Description

Dizziness is a term that people use to describe a variety of sensations, such as feeling faint, woozy, weak or unsteady. The sense that you or your surroundings are spinning or moving more precisely called vertigo.

Sickness is one of the most common reasons for adults to see a health professional. Frequent attacks of vertigo or dizziness constant can have serious effects on your life. But dizziness rarely means that you have a life-threatening condition.

The treatment of dizziness depends on the cause and the symptoms. Treatment often helps, but the symptoms may come back.

Symptoms

People who have attacks of vertigo may describe symptoms such as:

  • A sensation of movement or spinning, also called vertigo.
  • Dizziness or feeling faint.
  • Loss of balance, or the feeling of not feeling stable.
  • A sensation of floating, wooziness or heavy on the head.

These feelings can be triggered or aggravated by standing, walking or movement of your head. Dizziness can happen along with an upset stomach. Or dizziness can be so sudden and severe that you need to sit or lie down. The fight can last seconds or days, and can re-appear.

When to see a doctor

In general, consult your health care professional if you have any repeated, sudden, severe or long-lasting dizziness or vertigo without a clear cause.

Get emergency medical help if you have new, severe dizziness or vertigo along with any of the following:

  • The pain as a sudden, severe headache or chest pain.
  • Rapid or irregular heartbeat.
  • The loss of feeling or movement in the arms or legs, tripping or difficulty walking or loss of feeling or weakness in your face.
  • Difficulty breathing.
  • Fainting or seizure (convulsions).
  • Problems with the eyes or the ears, such as double vision, or a sudden change in the audience.
  • Confusion or difficulty speaking.
  • Vomiting.

Causes

Dizziness has many possible causes. These include conditions that affect the inner ear, motion sickness and medication side effects. In very rare cases, dizziness may be caused by a condition such as poor circulation, infection or injury.

The way dizziness makes you feel and the things that trigger you to provide clues about the possible causes. How long the dizziness lasts and any other symptoms that may also help health care professionals to pinpoint the cause.

Inner ear conditions that cause dizziness due to vertigo

Your sense of balance depends on the combined input from the various parts of your sensory system. These include your:

  • The eyes, that will help you figure out where your body is in space and how it moves.
  • The sensory nerves, which send messages to the brain about the body's movements and positions.
  • Inner ear, which houses the sensors that help to detect the gravity and back-and-forth motion.

Vertigo is the sensation that your surroundings are spinning or moving. With the inner ear conditions, your brain receives signals from the inner ear that do not match up with what your eyes and sensory nerves are receiving. Vertigo is what results as your brain works to sort out the confusion.

  • Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). This condition causes an intense and short in the sense that you're spinning or moving. These attacks are triggered by a rapid change in the movement of the head. These changes in the movement of the head can happen when you turn over in bed, sitting, or receives a blow to the head. BPPV is the most common cause of vertigo.
  • The Viral infection. A viral infection called vestibular neuritis can cause intense, constant vertigo. It is an infection of the main nerve leading from the inner ear to the brain, called the vestibular nerve. If you also have sudden hearing loss, you may have a condition called labyrinthitis. It can be caused by a virus, and it affects the nerve in the brain that controls balance and hearing.
  • Migraine. People who suffer from migraines may have attacks of vertigo or other types of vertigo, even when you are not having severe headaches. Such vertigo episodes can last from minutes to hours. They can be linked with headache, as well as with the fact of being sensitive to light and noise.
  • Meniere's disease. This rare disease is the accumulation of excess fluid in the inner ear. Causes sudden bouts of vertigo that can last for hours. It can also cause hearing loss that may come and go, ringing in the ear, and the sensation of stuffiness in the ear.

The circulation problems that cause dizziness

You may feel dizzy, weak or out of balance, if it is too little blood reaches your brain. The causes are:

  • Drop in blood pressure. A form of low blood pressure called orthostatic hypotension can make you briefly feel faint or dizzy. This type of low blood pressure that occurs after sitting up or standing too quickly.
  • Poor circulation of the blood. Conditions such as cardiomyopathy, heart attack, irregular heartbeat, and transient ischemic attack may cause dizziness. Also, a fall in the total of the amount of blood flowing through the body can cause the brain or the inner ear does not receive enough blood.

