The Month of October is full of spooky themes; however, it’s also dysautonomia awareness month. Dysautonomia is a subject many aren’t familiar with. It is an umbrella term for disorders that cause dysregulation in your autonomic nervous system.

Your autonomic nervous system controls many of your body’s automatic functions, such as your heart rate, blood pressure, and many other functions. Dysautonomia isn’t rare either; it affects over 70 million people worldwide. It also doesn’t discriminate and can affect anyone regardless of their race, gender, or age. Senior High Nurse, Anne Bernacki, said, “We have students with POTS, a form of dysautonomia. I cannot share names, but they must be very careful with fluids, changing positions, and salt intake.” Dysautonomia can be something you’re born with; however, you can also develop it later in life. It is such a common thing to experience, yet there isn’t much awareness about it.

Dysautonomia can be a potentially debilitating condition. It can keep individuals from working, going to school, or spending time with friends and family. While there are ways to improve a person’s quality of life, treatment is entirely dependent on the individual and the type of dysautonomia they have.

Even though it is not rare, dysautonomia is commonly missed because of a lack of awareness. Even among medical professionals, the concept isn’t commonly known. This can lead to it taking years for a diagnosis even though it is widespread. “Dysautonomia and POTS can be very tricky to diagnose and often it takes years for people suffering with bizarre symptoms to get answers,” said, Nurse Bernacki.

A Seneca Valley student who struggles with dysautonomia said, “Managing school is definitely really hard. People don’t really understand it overall so sometimes people think I’m just making excuses. I feel like it makes going through a whole day overall more difficult.”

The goal of dysautonomia awareness month is to educate the public as well as raise funds for dysautonomia research.