What to do if the head is spinning for a week. Causes of constant and severe dizziness

Dizziness (Vertigo)- a feeling of involuntary movement of one's own body in space or the movement of surrounding objects relative to one's body.

The feeling of dizziness is accompanied by a feeling of unsteadiness, loss of balance, and sometimes it may even seem that the floor is moving out from under your feet.

Dizziness is usually a harmless feeling and happens to almost everyone, but if it recurs regularly, especially if it can be described as severe dizziness, then you need to see a doctor. this may indicate the presence of any disease.

Most often, dizziness occurs with a sharp change in body position, head injuries, exposure to toxic substances (alcohol, smoking, drugs), etc.

In the global community, dizziness is more familiar under a different name - Vertigo.

Identification

Dizziness - ICD-10: R11; ICD-9: 787.0
Vertigo - ICD-10: H81, R42; ICD-9: 780.4; MeSH: D014717

Types of dizziness

Vertigo doctors classify as follows:

Central vertigo- appears due to disorders and / or diseases of the brain. It can be injuries, hemorrhages, tumors.

Peripheral dizziness- occurs as a result of exposure to or damage to the inner ear or vestibular nerve.

Systemic dizziness- occurs due to a malfunction in one of the systems that are responsible for orientation in space: visual, vestibular or muscular. This type requires careful diagnosis and complex treatment.

Non-systemic (physiological) dizziness- can be caused by neurogenic causes (stress, depression, overwork) or due to a lack of glucose (with low-carbohydrate diets, starvation).

Of course, sometimes the reason is much simpler than it might seem, for example: a person got out of bed too quickly on his feet, or he was sick on a boat, an attraction, etc. In this case, the reason is the discrepancy between visual images and physical sensations. This attack goes away on its own.

Additional symptoms and various laboratory methods of research can help to figure out which disease caused vertigo.

Symptoms of dizziness

Signs of dizziness may include the following symptoms:

- the illusion of movement (spinning), especially when standing up or turning the head;
- double vision;
- loss of balance;
— ;
— , ;
- hyperhidrosis;
- heaviness in the head;
- darkening in the eyes;
— ;
- ringing in the ears, hearing loss, discharge from the ears.

In addition, in some diseases, dizziness may be accompanied by:

- discomfort, pain and limited movement in the cervical spine (with);
- violation of speech, muscle sensitivity and coordination in space (with);
- severe dizziness in certain positions of the body with severe one-sided deafness (with brain tumors);
- severe dizziness with nausea, depression and mood swings, up to loss of consciousness (during menstruation, menopause, pregnancy in the 1st trimester).

Causes of dizziness

Dizziness indicates a mismatch of information coming to the central brain from our three physiological systems that are responsible for orientation in the surrounding space: vestibular, visual and tactile. In this regard, the causes of dizziness can be very many. Let's consider some of them:

- drinking alcohol, smoking, drugs;
- severe food poisoning;
- taking certain medications, especially antibiotics or medicines for;
- motion sickness (in cars, planes, ships and other vehicles, as well as on attractions);
— , ;
- pregnancy;
- some diets, hunger strike;
- trauma to the head or spine;
- viral infections ( , );
— ;
- epilepsy;
- Meniere's disease;
- emotional exhaustion, fear, and other psychological disorders;
- a brain tumor;
— ;

- impact on the body of adverse environmental factors: high or low temperature, high humidity (and, etc.);

- Sedentary work. During sedentary work, especially if the sitting is not very comfortable, a large load is placed on the spine and cervical region, as a result of which, if you do not get up for a long time, the blood circulation of the brain is disturbed, and as a result, when a person gets up, slight dizziness appears;

- Stroke. Dizziness is accompanied by impaired speech, coordination in space, nausea, sometimes vomiting, weakness in the arms and legs, and possibly loss of consciousness;

The neurologist mainly prescribes vestibular tests (caloric test, rotational tests), as well as posturography - a study of the interaction of the visual, vestibular and muscular systems while maintaining balance.

To diagnose a possible disease of the hearing aid, tone threshold audiometry, acoustic impedancemetry may be needed.

To find out the state of the blood vessels, or are prescribed.

Treatment for dizziness

First aid for dizziness

If a person has severe dizziness, the first thing to do is calm down, do not panic.

