Dysautonomia Awareness
Another awareness month that’s relevant to Complex Regional Pain Syndrome patients. Did you know October is dysautonomia awareness month?
What is dysautonomia or autonomic dysfunction and how might it be affecting you?
Dysautonomia is a general catch all term dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, responsible for regulating unconscious bodily functions like heart rate, digestion, and temperature control. The symptoms can manifest in specific disorders or involve multiple systems and vary widely between individuals. They tend to follow certain patterns and develop common symptom buckets that are recognizable among people with chronic pain disorders like HSD/EDS, CRPS etc.
The longer you live with chronic illnesses like these, the more likely co-existing aspects of nervous system are likely to develop. Dysautonomia is in part driven by not being able to regulate the back and forth between the sympathetic and parasympathetic ends of the nervous system, rather than just being stuck in the sympathetic as is commonly explained. It then keeps over-correcting and becoming too jumpy in response to that swing back and forth. It’s an exhausting process that can worsen when there’s too many inputs, allostatic load, and decrease in capacity over time.
What are some common symptom buckets of dysautonomia? It pretty much feels like being sick. Nausea, dizziness, increased heart rate, trouble regulating your body temperature, increased sweating, more fatigue etc.
Nausea is a great example of a vague symptom that is hard to find the cause of. When it’s all the time and not related to food choices though, is more of a nervous system problem than a food problem. Why does it happen? When due to lack of capacity/increasing allostatic load or stress, your body is literally trying to force stop you like a computer and slow you down.
So how do you help it function better?
Regulate your sleep wake cycle
Sure up your circadian rhythm and nap habits
Maintain hydration and nutrition targets, and increase especially with POTS
Decrease your overall stressors - physical and emotional
Regulate your nervous system and integrate diaphragmatic breathing to decrease heart rate
Get back to better pacing and integrating more pressure release valves throughout the day
Be in more optimal positions for your body that don’t trigger dizziness etc. on standing
Decrease swelling and pooling in limbs with compression
Have ways to respond to and manage body temperature fluctuations
These strategies help create capacity and settle your nervous system so the amount of symptoms coming from bubbling over your pain threshold diminish. This is what I teach in Base Camp and work on with my clients so these symptoms pile on top of chronic pain less frequently.
Do you struggle with autonomic dysfunction from dysautonomia alongside CRPS or HSD/EDS? It can be overwhelming and frustrating, especially when trying to treat weird, vague symptoms. There are some interventions and medications that can help with certain ones, but many shifts required are the above lifestyle interventions and daily habits. Reach out if you need help when it comes to movement, or join the wait-list for Base Camp where we specifically tackle these types of symptoms.
You can learn more about dysautonomia by listening to our episode of It’s Not in Your Head podcast on Managing Dysautonomia, as well as a podcast interview I was a guest on for dysautonomia month.