Questions posted in the Heart Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Question Title: Hyperbeta Adrenergic syndrome

Forum: The Heart Forum
Topic: Heart Disease


Can you please explain this diagnosis as well as the S/S,treatments, and prognosis? Thank you very much!


Dear Roberta,
The best I can do is try to explain the beta-adrenergic nervous system to you and tell you to ask your doctor(s) the name of your diagnosis again since I can not find this as a well defined syndrome anywhere.

The beta receptors are present throughout the body as part of what is called the autonomic nervous system; there are of course other parts to this system, i.e. alpha receptors. The term autonomic dysfunction is used for any malfunction within the system; these autonomic disorders are not well defined nor well understood although some patients are seriously debilitated by their autonomic dysfunction.

The symptoms of autonomic dysfunction vary according to the particular organ involved (heart, lung, blood vessels, etc.), the normal balance of the systems, the underlying illness, and the severity and type of progression of the disease.
In general there can be bladder dysfunction (overactivity or loss of fuction), GI dysfunction (diarrhea or constipation), decreased salivation or lacrimation, and the most disabling symptom, orthostatic hypotension (a drop in blood pressure upon standing that persists for 3minutes or more.) This postural hypotension can then cause a variety of symptoms like headache, neck/shoulder pain, dimming or loss of vision, and weakness.

More specifically pertaining to your "hyper beta syndrome", the physiologic events that occur with stimulation of the beta adrenergic receptor are: increase in heart rate, cardiac contractility, vasodilation (i.e. dilation of the blood vessels throughout the body), bronchodilation (dilation of the bronchi or airways of the lungs), and lipolysis (an reaction that occurs in fat cells.)

Please check with your doctor(s) on the exact syndrome you have been given as well as perhaps a better understanding of what it is. I hope that this has at least been information that you can relate to a better understanding of your diagnosis.

I hope this information is useful. Information provided in the heart forum is for
general purposes only. Only your physician can provided specific diagnoses and therapies.
Feel free to write back with further questions. Good luck!

If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please
call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at
www.ccf.org/heartcenter. The Heart Center website contains a directory of the
cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your
cardiac problem.

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