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By Dr. Nicholas DePace and Dr. Michael Goldis
Symptoms of Dysautonomia include fainting. drop in blood pressure with getting up, blood pressures that occur without a known cause, flushing of the face, lack of sweating or sweating too much, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, difficulty swallowing, swelling of the belly, disturbances of urination, difficulties with erections, episodes of stopping breathing and the declining ability to see at night. Quite a lot!
Before the person actually faints, they may experience loss of strength in the muscles that keep us upright, weakness, a generalized feeling of not being well, nausea, headache, sweating, a pale complexion, difficulty seeing and a sense that they are about to lose consciousness.
Usually low blood pressure and slow heart beat accompany these symptoms. These signs and symptoms can be caused by emotional stress, drops in blood pressure when getting up, vigorous exercise in a hot environment, blockage of blood returning to the heart, sudden onset of pain or its anticipation, and loss of fluids.
There can be a variety of other circumstances involved with these feelings faint one gets before they faint due to dysautonomia.
When a person does faint, they usually limp. Some muscle movement may occur and they may experience fainting and sometimes lose bowel control which can appear like seizure. what is different is that recovery is rapid once the person is lying flat. After the fainting event, headache, nausea and fatigue. usually persist.
Reference – Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment, Dysautonomia 2021 page 101