Dysautonomia Awareness Month: You Have Both CFS and Dysautonomia?

A Happy Bee

You  may have noticed that I talk about having Dysautonomia/Autonomic Nervous System Dysfunction the most, but that I have also been diagnosed with other disorders, including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). 

Along with CFS and Dysautonomia, I have gastroparesis, abdominal migraines and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, all of which are conditions that have co-morbidity with my two major diagnoses. I no longer believe that I have Lyme disease or other related illnesses.

Some of my friends have POTS alone, without the other markers for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome such as unrelenting fatigue, post-exertional malaise, poor quality of sleep, pain, and a host of other symptoms. Because my fatigue is so profound (think walking through molasses or like every muscle weighs 100 lbs) and I fit the other criteria for CFS, I have been diagnosed with both.

This is not at all uncommon.

Lantana

There is a HUGE overlap between patients with these two illnesses. According to Dr. Suzanne Vernon it is estimated that as many as 70% of patients with CFS also have POTS (click here for full story). 

In1995, Dr. ANS and his colleagues made the connection between these two illnesses by administering the TTT to patients with CFS. He discovered that patients either had CFS alone or CFS and POTS together. In patients with the autonomic issues in addition to CFS, treatment tends to focus most on the autonomic disturbances.

Another Of My Favorite Type of Flower

I am clearly one of the people that falls in the overlap group. This means that, while we focus most of my treatment on the ANS issues, the CFS is front and center as well. Dr. ANS treats and researches both, as is evidenced by his original discovery of the connection between these two illnesses. Often, if the circulatory issues can be treated the fatigue and other issues improve as well.

Blessings,

Emily