? Something that would explain everything? I'm trying to understand if dysautonomia can mess with everything. And if it can, why are there so many types and sub-types? I'm not sure which I would fit in... So far my heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, glucose, etc. are all being affected. How would POTS explain that? Doesn't that have more to do with hypotension? I'm all confused... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firewatcher Posted August 11, 2010 Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 Nela, all those things are governed by the autonomic nervous system. The Hypothalamus, pituitary and brainstem all control these functions. Dysautonomia is a broad, umbrella term for "we don't know what is wrong, but the controlling mechanism is out of whack!" Really, it is just a word to describe a lot of conditions. POTS can do all that......especially if the brain and those parts of it are not receiving enough oxygen. Your brain is screaming at your body to send more blood and overwhelming the other systems. I have orthostatic hypertension, but that is just as bad: instead of my BP falling and me passing out, my arteries are constricting and reducing the blood flow even more while the high BP is damaging other organs. I think that the subtypes are both overlapping and different, so there is no way to figure out which is what until there is a better understanding of all the conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nela Posted August 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 Thanks, that's how I had first understood it and that's the way it made sense to me. It's what my doctor was trying to explain as well. It's just so confusing when you read more into it and all the medical terms come in. Lol. I'm too brain fogged for much to make sense in the first place. I guess I got confused because I couldn't understand if dysautonomia could be something on its own or if it was caused by something else etc. Dysautonomia officially *****. I guess part of me was hoping such a vague thing wouldn't cause so many problems. Bleh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comfortzone Posted August 12, 2010 Report Share Posted August 12, 2010 One of the neuro docs I saw whom I did not care for got all huffy about my proclamation of supposed dysautonomia. She said, 'so what if you have it? It's just a word to use like "fever".......so you have a fever - but it's what's causing it that's important'............. To which I said....well up to 81 percent of patients with hypermobility syndrome or eDS have it - so I would assume that might be a likely cause of mine. To which she said......'fine then I don't treat it except if it's from what I'm familiar with - MS and so on." She looked at my cardiac studies and said yes you have it but I don't treat it...She gave me the creeps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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