Sympathetic Nervous System Puns

Hello! I’m in a 3d year undergrad biology/physiology course and I‘m having a tough time thinking about and understanding why we reduce glucose uptake when we need energy

We learned that when sympathetic levels are low (e.g. you’re NOT running away from a predator) you will increase insulin secretion to get increased glucose uptake (as a result of this increased insulin secretion), and

when sympathetic levels are high (e.g. you are running away from a predator) you will reduce insulin secretion as to maintain glucose levels in the blood stream.

I’m a bit confused as to why; if muscle cells / cells in general are going to need energy to run away from the predator, won’t you precisely want more glucose uptake into your cells to be able to supply that energy to run away?

Just ran across this in another group: https://ainsworthinstitute.com/treatments/sympathetic-reset/?fbclid=IwAR1E9uYkhXpnC-bVoFLome48oeYOU-JYxKC7KhsLnGR-U04w1Zk8V1ypmWE

I’m as skeptical as the next guy when it comes to nEw TrEaTmEnTs, but it’d be foolish to not check up on them when they come out.

Has anyone tried this one?

Those of you who have both HH and hyperactive sympathetic nervous system. How do you manage the second? Seems like it occurs very often: https://www.reddit.com/r/Hyperhidrosis/comments/j0f5bp/do_you_guys_have_other_symptoms_of_an_hyperactive/

Personally used sulpiride for about 7 months. Almost had no symptoms of HH and hyperactive SNS. After withdrawal two weeks passed and symptoms returned. Gonna start taking sulpiride again

Does anyone else feel like their sympathetic nervous system just gets stuck to “ON” sometimes? I worry my experience is hard to articulate, but here goes...

When my adrenaline has been going for a bit - whether it’s being out in the heat/sun, doing some kind of exercise, socializing excitably - there comes a moment when I can just feel that my sympathetic nervous system just gets stuck to on (either that or my parasympathetic just stops working, I really don’t know), and my heart rate stays higher, my chest feels strained, and I just get super sensitive to stimuli and any further adrenaline responses. If I don’t stop what I’m doing or leave the situation right then and there I’m in big trouble.

If I catch it in time and get myself to a calm safe space I can calm down after a few hours. Otherwise, I will be getting night terrors and/or waking up at 3am with my heart pounding and racing, and I’ll be sensitive the whole next day and will have to take it really easy.

Does this experience resonate with anyone else? I look around at other people being able to do these things with minimal long-term issues and I just feel like what the hell is wrong with me? These people go home and get “a great night’s sleep” from a day of high exertion, and for me, I feel like I am dying.

(I originally posted this in the r/PTSD sub but now I think it’s more appropriate here)

So much doesn't show on screen, especially with the AFAB folx in the series

Okay so this might seem weird, but around very charismatic people, who basically raise all of my red flags because my father is a narcissist, my sympathetic nervous system often tingles. I can feel the nerves activating and then I feel the tingles because there is nothing there to perceive, but my sympathetic nervous system really tries anyway because I probably do not feel safe around them. It feels like the nerves get into overdrive at the biological level, even if I don't feel threatened. It's confusing.

Isn't the sympathetic nervous system in opposition to the parasympathetic? So wouldn't walking hinder digestion instead of aiding it?

(TMI - Too much information warning) I just took my test, and the combination of my Cortisol, Adrenalin, and Sympathetic Nervous system hit me hard. A warning to test takers: Don't drink two energy drinks 2-3 hours before your test. Although it will surely make you more attentive, and block your Adenosine Receptors, keeping you from feeling tired during the hellacious 7-hour test, It doesn't help when you have 10 minute breaks, and your sympathetic nervous system has essentially welded your urethra closed. I swear I spent 5 minutes urinating during the first break, and the adrenalin made me feel cracked. That being said, I had an overall great experience, would do it again, 10/10. Then again, maybe I'm just an adrenalin junkie with a caffeine problem.

I spent 3 Months reading roughly 2k pages from the Kaplan Course. I hope it helped. Wish me luck, Lads and Lassies.

Hi I am a 22F, 74 kg 162 cm and generally healthy. I have been trying to get back to exercising a couple of times, but I am struggling. But not from a lack of motivation. Whenever I exercise, especially lifting weights , my nervous system becomes hyperactive. I feel like I can feel every nerve cell in my body down to my fingers. This causes me to be unable to sit down and feels very uncomfortable. This continues the whole day and it causes me sleep problems. The sleep problems are what bothers me the most. It doesn't matter when I workout. I have worked out at 8 am and still had overactive nervous system all day and were unable to sleep at night. Some times meditating helps a little but not much. I want to get back to exercising but without it affecting my sleep. I have always suffered of this. I am not on any medication, do not smoke or drink and I am not deficient in any nutrient. Doctors of reddit, what do I do?

