Anyone Had Vasovagal Maneuver Pots Testing?

[spinner]

Sorry, i spelled the thread title wrong, not sure how to correct.I was confirmed with sweating issue at cleveland clinic. I have blood pooling in my legs. I absolutely cannot tolerate heat anymore, and any sudden exertion (including picking up something heavy) completely wastes me. When i say heat, i dont mean 90 degrees, I mean 70 degrees with the exertion of walking, i'll go into pre-syncope. The only thing that seems to help my sympathetic nervous system deal with it is klonopin, have no idea why. I am unable to work a normal job because its just too hot, i have to work in a cool environment. Most of the time i keep the house at 60. I cannot use heated humidity in my apnea cpap.

http://rarediseasesnetwork.epi.usf.edu/ARDCRC/patients/learnmore/FAQ.htm

The Valsalvagal maneuver is one of the most important clinical physiological tests for autonomic failure. It consists of blowing against a resistance for several seconds, then relaxing. The instant a person begins to blow, the sudden increase in chest and abdominal pressure forces blood out of the chest and down the arms. This increases blood pressure briefly (phase I). Soon afterwards, the amount of blood ejected by the heart with each beat (stroke volume) plummets, because the straining decreases entry of blood from the veins into the heart. Blood pressure progressively falls (phase II).

The brain senses this fall and a rapid decrease in outflow in the parasympathetic nervous system to the heart. The increase in nerve traffic leads to more release of norepinephrine, which tightens blood vessels throughout the body. When the patient relaxes at the end of the maneuver (phase III), briefly, the blood pressure falls, but then blood rushes back into the chest and within a few heartbeats, the heart ejects this blood. The blood pressure increases (phase IV) and since the blood vessels are constricted, produces an overshoot of blood pressure, outflow to blood vessels falls and in response to this increase in blood pressure the heart rate falls. The pattern of these various perturbations gives physicians important information about both sympathetic and parasympathetic function.

In patients with autonomic dysfunction, the blood vessels fail to constrict reflexively (during phase II) and so blood pressure falls progressively and does not increase toward baseline at the end of phase II. During phase IV, because of the lack of tightening of blood vessels, there is no rapid increase in blood pressure and no phase IV overshoot of pressure. Instead, the blood pressure gradually increases slowly back to the baseline value.

[Mydoggielovesme2]

Hi, this is the first time I've heard of the test. I am going to Mayo Clinic in March. Would this be something to ask for?

I will do more research about it that's for sure. Thanks

[Chaos]

This was part of the autonomic reflex screening tests that were done for me both at Cleveland Clinic and at Mayo when I was there. For me, they were part of the initial work-up they did.

[Katybug]

Yes. I had it done by my POTS neuro. There were a few versions of tests that measured my breathing vs. HR and BP.

[kalamazoo]

Gosh this post hit home. I have the blood pooling also in my arms as well, I also get it severalt bad in my hands. It's also worse at night too. I will have to bring this up tk my doctor. I live in alaska as I had to move vecause of heat intolerance. Over 70 and I feel pretty miserable.

[sisblostg]

I had it done at the Mayo. It was one of the unamed tests one my schedule..it just said autonmic lab...and most tests that werent labeled were not fun. The lady who did my test was professional but not warm and fuzzy. I was already tired and not well hydrated (since I had to fast for certain tests and had limited time). The test was quick(less then 10 minutes total) but I remember it was hard to blow that long. When I complained the lady pushed me to finish. My test turned out normal thogh I felt like I had run a marthon doing it.