With severe dizziness, you need to sit down and focus your eyes on any object, and also try not to close your eyes. If the feeling of dizziness does not go away, at the same time, painful sensations begin to appear (numbness of the arms or legs, impaired speech, severe or) immediately call the doctor, and before he arrives, find a place where you can lie down. At the same time, try not to move or turn your head.

If the person is at home with severe dizziness, remove tight clothing and provide fresh air. Then put the patient to bed, moreover, in such a way that his head, neck and shoulders lie on the pillow. This position prevents the vertebral arteries from kinking, which is not desirable for dizziness. It is also necessary to avoid turning the head.

To get rid of dizziness and relieve its accompanying stress, you can apply a cold towel to your forehead, previously moistened with a light solution of vinegar, or drink 8-10 drops of a 0.1% solution of Atropine.

If you can’t calm down, you can take tranquilizers: Andaksin - 0.2 g each, Seduxen - 5 mg each.

In order to effectively carry out treatment, an accurate diagnosis is required, therefore, treatment in each case is prescribed only by the attending physician!

Medicines for dizziness

For the treatment of systemic dizziness, drugs are used depending on the symptoms associated with vertigo, but mainly these are:

- antihistamines: "Meclozin", "Promethazine", "Pipolfen", "Dimedrol";
- tranquilizers, to relieve anxiety: Diazepam, Lorazepam;
- sedatives: Andaksin, Seduxen;
- against nausea and painful vomiting: "", "Metoclopramide".

With a prolonged attack of dizziness, dehydration is performed ("Eufillin" 2.4% 10.0 ml intravenously, "Mannitol" 15% 200 ml), "Diazepam" 1.0 ml is administered intravenously.

Etiological therapy is possible only with a limited range of diseases (bacterial labyrinthitis, stem stroke, temporal lobe epilepsy, basilar migraine, cholesteatoma and other tumors involving the vestibular analyzer).

Folk remedies for dizziness

Treatment of dizziness with folk remedies is often not inferior, and sometimes even prevails over traditional medicines, because they have a minimum of side effects, unlike medicines. But even here it is worth mentioning that even the use of traditional medicine must be carried out after consultation with the attending physician.

Consider folk remedies for dizziness:

Carrots and beets. On an empty stomach, you need to take juices of carrots and beets.

Parsley. 1 tsp ground parsley seeds pour 200 ml of water. Leave the product to infuse for 6-8 hours. Consume in small portions throughout the day.

Clover. 1 st. l. clover inflorescences pour 200 ml of boiling water. Means to drink after lunch and dinner.

Dizziness itself is not life-threatening, but it can indicate a serious health problem. Therefore, in the event that such attacks began abruptly and are accompanied by speech disorders, weakness and numbness of the limbs, it is necessary to immediately call an ambulance.

Prevention of dizziness

To get rid of frequent bouts of dizziness, you must follow the following recommendations of specialists:

- give up alcohol and smoking;
- exclude from the diet;
- Minimize your daily caffeine intake.
- do exercises daily, especially if you have a sedentary job;
- consume food enriched;
- work in moderation, and rest is best spent in nature, especially near water bodies;
- avoid stress;
- do not make sudden movements of the head and neck;
– if you often travel, and at the same time you get motion sickness in transport, you can take special remedies for motion sickness;
- if possible, purchase an orthopedic mattress with an anatomical effect, because. during sleep, the body on it completely relaxes, and rest is much better. It is also worth noting that sleeping on such mattresses prevents bending and infringement of blood vessels.

Which doctor should I contact for dizziness?

Video

There are many reasons for a condition in which a person experiences dizziness in conjunction with other negative symptoms, and each time the answer to the question - why is the head spinning and swaying from side to side, may have a different answer.

As in most such cases, the head is spinning for various reasons, and they lie in the disorder of natural functions.

The sense of balance, acquired by man out of necessity, when he became upright, nature provides with the help of the vestibular apparatus.

This is an intricate bone labyrinth in the pyramid of the temporal bone, a very complex structure and its blood supply depends on three arteries: anteroinferior, basilar and auditory.

The apparatus has its own nerve, inextricably linked with the nervous system. It is located in close proximity to the organs of vision and hearing.

Why a feeling of loss of balance arises can become clear only if one determines the source that disrupts the blood supply or innervation of the apparatus, provokes its pathological condition and makes a person experience a feeling of loss of balance.

In women, these can be both pathological and physiological reasons, some of them are characteristic only for the female half due to the peculiarities of the body structure and reproductive function.

