Living with POTS aka Dysautonomia
I can’t believe dysautonomia is so common there is an awareness month for it. I’m glad there is awareness about it because I’m asking my doctor to test me for it on my next visit.
I had never heard of dysautonomia before, just like I had never heard of diverticulitis before I had abscessed diverticulitis and wound up in the hospital for a month after having eighteen inches of my colon removed.
What is Dysautonomia?
Dr. Richard N. Fogoros describes dysautonomia as the malfunctioning of nerves that regulate involuntary functions such as heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, digestion, and sweating. It happens when the autonomic nervous system doesn’t send or receive nerve signals as it should, which can happen for any number of reasons.
One common cause of dysautonomia is diabetes! Dr. Berg says POTS (a form of dysautonomia) can be caused by a vitamin B deficiency. Both of these make sense for me because I have type 2 diabetes and have been a vegetarian since having that diverticulitis surgery over a decade ago. (Vegetarians and vegans are more likely to have a B12 deficiency because meat is the main dietary source of this vitamin.)
