Dysautonomia or Anxiety?

Dysautonomia: Is it the same as anxiety?

Now that you've read up on some of the basics of dysautonomia from my last blog post, you are probably wondering if dysautonomia is just the same thing as having anxiety. My short answer is no, it is absolutely not.

Although different, anxiety and dysautonomia DO share some similarities. Symptoms such as racing heart, dizziness, rapid breathing/shortness of breath, and other body sensations are common in both. It is also possible for anxiety to worsen dysautonomia symptoms or for dysautonomia symptoms to trigger anxiety.

Why do they share similarities?

Okay, but if they are different, why do they share so many commonalities? The reason for that is because both anxiety and dysautonomia involve a response from the autonomic nervous system. When somone is experiencing anxiety, this triggers the autonomic nervous system to active its sympathetic state. The autonomic nervous system is the part of the nervous system that controls all of our automatic, involuntary functions. It has two sides: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. The sympathetic side of the ANS is known as our "fight or flight" and is responsible for helping us survive stress. When the sympathetic nervous system is activated, blood is diverted away from non-essential functions to get redirected to essential functions for survival. This makes our blood pressure increase, eyes dilate, heart rate increase, breathing rate increase, and more. When someone has dysautonomia, the autonomic nervous system doesn't function properly- meaning it responds inappropriately to stressors and can even overreact to things that are not necessarily stressful.

In conclusion

Both anxiety and dysautonomia can trigger very similar symptoms. It can be confusing to figure out if you are anxious or if you have dysautonomia. Luckily, there are tests that doctors and practitioners can run to figure out which one you have, or if it is both!