When a person feels light-head, dizzy, faint, loses balance, or spinning the things around him, he/she is suffering from dizziness. It is a most common problem nowadays among adults and older people. It is not a disease itself but a symptom of various other diseases. It is a condition that can be easily resolved independently, but in severe cases, it can be life-threatening or requires proper medication and treatment.

If you rarely feel dizziness, this is not something to worry about. But if you feel dizziness often, you should contact your doctor immediately.

Types of Dizziness


There are the following types of dizziness that are most commonly observed and prevalent in people;

  • Presyncope: It is a lightheaded feeling, and you may experience it while sitting, standing, or jumping quickly. It happens because the blood does not reach the brain.
  • Vertigo: It is a sensation of spinning things around, and it can happen suddenly or stop in the same way. Double vision, numbness, and weakness are the leading causes of vertigo.
  • Disequilibrium: A sensation of unbalance while standing may happen due to some neurological disorder.

Causes of Dizziness

Following are the leading causes of dizziness;

  • Vertigo: It is an inner ear problem that causes dizziness. Our eyes, ear, and brain are connected in a complex network. When any disorder happens in the inner ear, eyes, and nerves, signals do not match the ear. The brain functioning gets disturbed, and the person starts to feel the spinning of the things around him, which creates dizziness. Vertigo is caused by BPPV, a sudden change in the normal position of the head.
  • Migraine: It refers to severe pain in the head. A disturbance also causes it in normal brain functioning. If a person does not have severe headaches, he can feel vertigo or other dizziness.
  • Orthostatic hypotension: A sudden drop in blood pressure is called orthostatic hypotension. It happens because of sitting, standing, or jumping fast. It is just for a short time but lasts for a more extended time in severe cases.
  • Arrhythmias: The heart problem also creates dizziness when it starts to beat suddenly too fast or too low in this condition. As a result, the speed of supplying the blood to the brain decreases, creating faintness.
  •  Anxiety: If a person feels anxiety or has panic attacks, he starts fast breathing and having dizziness.
  • Side effects of medication: The overdosage and side effects of the medicine can create dizziness.
  • Anemia: It is an iron deficiency in the body in which a person feels weak and lightheaded.
  • Dehydration: Our body does not get the proper amount of drinking fluids during the summer. Due to this, the body heats up, and a person starts to feel dizzy and faint. This condition is also called heat stroking.
  • Hypoglycemia: It refers to the lowness of sugar levels in the blood that appears in diabetic patients. The person starts to feel dizziness.

Symptoms of Dizziness

The symptoms can be mild or severe. Some common symptoms are listed below:

  • Headache
  • Numbness
  • Difficulty in breathing
  • Seizures
  • A feeling of the light head
  • Frequent and regular Fainting
  • Unsteadiness
  • Loss of consciousness
  • Neck ache
  • Vomiting
  • Blurred vision
  • Chest pain
  • Difficulty in speaking
  • Injury in head
  • Loss of hearing
  • Feelings of moving in water

Diagnoses of Dizziness

Your doctor will do the following test to examine dizziness:

  • Physical test: The doctor will examine your body by looking at your walk and checking how you maintain your balance. He can also ask you about the symptoms of dizziness.
  • Eyes test: Your doctor can check the movement of your eyes. He can also conduct a test to examine your eyesight.
  • Hearing test: The doctor can test your hearing ability by different sounds and vibrations.
  • Dix-Hall pike maneuver test: A ahead movement test to verify vertigo. Your doctor can ask you to rotate or move your head in different directions. This test will determine the severity or mildness of dizziness.
  • Blood pressure test: The doctor can check your blood pressure rate, which relates to dizziness’s severity.
  • Posture Test: This test is conducted to check the body posture. This test tells that on which body part you rely mostly. It also reveals which changes in the position cause dizziness.
  • Blood test: A blood test is used to examine the anemia. If a person suffers from anemia, he has a higher chance of dizziness.
  • MRI and CT scan: These tests are conducted for a detailed view of any structural abnormalities that causes dizziness.

Treatment of Dizziness:

The treatment of dizziness depends upon the diagnosis of its actual cause. Mostly it is treated at home, but severe cases need proper treatment. For this, the following treatment options can be used;

  • Medication: The first way of treating dizziness is through proper medication. Your doctor can prescribe antihistamines and anticholinergics for quick relief from vertigo. He can also prescribe medicines to treat migraine.
  • Therapies: Your doctor can advise you on different therapies to keep the balance and correct your body’s posture. These therapies are beneficial in treating dizziness. Psychotherapy is helpful for people with anxiety disorder.
  • Maneuver: A maneuver test is conducted to alleviate the symptoms of paroxysmal positional vertigo. It involves the treatment of the positioning of your head.
  • Surgeries and injections: Dizziness caused by inner ear disorder can be treated with surgery. Your doctor may also inject antibiotics in your ear to relieve the pain.

Risk Factors:

Here are some risk factors of having dizziness;

  • Age: People aged 50 have more chances of dizziness because of weakness and disequilibrium.
  • Head injury: People with any head injury are at higher risk of experiencing dizziness.
  • Heart problem: If a person is suffering from any heart problem, he/she has more chances of having dizziness for a more extended period.

Complications:

Here are some complications of having dizziness:

  • Dizziness can result in severe injury or road accidents while driving.
  • It also increases the risk of falling from the roof.
  • If any health disorder does not treat on time, it can give you long-term dizziness.

References:

  • https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dizziness/symptoms-causes/syc20371787#:~:text=Dizziness%20is%20a%20term%20used,reasons%20adults%20visit%20their%20do retrieved on March 29, 2022.
  • https://www.healthline.com/health/dizziness retrieved on March 29, 2022.
  • https://www.verywellhealth.com/when-dizziness-is-serious-2488861 retrieved on March 29, 2022.
  • https://patient.info/signs-symptoms/dizziness retrieved on March 29, 2022.