Other causes of dizziness

The dizziness can be the result of conditions or circumstances such as these:

  • Diseases of the nervous system. Some conditions that affect the brain, spinal cord, or the parts of the body are controlled by nerves, can lead to a loss of balance, that gets worse with time. These conditions include Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.
  • Drugs. Dizziness can be a side effect of certain medications. These include anti-seizure medications, antidepressants, sedatives, and tranquilizers. Medicines that reduce high blood pressure can cause fainting if you lower the blood pressure too.
  • The anxiety disorders. Certain types of anxiety can cause dizziness or lightheaded feeling often referred to as dizziness. These include panic attacks and fear of leaving home or being in large, open spaces. This fear is called agoraphobia.
  • Anemia. There are several conditions that result in having too few healthy red blood cells, also called anemia. Other symptoms that may occur along with dizziness if you have anemia include fatigue, weakness, and paleness of the skin.
  • Low blood sugar. Another name for this is hypoglycemia. This condition usually occurs in people with diabetes who use insulin to help lower blood sugar. Dizziness may occur along with the sweating, and anxiety. If you miss a meal and hunger, which may cause unpleasant symptoms, but this is not considered as hypoglycemia.
  • Carbon monoxide poisoning. The symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are often described as similar to the flu. Symptoms include headache, dizziness, weakness, upset stomach, vomiting, chest pain and confusion.
  • Overheating or not enough hydration. If you're active in hot weather or if you do not drink enough fluids, you may feel dizzy from overheating or not to be sufficiently hydrated. The risk is even greater if you take certain medications for the heart.

Risk factors

Factors that may increase the risk of dizziness include:

  • Age. Older adults are more likely to have health conditions that can cause dizziness, especially the sense of least balance. They are also more likely to take medications that can cause dizziness.
  • A past episode of dizziness. If you've had dizziness before, you are more prone to motion sickness in the future.

Complications

Dizziness can lead to other health problems called complications. For example, you may increase the risk of falling and hurting yourself. Get dizzy while driving a car, or of the execution of heavy machinery can make an accident more likely. You can also have long-term complications if not treated for a health condition that may be the cause of your dizziness.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis involves the steps of your health care professional need to find the cause of your dizziness or vertigo. You may need imaging tests such as mri or a ct scan immediately if your healthcare provider thinks that you might be having or have had a stroke. You may also need one of these imaging tests if you are older or had a blow to the head.

Your healthcare provider will ask about your symptoms and the medicines you take. Then it is likely that you will have a physical exam. During this exam, your health care professional checks the way you walk and maintain your balance. The major nerves of your central nervous system are also checked to ensure that it is working.

You may also need a hearing test and the balance of the evidence, including:

  • Movement of the eyes of the test. Your healthcare provider can see the path of your eyes when you track a moving object. And you may give an eye movement test in which water or air is placed in the ear canal.
  • The movement of the test head. If the vertigo can be caused by benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), your health care professional can make a simple movement of the test head. It is called the Dix-hallpike maneuver, and you can confirm that you have BPPV.
  • Posturography. This test tells your health care professional that parts of the system of balance depends on the majority, and the parties may be giving you problems. You are standing barefoot on a platform and try to keep the balance under different conditions.
  • Rotary chair test. During this test, you sit in a computer controlled by the chair which moves very slowly in a full circle. At higher speeds, it moves back and forth in a small arc.

You also may be given blood tests to detect the infection. You may need other tests to check your heart and blood vessel health, too.

Treatment

Dizziness often improves without treatment. The body usually adapts to whatever is causing the disease within a couple of weeks.

If you seek treatment, your treatment is based on the cause of your condition and your symptoms. Treatment may include medications and balance exercises. Even if the cause is not found or if your dizziness is still happening, prescription medications and other treatments can make your symptoms improve.

Drugs

  • Water pills. If you have Meniere's disease, your healthcare provider may prescribe a water pill, also called a diuretic. This medication along with a diet low in salt can help to have attacks of dizziness with less frequency.
  • The medications that relieve dizziness and upset stomach. Your healthcare provider may prescribe medicines to provide fast relief of vertigo, dizziness, and upset stomach. These drugs include the prescription of antihistamines and anticholinergics. Many of these medications can cause drowsiness.
  • Anti-anxiety medications. Diazepam (Valium) and alprazolam (Xanax) are in a class of medications called benzodiazepines. These can cause addiction. It can also cause drowsiness.
  • Preventive medicine for migraine. Certain medicines can help prevent migraine attacks.

Therapy

  • Position of the head of the movement. A technique called canalith repositioning, or the Epley maneuver, which consists of a series of movements of the head. The technique usually helps benign paroxysmal positional vertigo get better and more quickly than just waiting for the dizziness to go away. It can be performed by a health care professional, an audiologist or a physical therapist. It often works after one or two treatments. Before you get canalith repositioning, tell your health care professional if you have a neck or back condition, a retinal detachment, or a condition that affects the blood vessels.
  • The Balance of the therapy. You can learn exercises to help make your balance system less sensitive to the movement. This physical therapy technique is called vestibular rehabilitation. It's used for people with vertigo from inner ear conditions such as vestibular neuritis.
  • Talk therapy. This involves talking with a psychologist, psychiatrist, or other mental health professional. This type of therapy can help people whose dizziness is caused by anxiety.