The causes of dizziness in men can be pathological or provoked by activities that are more characteristic of the male sex - sports, physical activity and bad habits.

A person inevitably staggers or staggers when the vestibular apparatus "refuses" to perform its usual functions, and the head begins to spin.

Why a symptomatic tandem appeared, how eliminated the causes of its occurrence, what to do so that the head ceases to experience an unpleasant and dangerous condition, and poorly coordinate the body, sometimes only a doctor can determine.

Vertigo is a complex disease, and it is better for a competent specialist to deal with it.

The nature of the problem and possible causes

A one-time, quickly passing, or permanently emerging state, when the head begins to spin for a person in the surrounding reality, arises for several reasons.

The vestibular nuclei, which provide a complex mechanism for maintaining balance, work for a person at a subconscious level.

He does not need to think about how this system functions and how it provides its intended purpose.

As soon as blood supply, innervation, integrity are disturbed, connections with the cerebellum, muscles, cerebral cortex, eyes or ear are damaged, the head begins to experience a feeling of discomfort and instability.

Vertigo is a loss of balance, which can manifest itself as a feeling of rotation of the head itself, or create an illusion around it of the world around it.

The loss of a sense of balance due to dysfunction of the vestibular apparatus inevitably leads to the fact that the head is spinning and the person staggers.

Possible reasons for the occurrence of such a condition can be systemic and non-systemic:

dizzy due to damage to the vestibular apparatus itself;
the symptom occurs in the pathology of cardiovascular activity (vegetovascular dystonia, arterial hypertension or low blood pressure, any autonomic disorders, atherosclerosis, arterial stenosis, etc.);
dizzy due to the pathology of the respiratory system (nasopharynx, located in dangerous proximity);
due to traumatic injuries of the head segments with which the vestibular apparatus is associated;
in women, the cause may be hormonal changes during menopause, pregnancy or menstruation;
the head may suffer from external causes, poisoning - carbon monoxide, stale air, strong odors, harmful fumes;
the answer to why lies in the toxins produced by the pathogenic agent in infectious diseases;
the cause of the state of dizziness was poisoning, or taking medications (a side effect that is quite common).

The list goes on and on. Only systemic, when the head suffers from injuries directly to the vestibular apparatus, we can recall a few: Meniere's syndrome, labyrinthitis of viral and bacterial etiology, vestibular neuronitis and post-traumatic injuries.

Sometimes positional vertigo is also referred to such systemic causes.

But much more often, the state of dizziness and staggering occurs as a non-systemic manifestation of diseases present in the human body.

Reasons are neutral

The patient's complaint that he is dizzy, staggers, he experiences a state of uncertainty and discomfort, may arise for simple and understandable reasons.

In women during menopause, pregnancy and menstruation, this symptom is explained by changes in hormonal levels.

During pregnancy, there are additional factors - a change in the psychophysiological state, a violation of vascular activity due to the growth of the uterus with the fetus.

With menopause, the head suffers due to a lack of estrogens, a decrease in vascular elasticity and reactions of the autonomic nervous system.

The appearance of such symptoms in women is not uncommon, and it is worth worrying only if it is accompanied by concomitant symptoms - fainting, vomiting, general weakness and drowsiness.

In men, the head reacts to the release of adrenaline that accompanies many emotional and physical states, alcohol poisoning.

Sometimes it spins from other bad habits - smoking, prolonged sitting at the computer, physical effort, accompanied by states of lack of sleep or hunger.

Any person gets dizzy if the vestibular apparatus has been subjected to prolonged stress: riding on swings and carousels, being at high altitudes (especially if there is a phobia of heights), or under abnormal ambient air pressure (under water or in the mountains).

Why this is manifested in one person and not in another is a complex question, and lies in the individual characteristics of the organism. But anyone staggers under the influence of alcohol if a huge amount is drunk.

Pathological non-systemic causes

The head can rotate the surrounding world, or itself in the perception of a person, and for non-systemic reasons, which are easy to separate according to the localization of the pathology.

In one case, it is spinning if the disease is located nearby and affects the vestibular apparatus, due to its proximity. These include:

brain tumors;
damage and inflammation in the ear, middle and inner (rupture of the eardrum, otitis media);
tumors and degeneration of the cerebellum;
strokes of the brain at the initial stage of development;
atherosclerosis of cerebral vessels (stenosis of the cervical arteries);
encephalopathy;
purulent diseases of the organs of vision and nasopharynx;
cerebrovascular disease.

