What causes autonomic neuropathy?
What causes autonomic neuropathy?
There are many underlying diseases and conditions that can lead to autonomic neuropathy. Medication side effects can also be a problem.
Primary causes of autonomic neuropathy include:
- Familial dysautonomia (Riley-Day syndrome)
- Idiopathic orthostatic hypotension (progressive autonomic failure)
- Multiple system atrophy with autonomic failure (Shy-Drager syndrome)
- Parkinson’s syndrome with autonomic failure
Secondary causes of autonomic neuropathy include:
- Amyloidosis (abnormal protein build-up)
- Autoimmune neuropathies (i.e., Guillain-Barre syndrome, myasthenia gravis, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren’s syndrome, and systemic lupus erythematosus)
- Carcinomatous autonomic neuropathy (often related to small-cell lung cancer
- Deconditioning (a decrease in function due to inactivity or illness)
- Diabetes and pre-diabetes
- Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
- Lyme disease (a disease transmitted by ticks and causing flu-like symptoms)
- Nutritional deficiencies (i.e., vitamins B1, B3, B6, and B12)
- Paraneoplastic syndromes (disorders caused by an immune response to cancer)
- Physical trauma, surgery, pregnancy, or viral illness
- Porphyria (an enzyme disorder that mainly causes skin and/or nerve problems)
- Toxicity (i.e., alcoholism, chemotherapy drugs, and heavy metal poisoning)
- Treatment with medicines, including chemotherapy and anticholinergic drugs