Hi
I have Vasilvagus syncope, which, is autonomic dysfunction, a form of dysautonomia. I was born with mine, and i am 57 now, so, i now feel that i have a certain amount of neropathy with it, although i do recover, my illness is not considered progressive, but, It is causing in me, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, due to the low blood pressure. Low blood sugar, which, switches too a high reading, and slow dijestion, along with frequent blackout dizzy spells, i also lose weight with it, due to the stress symptoms it gives me.
Operations can cause it, due to either damage to the nervous system, or, the shock and trauma to the body, and when i had an operation a year ago, it definately triggered my symptoms rather badly, so, be careful of that one, viruses will trigger it, stress, eating large carb meals, caffinated drinks, alcohol, smoking, period time. Conditions that cause it, diabetes, problems with the immune system, which, is what i suspect is wrong with me, as, one daughter has Crohns, and the other daughter has psoriasis, both of which, can be immune related, also, there is a lot of asthma and diabetes in my family, so, i think the faulty gene in my family, is to do with the immune system.
Neuropathy is not necessarily an elderly patient thing, but it can be, if, your diabetes is poorly controlled, or, you have had diabetes a long period of time, if you are not diabetic, then, this is not your cause, try and do it, by linking illnesses in the family, you may not, share the same illnesses as one another, but, what is causing those family illnesses, is the link. Certain other rarer illnesses can cause it, as well, and drug abuse.
To help your CFS symptoms, you need to drink, at least 2 litres of water per day, and take bottled water out with you, and when you come to a standstill, move from side to side, to avoid your blood pooling, and try wearing compression socks when you go to bed, which, also helps with blood pooling, get up slowly also can help. Go to bed the same time every night, and get up at the same time every day, to avoid deconditioning with the CFS, and be liberal with salt in your food, because, the reason we can also suffer with CFS, with this illness, is because, we lose blood volume, this is what causes you to pee like a racehorse, so, if this is you, you will dehydrate, and then lose your electrolytes, so, you need to drink water to avoid this, but also take in salt, without the salt, you will not retain the fluid you have drank. When you do this, and you start to feel well, what you will find is, when you come to drink again, it wont work, as it was, or, worse, it will trigger your symptoms off, this is because you have over drunk, as this condition is all about balance, but what you cannot do, is, maintain the wellbeing feeling, as,it is all about control, balance, and learning, how far to go with things, how much rest we take, how much stress, how much we eat, etc, etc, because this illness is to do with the autonomic nervous system, so, you could say, our, own nervous system makes us ill, things in the environment can also trigger it off, we have no control over some of the things that are our triggers. Shock, and, trauma, is another, and that is why i was bad after my op, as it was the trauma and stress put on my nervous system, to make me well, the sight of blood can also do it, so, if you every find yourself, dizzy and sick after blood has been taken, then, that has triggered your dysautonomia condition, certain meds will also trigger it, i couldnt take the birth control pill.
What causing us, in part, to black out, is, because blood pools as we stand, but in our case, because of how slow our heart goes, we do not get the blood back up quickly enough to our heart, then brain, and that is why, we go dizzy when we stand, or, get up. Cut out as much carb foods as poss, and switch to decaf drinks, eat more protein, little and often is best, as if, your condition is affecting your dijestion, where you feel full as soon as you have eaten, as if food feels high up in your abdomen, then after a meal, you will need to lie flat for about 30 mins, by which time, it will have gone through, slow dijestion makes you feel full, and sick, and can cause constipation, and then IBS symptoms later on, so, eat little and often, if, you are working, then you wont be able to lie flat, but, if you are troubled with slow dijestion, then, the worst thing you could eat, is, bread, salads with protein, would be better, but, given salad is a carb, keep that down to a minimum.
It is the vagus nerve in me that is either, damaged, or, malfunctioning, and the vagus nerve is responsible that, sends the messages, to the brain, that, control our, sugar level, dijestion, and blood pressure, and whilst my illness is not progressive, or, so i have been told, it will get worse as i get older, and since i started the menopause from age 47, this is when things got much worse for me, and in the end, i had to give up my job as a result of the CFS, it took me 7 months to recover from that particular bout, which, has been the longest ever time, I am now post menopausal, and since then, my symtoms have eased somewhat, but, i am not as good as i use to be, so, im guessing this is what they meant by worse, as i get older, so, it is concerning, i mean, if we get neuropathy in certain organs, surely, they would one day stop working, and that is my concern!!
Good luck