Everyone has felt dizziness at one time or another. When you were a kid and you used to spin around in circles until you couldn’t stand it. Or when you ride a roller coaster or the Ferris wheel and you feel lightheaded. Those all give you some kind of dizziness. Usually dizziness occurs when you have a problem with your line of sight, your nervous system and your inner ears. When all or one of those things has a problem than you get the sensation of feeling dizzy. When you spin around for a long time, your inner ear gets confused and your senses get muddled as well from all the repetitive circular movement. And when you suddenly stop, your senses take some time to get used to the sudden lack of movement so you feel dizzy for a while.
Dizziness isn’t just feeling a little headache or a little lightheaded, there are actually serious medical terms for the different kinds of dizziness. Medical practitioners actually classify dizziness into three categories: Vertigo, Disequilibrium, and Pre-syncopate.
Before talking about the three kinds of dizziness there are some symptoms of dizziness that you should know about. Nausea, loosing your balance, lightheadedness, faintness, weakness and blurred vision after quick head movements are all symptoms of dizziness. Dizziness isn’t serious until it becomes recurring. You might want to see your doctor if your dizziness keeps coming back and persists for a long time.
As we said, normally you need three things to keep your balance and to keep from feeling dizzy: your eyes, your nerves and your inner ear. You need visual signs to know where you are and the space you’re in. Visual signs keep you grounded and stable. You need your nerves to tell you where and how your body is moving. For example, the nerves in your feet tell your brain that you’re on solid ground. Finally you need your inner ear to monitor the rotation of your head and keep it in sync with the gravity of the Earth. The bones and sensory organs in your ear actually keep you balanced with the land you’re stepping on. If one or more of these senses aren’t working then you get dizzy.
Now, the three different kinds of dizziness, first is vertigo. Vertigo is when you feel like the room is spinning around you. It often causes nausea and even vomiting because of the sickening sensation people get from it. Vertigo is usually caused by a problem with the inner ear from diseases like Meniere’s disease, which is the build up of fluid in the inner ear. And diseases like BPPV or Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo can also create a sense of vertigo for someone. In BPPV, calcium actually breaks off into your ear and when it moves within your inner ear it causes a sense of spinning. The inflammation of the inner ear and the build up of fluid there cause vertigo as well. And people with Vestibular migraines are extremely sensitive to motion and quick head movements can set off an attack too. However, sometimes the inner ear isn’t the problem at all. In rare cases the brain itself has a problem but when there is a neurological problem often vertigo is accompanied by slurred speech and double vision.
Disequilibrium is simply feeling like you’re loosing your balance. This condition is associated with falling down and not any nausea or vomiting. Again, it may be caused by inner ear problems and also problems with sensory nerves that help you keep your balance. And medications like anti-seizure drugs also cause disequilibrium or a sense of being off-balance.
Pre-syncope is when you feel faint or lightheaded, like when you stand up to fast and feel like you might fall. Usually pre-syncope occurs because of orthostatic hypotension which is when the blood pressure drops because of a sudden shift in body position. It can also be caused by not enough blood being pumped from the heart. A blocked artery, a decrease in blood volume, abnormal heart rhythm or heart disease can cause pre-syncope especially if the person is excited or in a state of heightened emotion.
The treatment for dizziness depends on the cause. You may just be lightheaded from skipping lunch or there may be a more serious cause. You may need an operation on your inner ear, or maybe medication for blood flow. Dizziness is actually a symptom for many things, so if the dizziness you feel is recurrent and consistent you might want to see your doctor. If you feel severe headaches, blurred vision, loss of consciousness, numbness, falling or difficulty walking, hearing loss or speech impairment than you should consider going to your doctor for a check up.
Don’t be fooled by a simple dizzy spell. Your body is like a finely tuned machine, little signs like headaches and stomachaches that tell you what it needs and what it wants.
Find out more by viewing the Human Anatomy page:
Autonomic nervous system
Central nervous system
Medication commonly used for these disease:
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Transderm Scop, which is generically prescribed as scopolamine topical, is commonly used to relieve nausea, vomiting, and dizziness that is typically associated with motion sickness. Transderm Scop is a member of the family of medications known as anticho more...
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Antivert, which is generically prescribed as meclizine, is commonly used to treat the effects of motion sickness such as nausea, vomiting, and dizziness. In some cases it has been proven to help in treating vertigo. Antivert is a member of the family of more...
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Dramamine is an over the counter antiemetic; that is, a medication designed to help alleviate nausea and vomiting. It is taken in fifty milligram tablets every four to six hours, though children should only take it every six to eight hours. It also come more...
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Betahistine, also known as Betahistine hydrochloride, is a generic prescription drug indicated for balance disorders like vertigo (a spinning sensation that causes nausea) and Meniere’s disease (a build-up of fluid in the inner ear). It is a histamine ago more...
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