My chronic illness: a break down
Chronic illness is a complex issue, mine is no exception to the rule. Heres a break down of my chronic illnesses to give you a better understanding.
I have autonomic neuropathy which is an umbrella term stating the autonomic nervous system is not functioning correctly.
Under this umbrella term I have POTS, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.
The root cause of my POTS is mast cell activation syndrome.
I also have other chronic conditions that appeared as symptoms due to my aforementioned chronic illness.
These include Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS), and chronic migraines
Dysautonima/ autonomic neuropathy
Dysautonomia is a disorder of autonomic nervous system (ANS) function. The ANS is charge of involuntary functions—things that happen without thinking—like breathing.
Dysautonomia usually involves failure of the ANS. The disorder can include many different health conditions caused by problems with the ANS. Dysautonomia can involve failure of parts of the ANS as well as too much activity.
Abnormally fast or slow heart rate
Anxiety
Excessive sweating or not being able to sweat
Fatigue
Feeling short of breath (especially when you exercise)
Feeling thirsty all the time
Having trouble swallowing
Headaches
Insomnia
Nausea and diarrhea
Vision problems (blurred vision, vision loss, tunnel vision)
Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)
Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is a condition that causes your heart to beat faster than normal when you transition from sitting or lying down to standing up. Normally, your body’s autonomic nervous system balances your heart rate and blood pressure to keep your blood flowing at a healthy pace, no matter what position your body is in.
If you have POTS, your body can’t coordinate the balancing act of blood vessel constriction (squeezing) and heart rate response. This means that your body can’t keep your blood pressure steady and stable. This causes a variety of symptoms.
dizziness or light-headedness
fainting or almost fainting
noticeable heartbeats (heart palpitations)
chest pain
shortness of breath
shaking and sweating
problems with your stomach or digestion, such as feeling sick, being sick, diarrhoea, constipation, bloating and tummy pain
headaches and problems with your sight, such as blurred vision or tunnel vision
your hands and feet looking purple – this may be more difficult to see if you have brown or black skin
weakness and extreme tiredness (fatigue), not being able to do much exercise, and sleeping badly
problems with thinking, memory and concentration (brain fog)
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)
MCAS is a condition in which the patient experiences repeated episodes of the symptoms of anaphylaxis.
High levels of mast cells are released during those episodes. The episodes are called “idiopathic” which means that the mechanism is unknown - that is, not caused by allergic antibody or secondary to other known conditions that activate normal mast cells.
Symptoms
• Heart related symptoms: rapid pulse (tachycardia), low blood pressure (hypotension) and passing out (syncope).
• Skin related symptoms: itching (pruritus), hives (urticaria), swelling (angioedema) and skin turning red (flushing).
• Lung related symptoms: wheezing, shortness of breath and harsh noise when breathing (stridor) that occurs with throat swelling.
• Gastrointestinal tract symptoms: diarrhea, nausea with vomiting and crampy abdominal pain.
chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a serious, long-term illness that affects many body systems. People with ME/CFS are often not able to do their usual activities. At times, ME/CFS may confine them to bed. People with ME/CFS have severe fatigue and sleep problems. ME/CFS may get worse after people with the illness try to do as much as they want or need to do. This symptom is called post-exertional malaise (PEM).
Other symptoms can include problems with thinking and concentrating, pain, and dizziness.
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Hypermobile hEDS
Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) are a group of rare inherited conditions that affect connective tissue. Connective tissues provide support in skin, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, internal organs and bones.There are 13 types of EDS, most of which are rare. Hypermobile EDS (hEDS) is the most common type.
symptoms of hEDS
loose, unstable joints that dislocate easily
joint pain and clicking joints
extreme tiredness (fatigue)
skin that bruises easily
digestive problems, such as heartburn and constipation
Chronic migraine is defined as having headache on at least 15 days per month, with eight of these having migraine symptoms, for at least three months.
My personal migraines are aural and vestibular which means i will get visual disturbances and or vertigo from my migraines.
If you want to find out more about any of these conditions click the links attached to the underlined headers above in the coordinating sections.
