It can be described in many ways. The room feels like it is spinning. You feel an unsteadiness on your feet. You may feel faint, or like your head is swimming. Whatever it feels like, you probably describe the feeling in just one word: "dizzy." Dizziness causes are just as varied as the words used to describe the feeling it gives you.
Dizziness can be caused by a wide range of things. These can range from quite serious and irreversible to very mild and fleeting.
Among dizziness causes are inner ear disorders, including the fluid-imbalance known as Meniere's disease, blood or circulatory problems such as irregular heartbeat, hardening of the arteries, high cholesterol, anemia or low blood pressure, nervous-system problems such as brain tumors, head injury or multiple sclerosis, illnesses such as diabetes, syphilis, arthritis and AIDS, anxiety attacks, allergies, cataracts and also reactions to a wide range of drugs. These can include blood pressure medications, alcohol, caffeine or nicotine. By just trying to adjust to bifocal glasses or standing up very quickly can cause symptoms of dizziness.
Treatment varies accordingly. Medications, including antihistamines, tranquilizers or diuretics (water-loss pills) are sometimes prescribed, although there isn't proof of the effectiveness of some of these treatments. Balance exercises are sometimes suggested, as are various types of inner ear and even brain surgery.
Often, dizziness goes away by itself. If you injure one ear, for instance, your brain may compensate within a few weeks by using only the information from the unharmed ear. Other times, sensations of dizziness can't be cured, and people have to learn to live with the unpleasant or even debilitating sensations.
It's not just cures that may be elusive. Many people never arrive at a definitive diagnosis of the cause of their dizziness. Since the dizziness causes are so varied it is an elusive problem to get diagnosed.
The source of the confusion lies both in the difficulty of describing and measuring dizziness and the complexity of the body's balance system.
We derive our sense of where we are in space through information sent to the brain by our eyes and sensory receptors in our muscles and joints. Those messages are analyzed together with information sent to the brain from the balance mechanism of the inner ear, a system nearly identical to the one for hearing. Tiny hair cells in the inner ear, bathed in specialized fluids, detect head motion the way other hair cells detect sound waves.
A problem at any level -- joints, muscles, eyes, ears, brain -- can throw off your sense of balance.
Dizziness covers many areas so it may be hard to know what kind of doctor to see. The first step is probably seeing your family doctor and from there you may be referred to another type of doctor who specializes in another area of expertise.
Dizziness causes run a wide range of disorders. And, while the symptoms can often be maddening it can be a problem that is difficult to get to the bottom of the cause and treatment.
Dizziness can be caused by a wide range of things. These can range from quite serious and irreversible to very mild and fleeting.
Among dizziness causes are inner ear disorders, including the fluid-imbalance known as Meniere's disease, blood or circulatory problems such as irregular heartbeat, hardening of the arteries, high cholesterol, anemia or low blood pressure, nervous-system problems such as brain tumors, head injury or multiple sclerosis, illnesses such as diabetes, syphilis, arthritis and AIDS, anxiety attacks, allergies, cataracts and also reactions to a wide range of drugs. These can include blood pressure medications, alcohol, caffeine or nicotine. By just trying to adjust to bifocal glasses or standing up very quickly can cause symptoms of dizziness.
Treatment varies accordingly. Medications, including antihistamines, tranquilizers or diuretics (water-loss pills) are sometimes prescribed, although there isn't proof of the effectiveness of some of these treatments. Balance exercises are sometimes suggested, as are various types of inner ear and even brain surgery.
Often, dizziness goes away by itself. If you injure one ear, for instance, your brain may compensate within a few weeks by using only the information from the unharmed ear. Other times, sensations of dizziness can't be cured, and people have to learn to live with the unpleasant or even debilitating sensations.
 |
| Dizziness Causes |
It's not just cures that may be elusive. Many people never arrive at a definitive diagnosis of the cause of their dizziness. Since the dizziness causes are so varied it is an elusive problem to get diagnosed.
The source of the confusion lies both in the difficulty of describing and measuring dizziness and the complexity of the body's balance system.
We derive our sense of where we are in space through information sent to the brain by our eyes and sensory receptors in our muscles and joints. Those messages are analyzed together with information sent to the brain from the balance mechanism of the inner ear, a system nearly identical to the one for hearing. Tiny hair cells in the inner ear, bathed in specialized fluids, detect head motion the way other hair cells detect sound waves.
A problem at any level -- joints, muscles, eyes, ears, brain -- can throw off your sense of balance.
Dizziness covers many areas so it may be hard to know what kind of doctor to see. The first step is probably seeing your family doctor and from there you may be referred to another type of doctor who specializes in another area of expertise.
Dizziness causes run a wide range of disorders. And, while the symptoms can often be maddening it can be a problem that is difficult to get to the bottom of the cause and treatment.
