"Dysautonoma", is one of those disorders that is similar in recognition to CFS, Fibromyalgia and adrenal fatigue, being a disorder that comes in several types, that like these others is not known about or recognized by many doctors, although it is gaining recognition. There are a very real group of disorders that are in the dysautonomia category, recognized and described in detail, on the most reputable medical sources, including the National Institutes of Health.
Dysautonomia disorders cause dysfunctioning of the involuntary nervous system at different levels of severity, also called the "autonomic nervous system". This is the part of our nervous system that regulates involuntary bodily functions such as heart rate, respiration, liver function, kidney function, adrenal function, etc…. Some of these functions you might think we control but actually we can only influence them because when you sleep for example, heart beat and breathing continues, as do these other involuntary bodily functions.
Some types of dysautonimia, are more commonly found in thyroid patients, such as the type associated with Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome (some medical sites add "dysautonomia" into the MVPS title). While the Mitral Valve Prolapse itself, is a heart murmur, caused by looseness or thickness of the mitral valve leaflets in the heart, many reputable medical sources state that people who actually have symptoms from it, have a co-morbid dysautonomia with it. They actually do not know if MVP causes dysautonomia in some patients or if the co-existence of dysautonomia with MVP is what causes more symptoms (syndrome).
Another very common form of dysautonomia, is "orthostatic hypotension’”. This one causes you to feel faint, due to a blood pressure drop upon standing from a seated or lying down position (supine positions) and it is also referred to as "neurally mediated hypotension" (NMH). This form of dysautonomia, is also found in conditions such as CFS, Fibromyalgia and conditions that affect adrenal function. They also do not know if this type dysautonomia, with broader aspects to it, is the cause of these syndromes or just part of the manifestations of them.
There is a medical test for blood pressure dysfunction with postural changes (from sitting to standing), called the "tilt-table test", which consists of taking a patient's blood pressure and heart rate readings, when sitting or lying flat, then again when at various upright positions. I have this type of dysautonomia and would be revealed clearly if I were to have this tilt-table test done. You can do a home-version of this test yourself using a blood pressure monitor, by first taking a reading while sitting, then again immediately upon standing. When I do this test at home, my BP drops a good 20 points and my heart rate increases 30 or more BPM. This is too much of a fluctuation and an overreaction by the involuntary nervous system (sympathetic branch), which would also be revealed via a tilt-table test and points to an involuntary nervous system that is struggling to regulate these bodily functions (dysregulated-autonomic "dys-autonomia").
I have had this form of dysautonomia, since my teen years but much worse since experiencing the onset of autoimmune thyroid disease. Interestingly, I was also diagnosed with a heart murmur, at age 14 or 15 and an MD and a Cardiologist, both thought it was "Wolf-Parkinson-White Syndrome" (a more serious heart murmur) but a modern-day cardiologist ruled it out and I now know they were detecting Mitral Valve Prolapse in me although much less was know about it and dysautonomia 30 years ago.
If a patient suspects they have a form of dysautonimia, they should discuss this with their doctor. The patient might then be referred to a specialist who is familiar with the group of disorders that come under this heading. These include; Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), Neurocardiogenic Syncope, Mitral Valve Prolapse Dysautonomia, Pure Autonomic Failure, Multiple System Atrophy (Shy-Drager syndrome), Autonomic Instability and other less severe types including Orthostatic Hypotension, which can manifest alone or as a feature of one of these others or syndromes that may also include it as a feature.
Dysautonomia can be a mild condition or severe and even life-threatening and so it is important that patients who suspect they have it, are diagnosed and treated.
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