DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor nor do I claim to be, this information was researched and sources are cited below. As always please double check this information with your doctor.
What is Dysautonomia?
Let's break apart the word. There are two parts of the word; the prefix "dys-" meaning bad or abnormal, and the second part "autonomia" which refers to the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system regulates everything that your body is supposed to do involuntarily, in other words, without you having to think about telling your body to do it. This includes things like the regulation of your heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, digestion, and much more. If you go back to the word dysautonomia and put it all together it is the dysfunction of your autonomic nervous system. The things your body should be doing automatically isn't working the way that it should. Now every person is different and the impact that Dysautonomia has on each individual varies greatly.
What are some symptoms of Dysautonomia?
POTS is one of the types of dysautonomia, it is your autonomic nervous system that is affected. The autonomic nervous system affects so many aspects of the body, depending on the individual the severity of the illness can vary greatly. These symptoms may include but are not limited to:
Neurological: migraines, brain fog, cognitive deficits
Pulmonary: shortness of breath, difficulty breathing
Cardiovascular: palpitations, chest pain, high or low heart rate, high or low blood pressure, blood pooling
Orthostatic Intolerance: pre-syncope, fainting, blurred vision, fatigue
Gastrointestinal: vomiting, nausea, indigestion, difficulty swallowing
Temperature Irregulation and difficulty sweating
Dry eyes and mouth
Is POTS the only type of dysautonomia?
No, there are actually 15 different forms of dysautonomia!
Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)
Orthostatic Hypertension
Vasovagal Syncope
Familial Dysautonomia
Pure Autonomic Failure (PAF)
Multiple System Atrophy (MSA)
Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia (IST)
Autoimmune Autonomic Ganglionopathy (AAG)
Baroreflex Failure
Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy (HSAN)
Autonomic Dysreflexia
Diaebetic Autonomic Neuropathy
Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome (CCHS)
Paraxysmal Sympathetic Hyperactivity (PSH)
Postprandial Hypotension
Credits:
https://www.dysautonomiainternational.org/page.php?ID=227
https://www.healthline.com/health/types-of-dysautonomia#takeaway
https://thedysautonmiaproject.org/dysautonomia/
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/6004-dysautonomia