What is dysautonomia?
The autonomic nervous system is the part of your nervous system that controls the automatic functions in your body (organ functions which you do not consciously control). Among other things, the autonomic nervous system regulates heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate and pattern, digestion, and temperature.
The autonomic nervous system is made up of the sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight”) which prepares the body for action and the parasympathetic nervous system (“rest and digest”) which brings the body back to baseline. Normally, the body automatically switches back and forth between these two states with ease, depending on what you are doing throughout the day.
Dysautonomia (also known as autonomic system dysfunction) is disruption in the balance between the parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) and the sympathetic (“fight or flight”) nervous systems. In dysautonomia, the pull towards fight or flight can become stronger (stress response is stuck in the “on” position).
Although we do not know yet for sure, we think that some of the symptoms experienced by long COVID patients may be due to dysautonomia.
