The feelings of lightheadedness, floating, wooziness, feeling giddy, confused, helpless, or fuzziness are collectively termed as dizziness. Doctors generally use the terms as Vertigo, disequilibrium, and pre-syncope.
The term vertigo is generally attached with the condition of dizziness. The word "vertigo" comes from the Latin “vertere”(to turn), and “-igo”(a condition). Therefore it is a condition of turning about.
In vertigo, the room or the place around the person seems to turn around and spin, which is very disturbing. A feeling of nausea follows this.
Otherwise, dizziness can be a result of various other medical problems.
Everything from feeling faint or lightheaded to feeling weak or unsteady is described by the word dizziness.
Our sense of balance depends on our brain that processes a variety of information from our eyes, our nervous system, and our inner ears. But if the brain can't process signals from all of these sensory locations, or if the messages that are processed are contradictory, one might experience dizziness and loss of balance.
Causes of Dizziness
There can be various causes for dizziness. Some of the more general causes are as follows:
Viral infections
Disequilibrium or loss of balance
Disruption of the inner ear
Menier’s disease
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)
Low blood pressure
Postural or orthostatic hypotension or momentary drop in the blood pressure by sudden movement
Strong medicines
Vertebrobasilar insufficiency in the aged caused by arthritis of spine in the neck
Transient ischaemic attack or stroke
Anxiety
Panic attacks
Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
Drug treatments
Migraine
Abnormal heart rhythms
Stress and tiredness
Anaemia
Acute intoxication
Acoustic neuroma
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Dizziness Symptoms
Since most of us go through the suffering of dizziness sometime in our life, we are well aware of most of the symptoms of dizziness. Some of them are as follows:
Light-headedness
Feel wobbly on their feet
A feeling that the room is whirling around
Nausea
Vomiting
Intense headache
Memory changes
Odd behavior
Loss of consciousness
Dizziness Treatment
The treatment of dizziness depends on the cause and the symptoms as detected by the doctors. They are as follows:
BPPV
Canalith repositioning, a simple procedure that involves your doctor or physical therapist maneuvering the position of your head is used for treating BPPV. This is done to move the loose pieces inside the ear to place them at their position so as to stop causing dizziness. This process has a success rate of about 90%, but might need repetition.
Inner ear conditions
The use of balance retraining exercises (vestibular rehabilitation) is used to treat acute vestibular neuronitis. This is also called as the labyrinthitis. A physiotherapist teaches these exercises, and can be practiced at home.
Meniere's disease
Reducing your body’s fluid retention through diuretics or dietary changes is the treatment for Meniere’s disease. This includes low-salt diet. At certain cases, surgery is advised.
Vestibular migraine
If vertigo is associated with a vestibular migraine, the doctor will likely try to help you determine and avoid the cause that triggers off the attacks. This includes:
Avoiding certain foods
Reducing stress
Developing a regular sleep pattern
Aerobic exercises
Vestibular rehabilitation
Medicines
Anxiety disorders
This being a psychological trouble, counseling is advised.
Other conditions
The medical practitioner will be the best person to detect the actual cause of dizziness and render the necessary treatment.
Advice
The measures that can be adopted to avoid dizziness are as follows:
Regular health check ups
Regular exercise to keep the body fit
Good and healthy diet
Reduction of stress, etc
It must also be remembered that while the cause of dizziness can be harmless and temporary at times, at other times it might be a signal for some fatal disease like heart attack, cerebral stoke, etc.