If I put the phone down and or look away the constant adrenaline rush stops. This doesn't really occur with the computer screen. The phone is an OLED 60hz type. Not the newer fluid 120hz refresh rates. I can't even look at those screens.

Also noticing tingling down my arms and legs from time to time.

Currently on 30mg of amitriptyline on about day 120.

Has anyone been misdiagnosed as having vestibular migraines but in actuality they had autonomic nervous system disorder as a result of the TBI? This would be post concussion symptoms two years later.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5575620/#!po=6.41026

38M Caucasian male, 5'8 165 pounds. Was fit and healthy as far as I knew until age 37 when I developed what my primary care doc believed was some sort of dysautonomia/autonomic dysfunction. Had that from December 2019 to present. It started with episodes and now is more of a full-on issue every day. Lightheadedness when in general sitting/standing postures, but if leaning forward a few inches doing something or bending down to the floor with or without legs bent, it exacerbates it. Rapidly fluctuating pulse rate and blood pressure with lightheadedness are the most prominent symptoms. Bouts of shortness of breath sometimes when doing nothing but sitting in a chair at the computer. There are times when doing something physical like working outside in the yard or pedaling on a recumbent bike makes me feel much better for the time that I'm doing it, but then I'll feel a little worse and lightheaded afterwards. Since my early years of elementary school or high school, I have always had rather red hands from the wrist to the fingertips, both palms and tops of hands. Washing them under water also turns those specific areas very bright red and always has. The soles of my feet are also very red sometimes. Both of which, as I understand, can be attributed to POTS Syndrome. I have had a tilt table test and they did say that my sympathetic nervous system response was excessive, but that it didn't look like POTS. I don't faint, I just get near-syncope sometimes and feel like there is excess adrenaline. No history of panic attacks or anxiety-related issues. Whatever is going on does cause anxiety, of course. It feels like it radiates from my abdominal area for some reason.

I have terrible sleep and have since my teenage years, but I've had a number of home sleep studies (which I know aren't accurate) and one would say 13 obstructive apneas/hour (the one given by my sleep doc) and a mail-order one said 5 or 6. I've had an in-lab study where I slept for 2.75 hours and it showed no sleep apnea, just a bunch of Respiratory Effort-Related Arousals. So I just woke up a lot, basically. Which I believe I do all night, but not sure that it is sleep-related. I now believe it may be blood pressure/pulse related to whatever condition is causing it. Severe sleep fragmentation was mentioned in the first sleep study, but with less than 5 apneas/hour. Then another sleep doctor's in-lab study showed 60+ central apneas/hour with no obstructives and they put me on BiLevel. I actually fee

After not being able to sleep after my 50 degree cold bath I'm convinced the resources that say cold baths stimulate sympathetic nervous system are correct. However, some resources including Wim Hof mention the parasympathetic nervous system being stimulated. Does any one have any decent resources or understanding as to whether the parasympathetic nervous system is indeed stimulated? I thought PNS is opposite of SNS...

Thanks

The first couple sentences of the pathophysiology of autonomic dysreflexia of an article on NCBI are as the following "Cutaneous or visceral stimulation below the level of the spinal cord injury, initiates afferent impulses that elicit reflex sympathetic nervous system activity. The sympathetic response leads to diffuse vasoconstriction, typically to the lower two-thirds of the body, and a rise in blood pressure." I don't understand how the afferent impulses can trigger a SNS response that will then cause vasoconstriction without having a signal transmitted to the brain. But in this case, any signal transmitted by spinal nerves will get stuck at level of injury and cannot reach the hypothalamus. In terms of those transmitted by cranial nerves, they can reach the brain but from the brain no signals can reach below the level of injury, hence how can the SNS be activated then? I'm so confused by this! Any help is greatly appreciated. I'll leave the link to the article below. Again thanks so much!!!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482434/#!po=2.27273

So since primary hyperhidrosis is most likely caused by a malfunction in the sympathetic nervous system leading it to be hyperactive, do you guys have any other symptoms of a hyperactive SNS?

Such as anxiety, increased heart rate, shallow breathing, poor digestion or constipation, insomnia, lower sex drive, increased muscle tension, more inflammation & susceptibility to sickness (get sick more often)?

I wonder why sweat is the most dominant reflex for us, especially considering how that's quite possibly the worst fight or flight reaction lmao

can someone explain to me why Sympathetic nervous system causes uterine relaxation

I thought flight or flight would lead to contraction.

