Autonomic neuropathy - blood pressure and heart rate?

Posted by cptsnake @cptsnake, Oct 19 9:11am

It mainly affects my heart. If I exercise my blood pressure and heart rate drop. Most likely caused by psoriasis any autoimmune disease. I am 77, normal weight 6 ft, 170 pounds. My heart is good, arteries are clear. No other heath issues. Is there anything that can raise my blood pressure? I think it must be a hopeless attempt.

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@daj3333

I’m sorry you are dealing with so much. Can I ask what SIBO is?

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Hi,
SIBO is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Your abdominal area is painful and you product gases where you shouldn't be. No not the obvious that we all emit knowingly, or not!
For me it is caused through Autonomic polyneuropathy which has taken control of my entire digestive system from head to bottom. As my digestion is slow and compromised anything more than a small meal/ fluid per day will fill the stomach and cause an overflow into the small intestine of partly or fully undigested food, where it ferments making you look 9 months pregnant and unable to bend at the waist. You constantly are battling what I describe as a stomach full of acid which can come back up into the mouth stripping the lips of the outer skin layer. With SIBO you are limited to the types of food you can eat, but after years of this constant cycle I do tend to stray when I think I have beaten it, only to be left with egg on my face, eggs are acceptable! I basically have to be a good boy or pay the price.
I tend to look at it as this is my life, deal with it and get the best out of each day I remain alive. None of us know when we will die so why worry about it, we all succombe eventually.
Sure I have some really bad days, generally most days are bad, but on the positive side I'm alive. What greater positive can there be.
Cheers

REPLY

Hi,
There seems to be some confusion with autoimmune and autonomia. Autoimmune is the body attacking itself while autonomia is the autonomic nerve being compromised from other causes. Usually the nerve sheathing being damaged through intervention/ medical misadventure, uncontrolled diabetes or disease. They are the major causes. I was "lucky" to survive a serious bout of campylobacter which shut down the kidneys for 18 hours and run a muck in my nervous system. Since then all manner of symptoms have and are still presenting themselves. In hindsight they can all be traced back to the Campylobacter aside from the uncontrolled diabetes T2 I have to compound the ANS.
Cheers

REPLY
@cheyne

Hi,
SIBO is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Your abdominal area is painful and you product gases where you shouldn't be. No not the obvious that we all emit knowingly, or not!
For me it is caused through Autonomic polyneuropathy which has taken control of my entire digestive system from head to bottom. As my digestion is slow and compromised anything more than a small meal/ fluid per day will fill the stomach and cause an overflow into the small intestine of partly or fully undigested food, where it ferments making you look 9 months pregnant and unable to bend at the waist. You constantly are battling what I describe as a stomach full of acid which can come back up into the mouth stripping the lips of the outer skin layer. With SIBO you are limited to the types of food you can eat, but after years of this constant cycle I do tend to stray when I think I have beaten it, only to be left with egg on my face, eggs are acceptable! I basically have to be a good boy or pay the price.
I tend to look at it as this is my life, deal with it and get the best out of each day I remain alive. None of us know when we will die so why worry about it, we all succombe eventually.
Sure I have some really bad days, generally most days are bad, but on the positive side I'm alive. What greater positive can there be.
Cheers

Jump to this post

Thank you for the reply. I hope it gets better. Take care

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I also have autonomic neuropathy associated with about six autoimmune diseases.
My pulse rate has bounced between 39 and 110 at rest and I’m unable to exercise. I understand your frustration and reluctance to go through so many test just to find out what you already know. One suggestion for keeping your blood pressure up is to include more salt in your diet, which will a favor, water absorption and retention in your blood. As long as you have no signs of high blood pressure or congestive heart disease that should be safe. Another option if you are not adverse to over-the-counter medication is to take a little bit of ibuprofen each day which causes sodium and water retention and that will raise your blood pressure some. ibuprofen can be hard on the stomach long-term, and hard on the kidneys. So the minimum dose that does the trick is the best thing to do. I hope those two suggestions are helpful and certainly understand how difficult this is to live with.

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I take 5mg of midodrine because my atomic neuropathy keeps tanking my blood pressure so low I pass out. It doesn't bring mine up very fast. Sometimes after an hour if it's still really low I take another 5mg. My blood pressure gets to 69/42 and I can't do anything. It's definitely a constant nightmare. I also can't control my body temperature. I am either freezing or very hot. No happy in-between. I hope you can get regulated. Good luck!

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