Introduction
A lot of people experience dizziness and it is not normally an indication of anything serious, but your GP should check you out just to make sure. The word “dizziness” means various things to different people – some people use it when they feel like fainting, while others use it when they feel like everything is spinning. Since the symptom is fairly vague and can be due to a wide range of conditions, it may not be easy to determine the main cause of what makes a person feel dizzy.
Visiting Your GP
If you feel faint or dizzy, tell your GP to check it out, especially if you experience things such as constant headaches and episodes of fainting.
Your GP will initially first determine what you mean when you say you are feeling faint and dizzy, and check to see if you are not experiencing vertigo – a severe kind of dizziness, where it feels everything is constantly spinning and moving around you.
The GP might also check to see:
- Whether the dizziness is sudden, or started after a certain condition such as an infection.
- Whether you have regular incidents of dizziness and, if so, when do these normally occur.
- The duration that the dizziness lasts for.
An ear infection can also cause dizziness sometimes. A quick method of distinguishing between ear-related dizziness is to determine whether it occurs when you are lying down or walking around.
Dizziness and faintness that happens when you stand is probably not associated to the ear. However, dizziness that takes place when you’re lying down is normally a bacterial-related ear infection.
What Are The Causes Of Dizziness
The most expected causes of dizziness are listed as follows:
- Migraine – dizziness may occur if you suffer from a migraine or headache.
- Stress or anxiety – if you hyperventilate (breathe rapidly when resting).
- Hypoglycaemia – you may experience dizziness if you have low sugar which is usually seen in people who are diabetic.
- Dehydration or heat stroke – dehydration could be caused by not drinking sufficient water when exercising, or an infection that causes vomiting, diarrhoea or fever.
- Vertebrobasilar deficiency – there is a reduced flow of blood to the back of the brain, which might be because the blood vessels that join to the brain may be blocked (which is also known as atherosclerosis).
Causes of Dizziness That Are Less Expected
- Having a serious infection or disorder that disrupts the entire body.
- Using illegal drugs or having vast quantities of alcohol
- Particular types of prescription medicine – such as blood pressure medication.
- Having an irregular heartbeat or atrial fibrillation (a rapid, irregular heartbeat).
- Poisoning from carbon monoxide.