Post-Viral Dysautonomia

I was diagnosed with  Post-Viral Dysautonomia. I had no idea what this was so I did some reasearch. There are two parts to this diagnosis:

1. Post-Viral: Triggered after a virus.
2. Dysautonomia: "A disorder of the autonomic nervous system that causes disturbances in all or some autonomic functions"1

When put together it is a disorder of my autonomic nervous system that was triggered by a virus. You may be asking what is the autonomic nervous system? 

The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) controls most of the essential functions of the body that we do not consciously think about, such as heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, dilation and constriction of the pupils of the eye and temperature control. 2

That is a very brief definition of what the autonomic nervous system. To get a little bit more in depth into the ANS we see that it is split into two different systems. The first system is the Sympathetic Nervous System. It controls what is known as the "fight or flight" reactions. These reactions include pupil dilation, increased sweating, increased heart rate, and increased blood pressure.3 The second system is the Parasympathetic Nervous System. This system is referred to as the rest and digest system. The parasympathetic nervous systems job is to conserve energy. It slows the heart rate, increases intestinal and gland activity, and relaxes sphincter muscles in the gastrointestinal tract.4

When these systems are affect by Dysautonomia they do not function correctly and do not react properly to outside stimuli; temperature, stress, gravity, etc. These can result in symptoms such as light-headedness, fainting, unstable blood pressure, tachycardia, bradycardia, gastoparesis and many more. Dysautonomia effects many people around the world, but sadly doesn't have a very high awareness. To learn more go to http://www.dysautonomiainternational.org/

---

1 Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary, 2013 <http://www.merriam-webster.com/medlineplus/dysautonomia>

2 Dysautonomia International, 2012 <http://www.dysautonomiainternational.org/page.php?ID=34>
3 Science Daily: SNS, 2012 <http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/s/sympathetic_nervous_system.htm>
4 Science Daily: PNS, 2012 <http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/p/parasympathetic_nervous_system.htm>