Dysautonomia Awareness Month
You might be wondering how to say that big word in the heading and what it means. Dysautonomia (dis-auto-no-mia) is a broad term to describe any disorder of the autonomic nervous system. Your autonomic nervous system controls all of the things that happen in your body automatically. Falling under that category are things such as your heartbeat, your breathing, your digestion, and your perspiration (your ability to sweat). As you can imagine, a disorder occurring in this system of your body can become a major issue. There are an estimated 70 million people who have some form of dysautonomia. These disorders are known to come suddenly and unpredictably. Often, they are difficult to pinpoint as a sickness. The symptoms are less obvious, yet they can have a massive effect on your ability to work, learn, and go about your daily life.
Now that we have a better understanding of what dysautonomia is, let’s dive deeper into what symptoms of this kind of disorder can be. The following are some things to keep an eye out for:
Abnormally fast or slow heart rate
Fainting spells
Excessive sweating or inability to sweat
Fatigue
Shortness of breath (especially during exercise)
Constant feeling of thirst
Headaches
All of these symptoms can be a sign that something may not be right with your autonomic nervous system. This also is not an exhaustive list of symptoms, so it is always good to be aware of how your body feels in a general sense. Because a dysautonomia disorder affects many of your internal organs and has many ways to show itself, it may act differently from person to person. There are great general steps that you can take to prevent and/or reduce the effects of dysautonomia. Again, this is not an exhaustive list, but it is a great place to start:
Add salt to your diet to help keep from low blood pressure
Drink more water to keep your blood volume up
Wear compression clothing, especially leggings and socks
Take your time transitioning from a lying position to a sitting position as well as sitting to standing
Raise the head of your bed 6-10 inches higher than your body while you sleep
These are all ways that you can reduce the negative effects of dysautonomia and take control of your daily life.
You might have also thought to yourself, “When does someone have to worry about developing this type of disorder?” The answer is that it could develop at any time, however, it is more likely to happen as you age. It is very rare to see this disorder in children. Only about 1 in 100 teens show signs of this disorder, but as you get older it becomes more prevalent. Dysautonomia disorders often accompany another disease or a drug side effect, so it is important to be aware of all symptoms you may be experiencing. After the age of 50, this often shows itself in the form of a neurodegenerative disease. This means that the nerves in your body are beginning to slow down and not function the way that they were intended to function. It is common for older adults to experience a drop in blood pressure when standing, so as stated above, be sure to take your time transitioning to sitting upright and standing.
These disorders can be diagnosed by a doctor through orthostatic vitals tests and a tilt table test. The first of which looks at your vital signs to confirm any suspected dysautonomia. The tilt table test is done to experiment with how your body handles changes in position. There are plenty of other ways to test these to confirm as well.
For any more information feel free to visit https://thedysautonomiaproject.org/dysautonomia/