Dysautonomia or Vasovagal Syncope Mis-Diagnosed

[qfish]

My daughter who is 15 began having fainting spells about 7 months ago.  We visited many doctors including experts in neurology and caridology.  We tried many tests including blood work, eeg, ekg, holster monitor, tilt table, and epilepsy monitoring.  We tried many medicines, some with some very bad side effects.
We recently visited a chiropractor.  He did an x-ray and found that C1 & C2 vertebrae were out of alignment.  He adjusted her using a Proadjuster.  After 2 visits she went from having 3 to 5 episodes per day down to less then one per week.  It has only been 3 weeks but she is still undergoing adjustments twice per week.  She has made tremendous progress.  She is now the starting point gaurd on the varsity basketball team and is very active in church.  It is a miracle.
We have lived through the diagnosis of POTs, dysautonomia, and vasovagal syncope.  We were told you typically only treated the symptoms and avoided the triggers.  
I am not a doctor, but it makes sense that if C1 or C2 vertebrae is putting pressure on the vasovagal nerve that it will cause dysautonomic symptoms.  I recommend that you perform an x-ray to determine if you have a similar issue.

Does this make sense to anyone else?


This discussion is related to Dysautonomia and the heart as well as the mind!.

[marla33]

My son is 21 yrs old and started having syncope episodes last fall and has had 7 occurrences since along with chronic headaches & chest pain, tingling in his left arm, numbness in both hands, dizziness as well as periods of nausea and vomiting. During his first hospitalization they discovered he had a congenital heart condition and thought that was the cause but have since determined his chest pain and syncope are non-cardiac related. This has turned his life upside down as he was going to college to become a pilot and was also in the army national guard. He has had to drop out of college and is on a leave of absence with the army. He has been told by multiple doctors that he'll never fly again. Since the fall he has been hospitalized 3 times along with several trips to the ER and all the tests keep coming back normal with the exception of his congenital heart defect He is on florinef but still has no relief from the symptoms. In addition to syncope, you mentioned chest pain and numbness. I was wondering if you have found any answers or if the chiropractor was of any help as they are starting to consider dysautonomia. He had chest trauma last summer during flood duty and broke a rib and after reading the comments in this post I'm wondering if his vertebrae could have gotten knocked out of alignment during the accident and possibly be the cause of his problems.

[Megan1999]

I have been having the same problem with no relief, I went to the chiropractor and they told me my C1 and neck was a total mess. Was she having pulling pain in her chest and numbness in her hands and arms sometimes too? I am just hoping to get better, I am 30 and has gotten worse after having 2 children. I was in a car accident 6 years ago and I think it is steming from that. ~Megan, MN

[MelboSun]

Absolutely. It's at least a good thing to rule out for some people. I too have some vertebrae misaligned but that is because I fainted in the bathroom, falling against the tub and hurting my neck. So, in my case the syncope came before the vertebrae misalignment. Still, I think your post makes perfect sense and must be a great relief for your family. Maybe it will help someone else, too. Thank you for sharing. :)

Out of curiosity, did she get in an accident or become injured in some way before she began fainting? Were you able to find out what caused her C1 and C2 misalignment?