Hi all, I just signed up for this forum because so many of you had good advice and thought I'd share in. My name is Ashley, and I am being tested by my cardiologist for Dysautonomia. My tilt table test is on the 9th of July, so pretty soon from now. I just wanted to share with you my symptoms, and see if anyone with similar problems has any good advice about the condition and what I should do. My symptoms are: Low blood pressure (started over a year ago, noticed it when I started working as a cashier). I began having phases of feeling tired, out of it, ' going stupid' is how I described it. I began counting change badly at work, making stupid mistakes, going really slow. At first I associated this with blood sugar, but began to realize that I wasn't getting the hunger pains that low sugar caused. I informed my mother about this, and mentioned that I seemed to also have issues when I bend over to pick things up, or when I clean out my turtle tank. She mentioned blood pressure so we started taking it, and lo and behold, it was low. At first , it was okay for the most part, in the 90s/60s, but would dip low occasionally to 75/45 or in the 80s/50s. This is when I'd noticed the 'going stupid' feeling. Over time though, my normal got lower and lower, and the dips got really really low. ( 69/37 has been the new lowest i've seen). Now, you might think this would make me go to the hospital, but for some reason, my blood pressure would bounce back up almost immediately, and just fluctuate low whenever it felt like it! I worried that if I went to get seen, they wouldn't see anything wrong with the blood pressure... so I waited. I began having upset stomachs around this time too, and did go get seen for that. No one could tell me what was wrong, and since I didn't have insurance, I got labeled as "IBS". My stomach has always been troublesome, but on the slow side, not upset stomachs. We speculated on the gallbladder, but with no insurance I couldn't get it checked... and so I waited... I became more chronically tired, short of breath, exercise intolerant. Every time I went outside, the heat made me feel like I was shriveling up and had to sit down or get back inside. I had anxiety issues, sleeping problems... I had no idea what was wrong with me. Finally the worst thing happened: I got fired. I lost my job because I went to work, my blood pressure crashed, and I made a ridiculously stupid mistake ( read someone's ID birthday wrong), and sold alcohol to a minor: something I would never EVER do. (thankfully the minor was actually an undercover sting cop... or unfortunately, can't say which) I was so horrified, I went into a depression. I was terrified of getting another job in case the same thing would happen to me again. My health got worse over all, but I didn't look sick enough I suppose to be taken too seriously. Eventually, I went to a low income clinic where I talked to a doctor about my problem. She tried to speculate about anxiety and depression, but when I continually re-enforced that I had low blood pressure and my heart went too fast sometimes, or even too slow, she decided that a cardiologist was needed. I am uninsured, so she applied to a charity program here in my area. I amazingly got accepted! My cardiologist is named Dr. Cox, and she is a sweet woman who actually listened to me. I told her about my blood pressure being low, and also explained that I get so nervous at doctor's offices that my bp runs a bit high there. She understood. She told me my symptoms sound exactly like Dysautonomia! She listened to my heart, and said that she could sense the pulse changes just from going from sitting to laying down. She scheduled me for a sonogram to rule out physical heart problems, and a tilt table test after that to check for Dysautonomia. I have the Sonogram on the 3rd, and the Tilt table test on the 9th. I am looking forward to them, because I am so desperately tired of feeling this way. I want to work again, to enjoy exercise again. I don't want losing out on a little sleep to jack my heartbeat up to 129, or not be able to work in the yard because of the heat! So I have read up on the symptoms and treatment options for Dysautonomia, and I wanted to ask you all about a few things: 1) Is it possible for the Dysautonomia to be causing the dark circles under my eyes? I look like a zombie, they are always so bruised (even when i get enough sleep) 2) How well has anyone done with conservative non pharmological approaches such as compression socks and /or upping salt and fluid intake? I drink tons of water, but I don't think I'm getting enough salt to fix this blood pressure, even though I've tried adding it in my diet. 3) Wht options are there for people whose digestive system is affected by this syndrome? I can't take laxatives b/c of the random upsets, but can't take stuff to stop me up b/c I am chronically slow also! ARGH I just need something to keep things moving steadily 4) Are there any causes of the Dysautonomia stuff I described that I should be looking into? I have heard that adrenal problems could be something, as well as Norepinephrine issues? Should I suggest that to my doctor? 5) Would it be better to switch to a Neurologist? OR stay with my cardiologist? I'm not sure how much she knows about this condition! I live in Florida, and can't seem to find any specialists on POTS or Dysautonomia in my area Any other random advice would be helpful. I am just so glad I found you guys/gals, because I thought I was going crazy with all of these weird problems that no doctor seemed to be able to catch on blood tests or anything! Also, I will write to let you all know how my Tilt table test goes!