The Dysautonomia cheat sheet

What is Dysautonomia?

Dysautonomia is a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system - the system that’s supposed to run in the background and keep you stable. Heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, temperature regulation… all the things you shouldn’t have to think about suddenly require constant management. It’s like having a car where the automatic systems fail, and you’re forced to manually control the engine while still trying to drive.

Now add layers of chronic pain to that.

How it affect you other than physically

Many people with chronic illness become expert at over-functioning because they have to. So they push through fatigue, override pain signals, and keep showing up long after their body has hit its limit.

From the outside, it looks like resilience. Internally, it comes at a cost: a slow erosion of health - and self-worth.

Because when your “best” fluctuates daily, and your effort is invisible, it’s easy to start measuring yourself against a standard you were never operating under to begin with. You’re doing life with a system that misfires. Yet the expectation (from others, and eventually yourself) stays the same. 

The reticular activating system distortion

This is where the reticular activating system (RAS) comes in - the brain’s filtering and prioritizing network. It decides what gets your attention, what feels important, and what your mind tags as “worth noticing.”

For most people, the RAS is shaped by relatively stable inputs: consistent energy, predictable feedback, and a nervous system that isn’t constantly in survival mode.

For someone with dysautonomia and chronic pain, the inputs are very different:

- Fatigue interrupts focus

- Pain competes for attention

- Stress signals are amplified

- Small wins are overshadowed by physical setbacks

The result? Your internal filter become biased toward limitation, and “what’s not working” because your nervous system is trying to protect you. This is why “just think positive” or “manifest better circumstances” often falls flat.

You’re not starting from the same baseline. Your system is busy stabilizing, not scanning for opportunity.

So what helps?

Not forcing optimism, but changing inputs in a way your system can actually process.

• Lower the noise: Reduce unnecessary sensory and emotional overload where possible

• Define small wins: Give your brain clear, achievable signals of completion daily

• Work WITH your energy levels: Consistency beats effort every time

• Build predictable routines: Stability helps retrain your internal filter

• Protect pockets of autonomy: Even short, uninterrupted time for yourself matters more than people realize

Most importantly: stop equating productivity with worth.

If your body requires more regulation, more rest, more awareness just to function, then maintaining your life is already work. Real work.

You’re not behind; you’re operating under different conditions.

And when you start adjusting your environment and expectations to match that reality, your system - slowly, steadily - gets a better signal to work with.