Can Surgery Cause All This?

[Jerry]

I have symptoms consistent with Dysautonomia. My theory is that it's some kind of vagus sensitivity or damage. My primary shares that theory. But from what?

This past spring I had a gallbladder removal and three esophageal ablations. Can that type of trauma trigger ANS damage? Have you seen that happen? Is it plausible?

Also, this all started when I went off my reflux meds (a PPI), just five days after. Can reflux cause vagus damage or sensitivity. My bradycardia, and nausea, and dizziness, all started when the reflux came back a few months after recovering from the surgeries. Any help, shared wisdom or experience would be more than welcome.

[Katybug]

It's my understanding that reflux is actually a common symptom of dysautonomia. I'm not sure if those surgeries could be a cause but I will say that it seems that, for those of us predisposed to some form of dysautonomia, just about any major stress or trauma to our bodies can cause it to express itself.

[Jerry]

thanks. I've wondered if the causation was the other way around, the neuropathy causing my reflux and GB failure but I'd also seen some stuff about surger causing dys.

[Becia]

I've had some doctors tell me I've had this stuff for years at a different level, but having my two heart ablations last year to deal with pvcs sent mine into a full blown situation.

[Chaos]

My POTS neuro at Mayo told me that surgery is frequently a trigger for dysautonomia. He said that anesthesia could be a trigger for "full blown neuropathy, including autonomic neuropathy".

Mine was triggered by a surgery in 2007 and while I was able to control symptoms with meds at that time, another surgery and post-op infection in 2009 totally blew things up for me. I think I had POTS/dysautonomia after the 2007 surgery and with the infection added in 2009 it moved into ME/CFS when it got the immune system involved as well.

I know some people do have some vagus nerve impact after gallbladder surgery though. Have you seen a physical therapist who is skilled in Barral techniques? Might be worth a try to see if you get any relief of symptoms.

Best wishes!

[Jerry]

That's interesting, Becia. I've wondered if maybe I had something already which got magnified by surgery. I've had some vagal issues throughout my life, but never anything like what happened recently. Sorry for your troubles. This stuff is no walk in the park.

[Jerry]

Barrall techniques? Never heard of it. Does it work?

It's good to learn that some people have noticed a connection between surgery and dys. I mentioned this connection to my gall bladder surgeon and he said that he'd never heard of such a connection, but I was sure that I read it somewhere.

[Chaos]

I've had improvements with Barral techniques working on the vagus nerve but unfortunately they never lasted more than about 4 days for me. I've heard of other people having more lasting results however and Dr. Rowe encourages his patients to see therapists who use this or similar manual therapy techniques to help with their symptoms. Here's a link to the Barral institute website. http://www.barralinstitute.com/

If you aren't familiar with Dr. Rowe's work, he's one of the pioneers in dysautonomia research who was one of the first to make the connection between people with hypermobility syndrome (aka Ehler's Danlos Hypermobility Type) and dysautonomia and Myalgic Encephalomyolitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). While he works with pediatric patients a lot of his work has been very helpful to adult patients as well. Here's a link to an article describing one of his most recent publications and the type of physical therapy he suggests for his patients related to this topic. http://www.cortjohnson.org/blog/2014/07/06/strained-neuromuscular-problems-causing-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-me-cfs/

Edited September 7, 2014 by Chaos

[story]

Jerry,

I think you're correct, you probably had an underlying that was exacerbated by your surgeries. I remember reading about a man who developed dysautonomia following gastric bypass surgery. So, definitely plausible. I would think any stress on the body could cause it in the right individual.

story

[corina]

For me surgery is a huge trigger. I always have bp and hr problems while having and after surgery. I had surgery on a herniated disc last year July and am still struggling with the aftermath. And another one is in sight. I'm not sure if it's the stress on the body or the type of anesthesia. I did very bad on gen. An. though pretty wel on epidurals while as since last surgery I'm doing bad on that as well. I was functioning on an acceptable (for me) level before last year's surgery. Now I'm back in my wheelchair. And I haven't found an answer yet!