Autonomic Dysfunction explained today

At the one year check up, the doctor gave further information on Autonomic Dysfunction, and I found it very fascinating.  This is particularly interesting to me because I know I had this as a teen, and I still do struggle with some symptoms as an adult. I would bet my mother deals with this, as well, based on the doctors explanation. What surprises me is that no doctor has mentioned it to us in the past. With such classic symptoms that we have in our family, I am surprised it has always been missed?
Here is what we learned about Autonomic Dysfunction today:

• Can cause heart racing, which can be anxiety feeling or "bad" feeling
• advised to exercise daily, both strengthening and aerobic
• Low blood pressure 
• advised to drink a lot of fluid each day (3-4 liters), and to increase salt as well as to add Gatorade G2 or Propel type drinks. Advised to stay away from "smart waters" because for this purpose they are "dumb water".  They don't have the needed salt.
• Can black out or faint due to good blood flow / blood pressure
• Can be at its worst 1 week prior to menstrual cycle
• Can tie into delayed stomach emptying, increased stomach acid and make a person feel like they are constantly hungry and or nauseous 
• recommended to eat more frequent small meals
• also recommended to look into gastroparesis diet for delayed stomach emptying, click here 
• Can affect sleep - adrenaline flight or fight response kicks in
• mentioned beta blockers can help with this at bedtime, though we are not trying it at this time
• Fatigue is common 
• Headaches are common

Of course there is more to Autonomic Dysfunction that this list, but these are the items that spoke to us as we were in the office. Doctor gave us a packet from Mayo Clinic called, Teens and Autonomic Dysfunction, found online here . This is a great handout for schools and a fantastic item for teens to have at home, as a reference.