Symptoms of MVP and Dysautonomia
Blood pressure is still low. I dug out my book on mitral valve prolapse and started reading it again. I have talked about it before. It's called The Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome/Dysautonomia Survival Guide. Check out my post on 6/29/04 on Dysautonomia and it pretty much explains it. Looks like I should have been reading that post again myself! LOL
Here are the common symptoms of MVP and Dysautonomia (from the book mentioned above) and the ones I have:
Fatigue.....yes
Heart Palpitations.....yes
Premature Ventricular Contractions......Don't know. Had my heart checked but didn't mention it.
Tachycardia.......no, (except in a panic attack)
Headaches.....no
Irritable Bowel Syndrome.....no
Gastoesophageal Reflux Disease.....no
Chest Pain......yes, occasional twinges
Sleep Disorders......no
Dizziness....yes
Fibromyalgia......no
Premenstrual Syndrome....no
Tinnitus....yes
Secondary Symptoms:
Feeling hot or cold.....yes
Intolerance to heat and cold....yes
Sensitivity to drugs....yes
Shakiness.....yes
Swelling of arms and legs.....no
Shortness of breath......yes
Numbness in any part of the body......no
Excessive perspiration or inability to perspire......yes, the latter
Fibrocystic breast disorder.....yes
Skin trouble or rashes......yes
Trouble concentrating or memory problems.....no
Heightened sensitivity of smell or hearing.......yes, hearing
Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ).....yes
Scoliosis.....yes
Exaggerated startle reflex.....yes
Low body temperature.....no
Endometriosis......no
Other Secondary Symptoms:
Nausea, neck aches or pain, arm and leg pains(no), backaches (yes),aches or pains in hands and feet, excessive gas (no), hay fever or other allergies (yes, yes, yes!).
And then there are the psychological symptoms:
Generalized anxiety disorder and panic attacks (yes), social phobia (no), specific phobias and depression (no).
Dr. Ronald Hoffman: "People with mitral valve prolapse seem somehow to be wired differently. Their autonomic response can be much more volatile and unstable, as if set on hair-trigger, so that normal stresses and surprises set off an exaggerated response, flooding their systems with stress hormones called the catecholamines. In fact, there may not be a specific stressor—autonomic fluxes may occur unpredictably like internal weather changes. In some ways this could be defined as a catecholamine disorder. The principal catecholamines are epinephrine and adrenaline. People with mitral valve prolapse are intermittently and unpredictably awash in their own catecholamines. This leaves them alternately innervated and exhausted—"wired but tired" is a common feeling." (ConsciousChoice.com)
I have known for a long time that I had this, and I think I just stopped doing the things I should be doing to control it. I have been so caught up in the NAET and allergies lately that I lost sight of the basics. After reading more I am beginning to understand what may be causing the low blood pressure. But I'll have to write about that tomorrow.
If you are interested in how this all started and how I learned about this syndrome at Mayo Clinic you can go to my first post titled Some Background.
Posted by elizabeth | Filed under:
My daughter at age 11 had been conplaining of nausea and abdominal pain. Dr. said it would go away and put her on a med to reduce acid in her stomach. It never got better. We continue for years to take her back and a year later her pediation stated it was due to teenaged stress. I knew she was wrong. This progressed to symptoms of chest pain, and increased abdominal pain as well, with nausea. Then after two months she had an episode of vision loss. She stated "It goes completed black,". This lasted for about 20 seconds. I assisted her to the couch when she regained her vision then 20 minutes later it occured again, for about the same length of time. I called her dr. and we were instructed to take her in, she was admitted for 5 days, and everything came out normal. Except she continued to have added symptoms. Syncope & then loss of feeling in her left foot. Her upper and lower extremities became very cold. It really turned her dr.'s in circles. Her own pediatrition said it was all in her head and ordered a phsyc evaluation. They found after a few weeks of therapy that my daughter was mentaly stable and later found that she was having cardiac arythmias. By this point I had been so frustrated by what they had put her through. Dr.'s tried everything. Even spinal taps to rule out M.S. since I have a sister that was diagnosed for just over 6 yrs. Of course it was normal. She soon after saw a cariologist that diagnosed her with Dysautonomia....then she was sent for a second opinion. This next dr. agreed.
My daughter suffers from chest pain, joint pain, chronic nausea, abdominal pain, major headaches, vision loss, tinitis, palpatations, syncope... you name it. She was recently hosptalized for hypotention & and due to her I.V. while hospitalized she aquired Throbophlebitis. Her blood clot starts from the middle of her upper left arm to almost her wrist, and branches off to other superficial veins. Boy is this so painful for her. As if she didn't suffer from enough. I also left out that during this last hospitalization, she was diagnosed with Mital Valve regergitation... (sorry for the misspelling). She just had a breath test done, whiched showed she produces a lot of methan. I can only think that that would be due to her I.B.S.... then she has a stomach emptying test this week with another ultra sound to follow up on her Thrombophlebitis, to make sure it does not spread to her deep veins. I pray about this to help her be comfortable everyday. She pushes herself to go to school and her doctors have encouraged her to continue to swim, which was the best medicine for her joint pain. She is such a high acheivor and great young lady. She has been robed from her childhood. Please God heal my daughter. Can anyone help? As you can see from the time this was posted, I don't get much sleep. I worry so much, and can't sleep. If only she could wake up and it all be gone.
My 17 yr old daughter has suffered the same symptoms (plus) that your daughter has. I know your worry and frustration. I believe that she has dysautonomia but it has not been officially diagnosed and the only treatment she is receiving is a prescription for the nausea, a high salt diet, lots of electrolytes (gatorade, etc), and wearing compression hose. She says that the hose help a lot but they are uncomfortable and cost around $70.
She seems to have new symptoms daily. Today her feet are blue. Yesterday, they were blood red. She falls a lot, has a non-stop headache for over a yr, constant nausea, some neuro symptoms, gastrointestinal problems, rashes, hot or cold feelings, joint pain, vision loss 15-20 x's a day, etc.
Her problems started with the vision loss 4 1/2 yrs ago, then gastrointestinal problems, and then just over a year ago all of the other symptoms came on almost all at once. We have seen every specialist possible and tested everything. She does have Orthostatic Hypotension and a minor mitro valve leak. Other than that every test was normal.
I hope to get her to the Mitral Valve/ Dysautonomia clinic in Birmingham, Al. But our finances do not allow that at this time. We are in Louisiana and there are no autonomic testing facilities here and no doctors specializing in Dysautonomia. I am praying for the finances to get to Alabama.
I wish you and your daughter the best and hope that you have better luck with the doctors and treatment.
I have a website for Katie. katiemedical.com
God Bless,
I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter. My daughter feet have not changed colors such as your daughters. They are very pale and very cold. The compression socks are a very good idea. Thanks for the advise. I will be praying for you daughter to feel better & have better days to come. God Bless.
Ladies, your daughters symptoms sound like Celiac Disease, the autoimmune response that many individuals have to gluten in their diet. There is a simple, decisive test that can be done by a doctor which can determine whether this is the case.
See this link link for more info and best of luck to you.
http://www.celiac.org/cd-main.php
My wife has the symptoms of dysautonomia that you describe almost item for item. She is 53 and it seemed to come on suddenly about 4 years ago. She has medication to control symptoms but there is nothing that conventional medicine can do. How is the acupuncture working ? How about the NAET ?