pseudotumor - dysautonomia

Hello,

I have a question about autonomic dysfunction. When I was 9 one day I felt very dizzy, had a lot of visual problems and headaches so I went to the hospital and I was diagnosed with a pseudotumor cerebri. They did 4 lumbar punctions and then I was set off home to recover. I didn't go to school for a couple of months but recovery went fast and so I felt better. After 3 months I went back to school. Since that pseudotumor all of my life I have had episodes of dizziness and headaches.. I went to see some cardiologists over the years because I felt it was my heart too. They found orthostatic hypotension and vasovagal syncope tendencies. A couple of years ago after a week of parties and laying in the sun  (which is normal here in europe and I think in America too when you are young) I felt very bad. I went to see the best cardiologist in my country who put me on a tilt-table and I fainted after 16 min. He said I had vasovagal syncope (type of dysautonomia) and bradycardia but he reassured me and gave me an antidepressant. I did some tilt-training at home and with the help of that antidepressant I felt like reborn in a couple of months. I stopped the drugs and lived for 3 years without any trouble ( maybe sometimes here and there ) .. Now last year some one gave me a piece of cake with drugs in it and I didn't know.. I freaked out and the day after I had that feeling again. 24/7 dizziness, headaches, tachycardia when standing up, blood pressure falls, and the worst of all!! tunnel vision and a lot of other visual problems.. pupillary disfunction, sensitivity to light... It hasn't gone away for 6 months now. I tried the antidepressants again but there were too many side effects. My cardiologist can't give me betablokkers because my heart rate is too slow ( 40bpm when resting, 30bpm when sleeping and below)... so he gave me eteliphrin and i have to do tilt-training again every day... I do not feel much improvement but I still stick to the program...

after this long post ( i'm really sorry for that)

my questions are:

- is it possible that the cause of all this was the pseudotumor cerebri?
- what else can I take or do to relieve the symptoms ( I need to study but it's almost impossible)
- considered the last time I hade an episode like this.. it lasted almost a year.. should I or is it wise to believe that this time it will be better again in a few months too? or how long does it usually take to become balanced a little bit?


Thank you for those who respond to this.. and for everyone suffering from any form of dysautonomia or pseudotumor...we will turn out to be the strongest.. :)


Thank u

[PaulMD]

Hi there.

These symptoms that you are experiencing may all be related to the pseudotumor cerebri.  Automonic dysfunction can occur with changes in the intracranial pressure that happens with pseudotumor cerebri.  I know that the standard drugs used for these conditions are carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (acetazolamide) which aims to decrease the fluid production in the brain and thereby decrease the pressure.  However, if medications fail, there might be a need for surgical shunting, to permanently control the brain pressure.  I suggest that you discuss all of these options with your neurologist and I hope that everything will turn out fine.  God bless.