Adrenaline Rushes

[db2504]

Does anyone have anything thet do for the frequent adrenaline rushes? Also does Pots cause paranoia?

[Katybug]

I am actually struggling more severely with adrenaline these days, so I too, am interested in this topic.

I don't recall ever reading that POTS causes paranoia. But, that doesn't mean the underlying cause of someone's POTS couldn't be the culprit. For example, children with PANDAS (basically long term chronic complications from strep infections, more complicated than that but that's the basics), can experience psychological issues ad a result of the disease process. I know there are some doctors who feel there are PANDAS like syndromes in adults.

Hope you're doing ok.

Katie

[SarahA33]

hi, db! Been thinking about you and your daughter, hoping that you both are having a good summer, how is she doing?

I second Katie on not hearing about Pots causing Paranoia, we are all so different though. That said, many Pots patients do have higher Norepinephrine levels which are often associated with sympathetic overdrive - "fight or flight" responses. I have an exaggerated response with my anxiety sometimes because of this.

[looneymom]

You might want to read Dr. Carol Deans blog on Magnesium. Magneisum and vitamin C can help with these symptoms. My son has adrenaline rushes. Right now he is having more than normal because I have been lowering his Zoloft dosage every 3 weeks. When neurotransmitters get out of balance, this also seems to make this problem worse for my son. If you can find a neurologist that has an interest in this condition and is willing to run test, you might be able to get the condition under control.

[artluvr09]

I get these spells where I just get anxious and agitated for no reason and where my insides feel all jumpy and takes a while to relax. is that a adrenaline rush? Because I have no idea why i get this way and don't know why i get anxious like that.

[TWynnB]

My beta blocker (propranolol) helps greatly with my adrenaline rushes. I work in a high paced environment, and it was becoming a problem until I got on meds.

I almost get anxiety issues when the beta blockers aren't working well, but not paranoia.

[shan1212]

I got frequent adrenaline rushes before finding a better balance with my meds and exercise. Midodrine has been the biggest help in this regard, which is what tells me that it wasn't psychological in nature, though at the time when your body is sending out waves of adrenaline, it certainly feels like anxiety. I felt like a caged wild animal. I don't have any experience with paranoia, though.

Artluvr, for me an adrenaline rush actually feels like a surge of chemicals coursing through my body. Then I start getting shakey, very cold, have diarrhea, etc. It's usually the precursor to all my systems going haywire. It happens when my body is trying not to pass out. I can definitely feel the "surge." I had some last week when I was flying. I took an extra Midodrine and it settled down.

[outofadream]

Hey db2504, I'm curious what you meant by paranoia. I'm not sure if this is what you were thinking of, but very rarely, I'll get what I can only assume is a spectacularly large adrenaline rush, and everything suddenly feels dangerous and threatening. It's not that I actually believe people are going to hurt me, but it's like my brain is suddenly interpreting everything around me, every move as a threat and danger. I'll find myself jumping, shrinking back, etc when people get too close, even though I don't mean or want to. It's awful, and somewhat embarrassing when it happens.

I don't know how much truth there is in this, but someone once described the sympathetic nervous system to me as being like an alarm system. When something is wrong (whether that be too little blood getting to our brains or some danger in our environment, like an oncoming car) that alarm bell goes off, adrenaline gets kicked out, and it all produces a feeling of something being terribly wrong. I could imagine that if the POTS seriously imbalances this system and sends it into some kind of overdrive, where it's producing huge amounts of adrenaline, we might get a very strong sense of anxiety, strong enough to make us FEEL in danger or like something terrible is happening. And maybe sometimes, the adrenaline and that feeling is so strong that our brains start to see danger everywhere for a time, including sometimes making us jumpy or uneasy with people.
Certainly the way she described it, people's brains automatically react to adrenaline and the feelings of danger by looking around to find the cause, if it isn't something obvious (like an impending car). I can imagine that if our brains can't find one (because the issue is the system itself, not something in our environment), then our brains might just keep looking, seeing potential danger everywhere until they can pinpoint what's causing the alarm bells, or until the alarm dies down again.

Again, I have no idea how true any of that is (my knowledge of the nervous system in general is pretty darn shaky), or even if that's what you meant by paranoia, but if you do happen to be experiencing something like that, just wanted you to know you're not alone in it.