I understand C is correct, but am confused why couldn't it be A also. The answer explanation said "Sympathetic nervous system causes uterine relaxation, so choice A is wrong"

https://preview.redd.it/87bwq2jxobd61.png?width=1036&format=png&auto=webp&s=c9408fd47d4f1024862b6c84209bbed3f4a259c4

Always in the first day of POIS, I have high adrenaline stress/defense type of mode response symptoms:

• Tighter limbs in many areas as if they are contracting to defend in a similar way like when a large predator haunts you and you instinctively contract your muscles, what I experience in POIS is that exact same reaction
• Shakier body and limbs overall, especially if I have not eaten yet, I often bump into stuff and if I hold my arm in one position I can see my fingers shake literally
• Tighter stomach and diaphragm area, I also notice that any further stresses during a POIS episode tighten it up even more further as if the baseline sympathetic nervous system activation is already higher
• Not fully processing what is being said to me almost as if I am in a half daydreamy type of state or sometimes having to think twice about what was said to me to understand the meaning of it fully
• Often thinking of one word or thing or saying but then accidentally saying something similar but not the exactly correct word, e.g. thinking of fork however I would say spoon instead and the same cognitive glitch goes for sentence forming, it is like the mind constantly sort of zones out and loses the train of thought, almost as if some sympathetic nervous system fire lags are constantly interrupting the ability to relax and fully focus and instead blocking cognitive functions

So, I was online shopping for an alarm clock and remember coming across a startup that was in pre-deployment and advertising their clock that used sounds to gently wake you up. No light, no led screen if I remember correctly. I believe they said the sounds start as inaudibly as possible to activate your brain without waking you up and then slowly dialing up the noise. I put my name on the mailing list, but want to go back to research it again. I cannot find it at all anymore. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Many pranayamas activates the parasympathetic system. But, is there any pranayama to activate the sympathetic?

Also, from this study, how does Ketamine paradoxically cause hypotension in catecholamine-depleted people when for most other people it does the opposite?

I notice that I feel "normal" when I wake up in the morning. My heart rate is between 60-75, and my body feels relaxed.

But when I start getting up and about, it seems like I have some low key adrenaline sensitivity issues. My heart rate during the day setores between 85-100, my pupils get slightly dilated, I get crazy palpitations, fatigue, muscle aches and tension, body aches in general, brain fog, etc. On some days my bladder is also overactive.

I suspect I have some type of undiagnosed Dysautonomia. My autonomic nervous system just doesn't feel like it's working correctly. There are also some triggers I've identified which amplifies my symptoms, such as: heat, heavy meals or overeating, and any kind of exercise. My heart will race with literally ANYTHING, even shifting positions while laying calmly in my bed. Again, this all happens pretty much everyday and I'm worried this is taking a toll on my heart and body in general.

I've had several heart exams: EKG, Echo, Holter, Stress test, and all come back normal, except for the racing heart. So structurally my heart is fine, but something is making it race, and along with all these other symptoms, I'm suspecting Dysautonomia causing my anxiety.

I'm scared of this having a negative and dangerous toll on my health. I'm 27y but I feel like an 80y because I can't even do mild exertion without my body acting like I'm running a marathon. I'm tired of my body being so "wired" all the time, even when I'm mentally calm, which is I don't think all these symptoms are due to anxiety.

I'm tired of cardiologists brushing my symptoms off as anxiety. I've made an appointmet with a neurologist, with the hopes that they'll be more open minded to my autonomic nervous system symptoms. It's only om the 21st though and I'm going crazy from anticipation. I'm tired of feeling like my body is on the edge of breaking down at any moment. Anyways, just needed to vent a little. I'm tired of all this. Tired of the symptoms, tired of the 24/7 worrying. I'm not living my life anymore. I can't get distracted without these symptoms taking over my thought process. I'm close to a breaking point and very desperate.

My psychiatrist has a theory that I am stuck in "fight or flight mode" aka my sympathetic nervous system is stuck in overdrive (my heart rate is regularly 115-125 bpm. Apparently this will cause digestion to slow significantly. I tried some Xanax that I had for panic attacks, and my nausea improved significantly.

Has anyone else heard about this or experienced anything like this?

why is the sympathetic nervous system called "sympathetic"?

This experience is so hard to articulate. I don’t expect many responses…

When my adrenaline has been going for a bit - whether it’s being out in the heat/sun, doing some kind of exercise, socializing excitably - there comes a moment when I can just feel that my sympathetic nervous system just gets stuck to on (either that or my parasympathetic just stops working, I really don’t know), and my heart rate stays higher, my chest feels strained, and I just get super sensitive to stimuli and any further adrenaline responses. If I don’t stop what I’m doing or leave the situation right then and there I’m in big trouble.

If I catch it in time and get myself to a calm safe space I can calm down after a few hours. Otherwise, I will be getting night terrors and/or waking up at 3am with my heart pounding and racing. I will be sensitive the whole next day and will have to take it really easy.

Does this experience resonate with anyone else? I look around at other people being able to do these things with minimal long-term issues and I just feel like what the hell is wrong with me? These people go home and get “a great night’s sleep” from a day of high exertion, and for me, I feel like I am dying.