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Probably the most common type of dysautonomia is acondition where altered autonomic nervous systemfunction worsens another disease process that happens tobe going on at the same time. For instance, when aperson shovels snow, the exercise and cold exposurewhile standing up activate the sympathetic nervoussystem, and this increases the blood pressure, pulse rate,and the force of the heartbeat, which are appropriateresponses. More blood is delivered to the heart muscle,which uses up oxygen because of the increased work ofthe heart. But if the person has severe coronary arterydisease, where the blood vessels that are supposed todeliver blood to the heart muscle are narrowed, the bloodsupply does not increase to meet the increased demandfor oxygen. This imbalance can lead to a heart attack orfatal abnormal heart rhythm. In other words, in thissituation, the increased sympathetic nervous systemoutflow would be appropriate, but the person ends upsuffering anyway, because of the worsening of anindependent disease.