Surgery or other procedures

  • Injections. Your health care professional may be able to inject your inner ear with the antibiotic gentamicin. This medication prevents the inner ear balance function. The other healthy ear assume that role.
  • The removal of the inner ear sensory organs. A treatment that is rarely used is called labyrinthectomy. A surgeon removes parts of the ear that can cause vertigo. This causes the complete loss of hearing in the affected ear. The other ear, assumes the function of balance. This technique can be used if you have severe hearing loss and dizziness has not improved following other treatments.

Lifestyle and home remedies

If you tend to have repeated episodes of dizziness, follow these tips:

  • Be aware of the risk of losing balance. This can lead to falls and serious injuries. Walking with a cane for balance, if necessary. And try not to make a quick or sudden movements.
  • Fall-proof your home. Remove tripping hazards such as area rugs and exposed electrical wires. Use non-slip grip of the plates in your bath and shower floors. The use of good lighting.
  • Sit or lie down immediately when you feel dizzy. Lie still with your eyes closed in a darkened room, if you have an important episode of vertigo.
  • Do not drive a car or run heavy machinery if you often feel dizzy, without prior notice.
  • Limit the use of caffeine, alcohol, salt and tobacco. Using too much of these substances can make their symptoms worse.
  • Drink enough fluids, eat a healthy diet, getting enough sleep and managing stress.
  • If your dizziness comes with an upset stomach, try medications called antihistamines. Get the kind that are sold without a prescription. Examples include meclizine (Dramamine Less Drowsy) and dimenhydrinate (Dramamine). These might make you feel drowsy. But the antihistamines that do not have this side effect are not as effective.

If you know why you feel dizzy, you may take such measures as the following:

  • If vertigo is caused by a medication, talk with your health care professional about the reduction of the dose or how secure the suspension of the drug.
  • If the dizziness is caused by overheating or not to be sufficiently hydrated, rest in a cool place and drink water or a sports drink (Gatorade, Powerade, others).

Preparing for your appointment

Your primary health care professional will probably be able to find and treat the cause of your dizziness. You may be referred to an ear, nose, and throat doctor called an otolaryngologist. Or you can see a doctor called a neurologist that deals with conditions of the brain and nervous system.

Here's some information to help you prepare for your appointment.

What you can do

Have a family member or friend with you to the appointment if you can. Someone who goes with you can help you remember the information that is obtained. Other things to do before your appointment are:

  • Be aware of the restrictions before the appointment. Ask your health care professional if there is anything that you need to do before your check-up. For example, you may need to restrict your diet. If you need to test vestibular, your health care team will give you instructions about medicines that should not be taken the night before. You are given information about what to eat the day of the test.
  • Be prepared to describe the dizziness in specific terms. When you have an attack of vertigo, does it feel like the room is spinning, or that you are spinning in the room? Do you feel as if you might faint? The description of these symptoms is key to helping your health care professional to find the cause.
  • List any other health conditions or symptoms that you have. Include any that do not seem to be related to the dizziness. For example, if you have been feeling depressed or anxious recently, this is important information for your health care team.
  • The list of personal information, including any major stresses or recent life changes.
  • Make a list of all medications, vitamins or supplements you take. They include the medications and supplements you bought with or without a prescription.
  • List of questions to ask your health care professional.

For motion sickness, some basic questions to ask your health care professional include:

  • What is the most likely cause of my symptoms?
  • There are other possible causes of the symptoms?
  • What tests do you recommend?
  • Is this problem likely to be short-term or long-term?
  • It is possible that my symptoms will go away without treatment?
  • What treatment options might help?
  • I need to follow any kind of restrictions? For example, it is safe for my car?
  • You should see a specialist?
  • There is a generic version of the medicine you're prescribing?
  • Do you have any brochures or other printed material that I can take my house? What sites do you recommend?

What to expect from your doctor

Your healthcare provider will likely ask questions such as:

  • Can you describe what I felt the first time you felt dizzy?
  • Is the dizziness continuous, or does not happen in a combat or spells? If the dizziness that happens in the fighting, how long do these episodes last?
  • What is the frequency of dizziness fighting happen? When do they seem to happen, and what triggers?
  • Does your dizziness causes the room to spin, or to produce a feeling of movement?
  • When you feel dizzy, do you also feel weak or dizzy? Do you lose your balance?
  • Do your symptoms occur along with a ringing or fullness in your ears, problems with hearing or vision blurred?
  • Is the dizziness gets worse when you move your head?
  • What medications, vitamins or supplements that you are taking?

What you can do in the meantime

If you tend to feel dizzy when you stand up, taking their time to make changes in posture. If you have had episodes of dizziness while driving, ask someone to take you in the weeks prior to his professional check-up. For example, you could ask a family member or friend to the unit as necessary. Or you can use a shuttle service a shared or public transport.

If the dizziness makes you feel like you might fall, take steps to reduce your risk. Keep your home well-lit and free of hazards that can cause you to trip. Remove the carpets and clean exposed electrical cables. Place furniture where you are not likely to collide with him. And use a non-slip grip mats in the bathtub and on shower floors.

Symptoms and treatment of Dizziness