Dysautonomia: the umbrella

~ Reflections Of A Bear

People often find it confusing when I use the words dysautonomia and POTS interchangeably in a conversation. They’re like, “Hang on, which one is it that you have?” I know that a lot of newly diagnosed patients struggle with this too, so I thought I’d make an infographic to explain.

I’m a visual girl, so I’ll use any excuse to make a picture 😉
But I do hope it makes it a little less confusing for everyone.

Umbrella2018.jpg

‘Dysautonomia’ is the umbrella term for conditions where the autonomic nervous system (ANS) doesn’t work properly. There are lots of different kinds of dysautonomia. I personally have NCS, which you can see listed on the picture (along with the many other kinds of dysautonomia). For a more detailed (but still easy to understand) explanation of dysautonomia, click here.

Feel free to share with your befuddled family and friends!

xx S.

What else would you like to see an infographic of?
Send me your suggestions, and if I use your idea,
I’ll give you credit on the image 🙂

*UPDATE*
1,000 views in less than 24hrs?! What is this madness?
Read my response post here.

Note: When I wrote this blog post in 2015, I included a graphic that I’d made – a simple yellow umbrella that said ‘dysautonomia’, with a list of some of its different forms underneath. Three years later, that graphic is still a very popular one. However, some of the names of the different forms have changed over time. So in October 2018 (dysautonomia awareness month) I updated the graphic to reflect the changed names, added a few more forms of dysautonomia, and also changed the umbrella’s colour to turquoise – the official colour for dysautonomia awareness.
xx S.

Published by Reflections Of A Bear

Just a bear thinking deeply about chronic illness...

17 thoughts on “Dysautonomia: the umbrella”

  1. Excellent way to explain Dysautonomia & the subcategories. To me, it’s like Dysautonomia is the “Main Topic” while the syndromes underneath the umbrella are the “Subtopics” (Sorry, that’s the teacher in me missing the first day back to school today). Dysautonomia is similar to other medical conditions that have subcategories such as Psoriasis, Neuropathy, Cancer, Depression. The list is endless. Thank you for providing this. It’s educating others that will continue to raise awareness for Dysautonomia.

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    Reply

    1. Thanks Kim! Don’t worry – the teacher in me understands ^_^
      I’m sorry that you’re missing school. Feel free to pop over anytime and educate me in the comments 🙂

      I’m always excited to write things that help people understand Dysautonomia. I looked for this infographic today to show a confused newly diagnosed girl, and was amazed that there wasn’t one explaining this issue. So I thought, “Well I’ll do it myself”!

      Obviously there was a need for it – nearly 1000 people have looked at it in the last 12 hours!!!!!

      Thanks for commenting ❤
      Feeling the love xx

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  2. Pingback: What is this madness? | Reflections Of A Bear

  3. Thanks for the easy to understand pic!! Sometimes (most of the time) it is hard to get people to understand 😋 it’s great to find people that just get it.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. It’s hard to get support from family and friends when they can’t even understand what’s going on! I’m so excited that people have found this infographic helpful ❤

      And yes – finding people who just 'get it' is an amazing encouragement! *hugs* You are not alone xx

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