06 Nov Exploring the Relationship Between Dizziness and Chronic Health Conditions
Dizziness is a disorienting sensation that may leave you feeling lightheaded, unsteady, or as if the room is spinning around you. Rather than being a disease itself, dizziness acts as a symptom, signaling that something may be affecting your body’s equilibrium. Here is some information about the relationship between dizziness and chronic health conditions:
Evaluating Neurological Conditions
Neurological conditions often exhibit dizziness as a primary or secondary symptom. Disorders of the inner ear can present with sudden, intense vertigo attacks. Alongside dizziness, symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, or balance problems, which often disrupt daily tasks or compromise personal safety. Some conditions include:
- Meniere’s disease: This condition tends to strike in unpredictable episodes, leading to hearing loss, tinnitus, and pressure in one ear. The vertigo experienced during an episode can be severe, forcing a person to lie down until it subsides.
- Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo: In BPPV, tiny calcium crystals become displaced within your inner ear. As you move or change the position of your head, such as lying down, turning over in bed, or looking up, you might feel brief but intense spinning sensations.
- Vestibular migraines: These sometimes cause dizziness and imbalance, even in the absence of a classic, painful headache. Episodes may last from minutes to hours, often triggered by stress, certain foods, or hormonal changes.
Reviewing Medication Side Effects
A range of prescribed, over-the-counter, and herbal medications may list dizziness as a possible or common side effect. Medications that manage high blood pressure may lower blood pressure too far, causing a feeling of faintness, especially when standing up quickly. These effects can lead to unsteadiness or an increased fall risk, especially in older adults. Certain antidepressants and anti-seizure drugs influence chemicals in the brain, potentially resulting in episodes of dizziness or general unsteadiness. These side effects are usually temporary, but they could result in lingering impairments. Reviewing medication usage and discussing your symptoms with your healthcare team is a step in finding safer treatment options.
Addressing Circulation
Stable circulation plays a role in helping you feel physically steady. Conditions that reduce or disrupt blood flow to the brain often show up as dizziness. Orthostatic hypotension, characterized by a sudden drop in blood pressure when standing, commonly affects older adults. This sensation may appear as brief bouts of lightheadedness or blurriness after standing up from a chair or bed. Heart-related chronic conditions, including heart failure, arrhythmias, and blocked arteries, may diminish oxygen delivery to the brain and the inner ear. The buildup of plaques in the arteries can block or limit blood flow, sometimes resulting in dizziness or fainting, particularly during physical activity.
Anemia and diabetes can also contribute to unstable blood flow. Anemia results in a deficiency of healthy red blood cells that carry oxygen. Diabetes, through long-term blood vessel and nerve damage, may cause erratic drops in blood pressure and subsequent loss of balance. In these cases, managing the underlying circulatory disorder often helps reduce related dizziness.
Treat Dizziness Today
Dizziness often indicates an underlying chronic health condition, and identifying its cause requires a thorough evaluation. Whether the source relates to your nervous system, medication usage, or blood circulation, addressing dizziness involves collaboration with healthcare professionals who will create an individualized plan. Discussing your complete medical history, including any other symptoms and all medications, provides your team with valuable context. Contact a specialist today to schedule a consultation.
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