Dizziness refers to a variety of uncomfortable feelings including lightheadedness and physical unsteadiness. Dizziness can be caused by a variety of factors, including your external surroundings, drug use, or underlying diseases. Recurrent dizziness or severe dizzy episodes can have a substantial impact on the quality of your life. While this is rarely a reason for a medical emergency, you should be educated well to spot the signs.
Learn more about the possible causes of dizziness.
A migraine is a recurrent headache that induces throbbing or pulsating pain on one side of the head. This condition can produce various symptoms including dizziness. In fact, about 30–50% of people will experience dizziness during a migraine attack. You may experience dizziness right before or during a migraine attack. Another neurologic symptom, known as aura, might occur prior to the migraine headache. Aura can impair your eyesight, speech, and motor skills, resulting in dizziness.
Anemia is a condition that develops when the levels of iron in your blood become too low. As a result, your body doesn’t have enough oxygen-rich blood to supply all crucial organs. This can lead to dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pain, and fatigue. Making dietary changes to balance your iron levels can help treat anemia and prevent dizziness.
A sudden drop in blood pressure might create a feeling of dizziness. Blood pressure fluctuations might occur from standing up too rapidly from sitting or lying. Other conditions that might lead to a sudden drop in blood pressure include dehydration, loss of blood, anaphylaxis, and pregnancy. Certain drugs like diuretics, beta-blockers, and antidepressants, can also induce blood pressure fluctuations and lead to dizziness.
Hypoglycemia is a condition when your blood glucose (blood sugar) levels become lower than normal. This can lead to symptoms like dizziness, fatigue, headaches, mood changes, poor concentration, and irregular heartbeat. Common causes of hypoglycemia include excessive alcohol intake, hormonal imbalance, skipping meals, and taking certain medications. In some cases, when the levels of blood glucose become too low, hypoglycemia may need immediate treatment.
Chronic or long-term stress may lead to the development of serious health issues like depression, anxiety, heart disease, diabetes, or poor immune system function. In response to stress, your brain produces hormones that impact the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. These hormones cause blood vessels constriction, increase the heart rate, and cause shallow breathing. All of these issues can lead to dizziness or lightheadedness.
Dizziness is a common anxiety symptom. However, the link between these conditions may differ from person to person. Some people may have anxiety episodes that cause dizziness, while others may suffer a rapid onset of dizziness that causes an anxiety attack. Anxiety attacks can be triggered by stressful events like an exam or difficult life circumstances. During an anxiety episode, you may feel dizzy, confused, and nauseated.
Dizziness can be caused by conditions affecting the cardiovascular system. They include plaque accumulation in the arteries and congestive heart failure. Before or after a heart attack or stroke, people may experience dizziness or lightheadedness. Other symptoms of heart problems include irregular heartbeat, difficulty breathing, tightness in the chest, and extremities swelling. If you have these symptoms, contact a heart doctor immediately.
Many people think vertigo and dizziness are the same health problems. Although they produce comparable symptoms, these conditions are somewhat different. When you are dizzy, you may experience disorientation. Vertigo, on the other hand, is the unnatural feeling of movement. Because of vertigo, you may feel as though your surroundings are whirling or tilting. Vertigo is commonly caused by inner ear disorders like labyrinthitis or ménière’s disease.
