Anybody here have dysautonomia/fainting or POTS?

Specific Illnesses & Conditions VM/MAV
1

I’m wondering if anyone who frequents the forum and who has issues with MAV also has a dysautonomic disfunction such as neurocardiogenic syncope (also known as vasovagal syncope or frequent or intense fainting spells) low blood pressure upon standing, heart arhythmias related to your activity levels or body position(s), or any other disorder related to the autonomic nervous system.

I have a condition (diagnosed when I was younger) that causes me to faint sometimes, and when I faint my heart rate drops DRAMATICALLY LOW–like scary low (11 BPM). Anyway, it is generally benign, and I don’t just faint for no reason–there is always a trigger (pain, trauma, injury etc).

That said, I’ve read that there is a connection between dysautonomic disorders and migraine, and I was wondering if any of you had any insight. Not holding my breath (haha I’d faint I’m sure :lol: ) just curious.

Yours,

2

I have a tendency towards fainting. I have always had it and it is triggered by blood, severe pain or extreme fear. I haven’t linked it to MAV although at the beginning when I was having panic attacks I did feel faint sometimes. When I feel faint, I don’t lose consciousness but I just turn green, feel lightheaded, very sick and weak and need to lie down to restore blood to my brain. I have never measured my blood pressure or heart rate during these episodes but would be interested to know it. It is interesting if there is a link with migraine. I know that fainting seems to be something that happens to you or not. You can’t control it at all. It’s meant to be a protection mechanism in the brain which occurs as a response to acute danger. Your blood pressure drops dramatically to reduce blood loss in the event of injury as your brain prepares itself to face imminent peril.

3

idk if it’s the same thing but I, on occasion, having fainting “spells”. We just attribute it to the MAV, so if I’m standing when an episode happens I will literally fall to the ground. I’m anemic and have dyslglycemia (my sugar is consistently very low) so it all just puts too much stress on my body.

4

Thanks for the replies. I’m thankful that my issues are as “minimal” as they are. Though they can be life altering at times, they are not life threatening and sometimes dysautonomic dysfunctions, and migraine itself can cause dramatic life changing shifts in people. Thankfully, though I have certain things I know I cannot do/tolerate–I am able to be mostly ‘normal’ where the fainting stuff is concerned.

The migraine issues, which in hindsight, I think I’ve had mild issues with in the past, has affected me pretty seriously over the past 18 months. Thankfully I have not had to quit my job, and I haven’t lost my husband or my family over it. I think I can count my blessings that I am a persistant and stubborn woman who doesn’t listen to doctors who tell her it is all in her head, or that she’s having anxiety attacks (that’s what they said the fainting was too, until a doctor actually SAW ME DO IT, couldn’t find my pulse and thought I’d died right there in front of him, all because he’d removed a mole from my thigh–scared the royal Beelzebub out of him!!! :lol: served him right as far as I was concerned). Anyway, I found a doctor who figured out that I was experiencing migraine and has helped me learn to manage them–though I’m not back to “normal” my current “normal” is getting closer.

I just wonder how much of all of this is related, and whether or not there is any research out there trying to find out. But, see, it is all fairly rare, and non-life threatening in terms of actual DEATH–so not a lot of money going into it I suppose.

On the glass half full side–20 years ago there was NOTHING out there for people like us. NOTHING. No knowledge, no internet, no forum, no research, no topamax.

I was reading another thread on here the other day, and it made me wonder something else too–it was alcohol related. Many said that alcohol tended to dull the sensations of dizziness and migraine…I wonder, how many of us have or had alcoholic parents or grandparents? My grandfather was a raging alcoholic–and my father always felt that he was self medicating due to anxiety–I wonder now–might he have also been self medicating something else???

Just the thoughts of an MAV wanderer–and wonderer…onward all.

have a good, and spin free day…