Ask Dr. Nick
On today’s episode, Dr. Nick talks about the autonomic nervous system, dysautonomia, and its causes and risk factors. Dysautonomia is a wide term to describe many disorders and diagnoses related to dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS governs many automatic processes in the body like controlling heart rate, blood pressure, and digestion. For this reason, its dysfunction can cause many possible symptoms like headaches, fatigue, lightheadedness, nausea, and anxiety. The most common and popular disease is Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) that causes one’s heart rate to rise greatly from laying down to standing. Causes of dysautonomia can be concussions, viral infections, or other chronic infections leading to physiological stress. Then, there are other risk factors that are commonly associated with dysautonomia. Check out the video for more in depth information on dysautonomia!
- Dysautonomia International. What is Dysautonomia? Updated 2019. Accessed April 11, 2023. http://www.dysautonomiainternational.org/page.php?ID=34
- Zadourian A, Doherty TA, Swiatkiewicz I, Taub PR. Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome: Prevalence, Pathophysiology, and Management. Drugs. 2018;78(10):983-994.
