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:

1. Posted by Mike J. on February 16, 2008