Dysautonomia, a word that confuses many. So for now on, in this blog I am going to refer to it as Dys. Dys is a disabling condition that affects 1 in 100 people. It can be underlying in most who have it and something as simple as a infection, dehydration, pregnancy or car accident can bring it out.

Most people with Dys have been suffering for 10+ years without a diagnosis. You see Dys is exactly how it sounds. A dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. Your autonomic nervous system is a part of your nervous system that regulates blood pressure, heart and breathing rates, body temperature, digestion, metabolism (thus affecting body weight), the balance of water and electrolytes (such as sodium and calcium), the production of body fluids (saliva, sweat, and tears), urination, defecation, sexual response, and other processes.

To make things a little easier to understand, it is said that the quality of life for someone with dys is similar to a person with congestive heart failure. Symptoms can be as severe and persistent as someone with Multiple Sclerosis.

Dys affects children, men, woman, and teens. Pretty much any person any age.
What happens to us you may ask?

When someone with dys does something as simple as sitting or standing. Our blood pools to our legs and can't make it up as easy to our brain or heart. Our blood pressure drops and we get tachycardia (fast heart rate) of 110bpm or more just from standing. Some of us faint or get lightheaded while other get severely dizzy and nauseated. A easy way to think of it as is if you were running in place non stop. Or you had the flu every day.

Most of us get short of breath, can't think straight, and have to spend most of the day laying down. We can use wheelchairs to help and medications such as beta blockers to help control fast heart rate.

Dys is a invisible illness, meaning we look healthy on the outside but are suffering on the inside. It is not a well known condition and is very hard to get a diagnosis. The key symptoms is fainting and tachycardia which may lead your doctor to do a tilt table test.

Other symptoms include dehydration, high/low blood pressure upon sitting or standing, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, loss of sweating, sensitivities to light, smell or sound, nausea, dizziness, short of breath, fuzzy thinking, tachycardia, fainting,sleep disorders, Sensitive to cold or hot weather..sadly the list gos on...

The symptoms are different in everyone, causing some to be bed ridden and others to still lead a normal life. It all depends on the severity. There are great sites out there doing all they can to spread the word on this horrible condition. I will list a few at the bottom of the blog.

I hope you were all able to learn a little about Dysautonomia today please pass these sites along to all your friends. Please help the cause..

Thank You,

-Liz

Also a few friends and I started a petition back in September to help spread the awareness. Please take the time to sign :)