"Our study finds that 67% of individuals with Long COVID are developing dysautonomia. That’s an estimated 38 million Americans with Long COVID dysautonomia, and millions more around the world,” says Lauren Stiles, President of Dysautonomia International and Research Assistant Professor of Neurology at Stony Brook University.
"We need the National Institutes of Health to immediately address this crisis and begin funding research aimed at developing effective treatments for Long COVID dysautonomia,” says Jacqueline Rutter, a Dysautonomia International Board Member whose family has been impacted by Long COVID.
As someone who (likely) already has dysautonomia (hypohidrosis, POTS, EDS, sleep/energy issues) could long covid cause additional autonomic issues? Well, I assume covid itself would be severe just due to breathing difficulty alone.
Covid doesn’t always cause breathing difficulties, especially some of the more recent variants.
I would guess that once you have dysautonomia, you have dysautonomia and that is that. I have dysautonomia and it hasn’t been worsened by catching Covid or anything else–it always just sort of stays about the same.
I should clarify I wasn’t wondering if it’d cause existing issues to get worse, but different additional issues that are related to dysautonomia. (and edited the original to reflect that)
what exactly are the symptoms?
- hypohidrosis: lack of (significant) sweating (I overheat easily)
- POTS: I get out of breath if my heart rate rises too high, I would say it has a higher baseline just from going from laying to standing (thus easily pushed high from anything aerobic, or physical things that shouldn’t be aerobic). Also blood pooling in feet if salt is too low
- EDS: probably more of a cause/related thing (and not too severe/frequent for me), but if I move the wrong way I have partial dislocations. This is a collagen issue so I imagine it’s probably generally not good physiologically (I’m in the dark with it) because it’s a vital material in your body
- sleep: I don’t really sleep well (also have poor quality dreams if much at all, though that might be related to aphantasia, but at least I don’t have nightmares like I did when I had more vivid dreams as a child)
- energy: sluggish, hazy feeling. I suspect this might actually be related to the inner ear (Benign positional vertigo) even if it is mild enough that dizziness is not apparent. Also overlap with diet/activity (though it’s consistent despite changes) and depression etc
Also, neck pain commonly and I’ve had TMJ symptoms (jaw muscle/ear pain) twice.
Thanks! That sounds terrible, especially now that it’s becoming widespread.
I haven’t seen a lot of data looking specifically at the impact on people who already had some sort of dysautonomia - everything’s super new still so most studies are pretty broad. But given that the research seems to suggest COVID attacks the nervous system and that damage causes new cases, I would guess the damage could also just as easily worsen existing cases.
I had POTS before long covid but I was able to walk then. Now just sitting up causes me to black out plus I have so much more going on that I have no idea what it is yet. Doctor aren’t rushing to find out either.
