Health ShortsDizziness
Are You Dizzy? Or Lightheaded? If you go to a doctor with complaints of being dizzy, you will probably be asked to describe the nature of your dizziness. Do you feel lightheaded? Or is the world spinning around you?
Lightheadedness is a sign that the brain is not getting enough blood–usually because of a sudden but temporary drop in blood pressure or because you’re dehydrated. Many older persons feel dizzy when they rise suddenly from the bed or chair, and the solution is to pause a few seconds before starting to walk. Then drink a full glass of water. If the dizziness is due to a more serious problem such as a heart attack or stroke, you’ll probably have other symptoms such as chest pain, a racing heart or loss of speech or vision.
The feeling that the world is whirling is known as vertigo. The most common cause is benign positional vertigo, caused by shifts in calcium deposits in the inner ear canals and easily corrected through head rotation maneuvers in the doctor’s office. Other causes include labyrinthitis, which may follow a cold or the flu, and Meniere’s disease. Meniere’s disease involves a buildup of fluid in the labyrinth of the inner ear, causing a combination of fullness in the ear, roaring or ringing, fluctuating hearing loss and vertigo.
[SOURCE: Ronald H. Labuguen, “Initial Evaluation of Vertigo,” American Family Physician, January 15, 2006; MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, May 16, 2006]
Chronic Dizziness: What’s the Cause? A study of 345 men and women with chronic dizziness lasting three months or longer found that 60 percent had anxiety disorders. All but six subjects had psychiatric or neurological conditions. The researchers proposed the term “chronic subjective dizziness” for this type of nonspecific dizziness, described as “subjective imbalance and hypersensitivity to motion stimuli” in visual situations such as walking in a busy store or driving in the rain. [SOURCE: Rick Nauert, Ph.D., “Anxiety can cause chronic dizziness,” PsychCentral, February 20, 2007 from Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, February, 2007] If you have occasional bouts of feeling dizzy or lightheaded, it’s important to reduce your risk of suffering a serious injury from a fall or other mishap. • Sit or lie down immediately when you feel dizzy or lightheaded. • Fall proof your home by removing tripping hazards. Use non-slip mats for your bath and shower floors. • Avoid driving a car or operating machinery if your attacks are frequent. • Drink plenty of fluids if you have lightheadedness caused by position-related low blood pressure (orthostatic hypotension). Avoid excessive use of caffeine and alcohol, which have diuretic qualities. • Clench your fists and flex your ankles before getting up if you have orthostatic hypertension.
[SOURCE: “Dizziness,” MayoClinic.com,, July 12, 2008] When Dizziness Is an Emergency Although usually not a serious problem, symptoms of dizziness or lightheadedness represent a major medical problem in about five percent of cases. Call 911 immediately for anyone who has dizziness accompanied by: • convulsions or ongoing vomiting, • chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath, weakness, inability to move an arm or leg or a change in vision or speech, • a head injury, • fever over 101 degrees, headache or a very stiff neck.
[SOURCE: “Dizziness,” MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, reviewed by Daniel Kantor, M.D., updated by A.D.A.M. editorial team, May 16, 2006] | ArchiveAIDS & HIV |
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