The basic symptoms I've noticed:

You are hungry but can only eat a couple of bites before you feel full.

You feel nauseated.

Constipation.

A hard, distended upper abdomen, with also hard chest muscles.

This is when the feeling of not being able to breathe starts - lasts a few hours, on / off for about four days.

Weird feeling in chest, perhaps heart skipping beats.

Fear!

Severe headache, can't tolerate light. Heavy head, head swelling feeling.

Please see my thread on autonomic neuropathy for a full discussion.

Has anyone else noticed these symptoms?

Bump up for Mucker

tam - do you get short of breath easily, or have a high "resting" pulse rate? Just curious, because i've realized those things over the last 3-4mo or more. My resting pulse, for example has seemed to be between 105 and 120. Scares me a little bit.

Dab - Have you had that checked by a Doc?
Does it come and go? or that fast most of the time?

I have the same thing. I was at an occupational therapy appt. and she noticed my heartbeat. She was really freaked out. When she had me doing tasks that were meant to raise my hb it would go up to 185 or 190. It rest at the lowest 95.
Trix

Mine runs fast too. I think it has something to do with the compression of the blood vessels.

Sometimes if heart runs fast your blood pressure could be on the lower side...opoosite effect.

I bumped this up because Twila brought up heart issues.

Yahoo Autonomic Neuropathy. It occurs when the nerves start malfunctioning on the Autonomic level. I have been hospitalized 7 times this year because of it. It helps to know what it is and try imagery to control and calm symptoms when they start veering up. However, that doesn't always work, and then I have to get to an ER for sedation to help get my functions back to normal.

Last night I had an argument with my husband. I slept on the futon in the living room. My heart was racing, I had horrid chest pain and I could feel and hear the pulse in my subclavian or carotid. Do you think this was just from stress? Today I still have mild chest pain, my heart rate is104 and I can feel the pulse in my clavicle, top of the shoulder area.
Trix

I can't answer other people's issues, because this is a new issue for me, and it's so strange to experience. I know my situation is not "just stress"

because that doesn't encompass the digestive issues, the breathing problems and irregular heartbeats, all of which occur to me when the autonomic neuropathy acts the worst. For me, it's ALL at the same time, and I struggle with the digestive problem and the breathing problem on a daily basis. I think the digestive problem is pretty easy to identify if you are not digesting on a daily, or every other day basis - I can go a week and then throw up old food or finally pass old food. I am not even hungry now - I used to be, and then be full with a couple of bites, but it's gotten so bad I am never hungry and I have to force myself to eat once in a while. I use Miralax as part of the hospital change of meds.

As for stress, right when I got TOS back in '02, I lost my ability to deal with stress, have any ability to fight, argue, etc., which was a very large part of my paid job. On a personal note, I had to train those around me that I just didn't have it in me anymore to argue as it would make me sick. So I think there is a general inability to handle stress due to TOS from the nerve damage neurologically, not to be confused by true autonomic nerve symptoms which are proof of further nerve damage.

Oh my god!, the more i read from you guys the more everything that has happened to me the last few years makes sense!.

i have had a few of the symptoms that are mentioned in this thread....

heart palpatations (heart speeds up, misses a beat or two). i was on beta blockers for this for about a year - this was just before the TOS started, i put it down to work stress??

unability to deal with stress - sometimes makes me feel lightheaded/spaced-out. once i also got a severe pain above my eye after being in a stressful situation.

quite often i regurgitate food a little while after eating.

suffer from bouts of diahorrear - lots of indigestion, bloating after eating.

an occupational therapist i saw also noted a faster than normal heartbeat after doing low impact activity (walking up a flight of stairs)

is this Autonomic Neuropathy condition commonly related to TOS then?
xx