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orthostatic hypertension could it be a kind of autonomic dysreflexia?

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
Those who have orthostatic hypertension with the ME and POTS may be interested in the following.

I wonder if orthostatic hypertension is related to autonomic dysreflexia which can appear in MS patients

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomic_dysreflexia

"This condition is distinct and usually episodic, with the patient experiencing remarkably high blood pressure (often with systolic readings over 200 mm. Hg), intense headaches, profuse sweating, facial erythema, goosebumps, nasal stuffiness, and a "feeling of doom". An elevation of 40 mm. Hg. over baseline systolic should be suspicious for dysreflexia."

I fit the BP part and I can break out in a sweat when this happens... and I do freak out (doom feeling can happen.. Im going to pass out if I dont sit down to stop it raising further).

Im not sure if I had goosebumps or not when i had the last collapse at shops incident I thought was just POTS (dont know if my BP went up too on that occassion, I suppose it would of done as i was standing). I remember rubbing my arms after that incident and feeling cold (I may of had goosebumps directly after the collapse..during collapse thou I felt flushed).

My nasal stuffiness thou i havent noticed in relation to it and rather is a allergy thingy (dust mite allergy i think).

anyway with all this.. Im starting to suspect that orthostatic hypertension could be a kind of autonomic dysreflexia. Seeing we do get a lot of things MS patients get (Ive had a ton of MS symptoms over the years) I wouldnt be surprised if some of us are getting this one too.
 

heapsreal

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Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
i think it is similar tania, its common in quadraplegics where there nervous system thinks its in pain although the patient doesnt feel pain, so the nervous system fires off at a thousand mile an hour, increasing pulse and blood pressure to dangerous levels, nitrates are used to lower blood pressure as they are strong vasodilators and narcotics are used to calm the nervous system down and reduce its percieved effects of pain. In my line of work if the patients systolic BP is greater then 160/-, we start treating it aggressively with the above mentioned treatments. We dont have any particular indications for treating this condition in MS, but if they complain of pain then we would treat this, so indirectly treat it i guess.

I have wondered if there is a similar mechanism in autonomic dysreflexia in quadraplegics and hypertensive POTS in cfs/me. Interesting about MS, i wasnt aware this occurred in MS, give me something to look into.

cheers!!!
 

Countrygirl

Senior Member
Messages
5,429
Location
UK
I have just found this old thread as I continue to explore why I am having bouts of what has been diagnosed as malignant hypertension. Autonomic dysreflexia seems to fit the bil.

Does anyone else have this?

By BP abruptly spikes to around 240/135 or more, creating the symptoms of a stroke, causing angina, and leaving permanent damage with some extras thrown in such as hallucinations following the sudden spike. I was told by a well-known UK ME specialist last year that some of his other long-term ME patients had developed the same problem.

It would be interesting to know if others here who have been ill for decades have now reversed from orthostatic hypotension to orthostatic hypertension and/or spiking BP to the 220/120+ mark which could mean we are developing autonommic dysreflexia.

Thanks.