Autonomic Takacardia

[pattywat]

My 32 yr. old daughter has been passing for over 4 yrs.  Not long after her hysterectomy, she started passing out.Nothing shows up on EEG. She has had 2 tilt table tests. The first one she totally passed out within 15 or 20 minutes into the test. The next one, she passed. She has also had seizures after passing out. Her last dr. has diagnosed her with Autonomic Takacardia. Can anyone help with any information? She has broken so many bones and dislocated her shoulder, jaw, etc. She is now in a wheelchair, scared to let her walk. She used to be a gymnast and a dancer, has 2 little girls. We are reaching for any help. Thanks.

[Heiferly]

What kind of doctors/specialists is your daughter seeing?  What treatment is she being given; do you know which if any medications they have started her on?

I have never heard the diagnosis autonomic tachycardia before.  When I googled for it today, I got mixed answers.   A post from a doc here on medhelp (http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Heart-Disease/Autonomic-Tachycardia/show/870104) yielded the following:  "Autonomic tachycardia refers to a normal sinus tachycardia that occurs when you are stressed and your adrenaline levels increase."  However, a doc on yahoo (John E. Russo, MD, FACM FAAFP) gave this definition, unrelated to fluctuations in stress/adrenaline levels, "An autonomic tachycardia means that your set point for your pulse has been set too high in your central nervous system."  In other places I found it as an alternate term for POTS, but within the context of *postural* autonomic tachycardia.  Are your daughter's symptoms aggravated by standing (or possibly even sitting upright) and alleviated by lying down, or is it irrespective of her posture?

From all that, it seems "autonomic tachycardia" may be synonymous with the diagnosis inappropriate sinus tachycardia?  I don't see any distinction, but there were only 158 hits for "autonomic tachycardia" on google, and some of those were not actual hits as when examined they read something like "... autonomic (tachycardia, ..." whereas "inappropriate sinus tachycardia" brought up about 17,800 results so IF they are synonymous, you may have much more luck finding information using the latter terminology.  HOWEVER, I am not a cardiologist and I do not know for sure what her doctor meant by the diagnosis autonomic tachycardia.  I would say a good starting point would be asking that doc if this is a unique diagnosis, or synonymous with POTS or IST or something else.  You could try asking on the expert heart rhythm forum here on MedHelp as well, but I presume the surest answer would be from the source.  (The link to that forum can be found in the column on the right side of this page if you scroll down under "Related Expert Forums.")

Sorry for such a long response, I just want to make sure you're getting information about the correct condition.  In addition to our Dysautonomia Community here on MedHelp, the two websites that mala84 recommended are excellent sources of information, as is the National Dysautonomia Research Foundation (www.ndrf.org) but I don't think the phrase "autonomic tachycardia" appears on any of their pages, so hopefully your daughter's doctor can shed a little more light on this so you can start getting more information.

[mala84]

Hi, I was diagnosed with Orthostatic Tachycardia 2 years ago. There is information on the internet IF you know where to find it.

There are two very good websites at
www.dinet.org
www.dynakids.org

The second of these is set up for parents whos children have the disorder but has some helpful hints.

Let me know if I can help with anything specific.

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