The causes of the negative state are no less often rooted in vascular pathologies (atherosclerosis, hypertension, hypotension, arterial hypertension).

The head begins to spin from the characteristic diseases of the elderly associated with age-related degeneration:

vessels;
musculoskeletal system;
metabolic disorders;
progressive neurological diseases (Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis).

The causes of dizziness often lie in the pathologies of the spine: these can be hereditary or acquired anomalies of the structure, osteochondrosis, herniated disc.

In these cases, especially with cervical osteochondrosis, the head may be spinning due to compression of blood vessels or nerve endings.

Separately, traumatic injuries are defended. The symptom when the head is spinning is characteristic not only for injuries of the head and spine.

It can be caused by a painful shock, a psychogenic state, the head can also be spinning from emotional experiences experienced during the trauma.

Harmless and how

In the medical literature, it is customary to single out some causes of dizziness as harmless, which should not be given increased attention.

These include the state of hunger, physical overstrain, lack of sleep and fatigue.

When the head reacts to such causes with negative symptoms, and the person begins to stagger, this can hardly be called a normal phenomenon.

The causes of such manifestations need to be eliminated, and the body needs a medical examination.

Because dizziness in such states implies dangerous causes: stress, overwork, exhaustion, apathy, phobias, and even mental illness.

Ethyl alcohol poisoning, which is considered normal, is also a danger. The head is dizzy from the effects of the poison, and in a state of binge this effect of ethyl alcohol leaves irreversible effects with each successive dose.

If it seems to a person that he is able to easily explain why spontaneous dizziness has arisen, then he simply does not understand that this is a dangerous symptom.

It becomes even more dangerous if accompanied by additional signs.

The answer to the question why dizziness is accompanied by nausea and vomiting, cold sweat, trembling or numbness of the hands, weakness of the lower extremities can only be found by a doctor who will treat him.

It can, with approximately equal probability, be an orthopedist, gastroenterologist, internist, phlebologist, neurologist or infectious disease specialist.

Dizziness, over time, can be accompanied by more dangerous manifestations - fainting, loss of consciousness, heart rhythm disturbances, panic attacks, and in this case there is a serious danger for a person who did not attach importance to it while it was a single signal.

Any malfunction that occurs in the body signals the brain with the manifestation of certain negative symptoms.

Pain, dizziness, staggering, nausea, vomiting, coughing are all symptoms of negative conditions caused by endogenous or exogenous causes.

Treatment will be carried out depending on what caused the disease. And the fact that it exists, albeit in its infancy, is easy to verify by going through professional diagnostics, medical examination and appropriate tests.

Useful video

Your health has deteriorated sharply and it seems that everything around is spinning and the earth is slipping from under your feet? These are signs of dizziness. Why does it occur and how to deal with it? We will talk about this in our article.
What is dizziness?

Vertigo is an unhealthy human condition in which balance is lost and there is a feeling of a violation of the orientation of the body in space. Nausea, increased heart rate, excessive sweating, and even loss of consciousness are the main accompaniments in this condition.

Causes of dizziness

Well, if the head is spinning from love or some joyful event. Unfortunately, often the reasons for this condition are negative. They can be divided into three groups according to the level of danger.

Level I - causes of low danger. As a rule, their occurrence depends on your attitude to proper nutrition. Violation of the regimen, fasting, long-term diets, lack of essential vitamins in the diet, an unbalanced menu are big “enemies” of your health and “friends” of dizziness. But this can be avoided. One has only to pay serious attention to daily nutrition.

II level - causes of moderate danger. Want to know what they mean? Remember if you feel dizzy when you ride a bus (by car), fly in an airplane or look down from the window of a high-rise building? If yes, it is necessary to train the vestibular apparatus. Also, stay calm in any situation. After all, constant stress at work also causes dizziness over time, and this can seriously affect your health.

III level - causes of high risk. If you can give up on proper nutrition, the vestibular apparatus and the nervous system without taking them seriously, then high-level reasons should be treated with great vigilance.

Factors causing dizziness

Pressure. Dizziness, nausea and pain are signs of low or high blood pressure.
Hemoglobin. If you have “butterflies flying” before your eyes, feel tired and weak, get tested. After all, low hemoglobin is one of the causes of frequent dizziness.
. Do you know what it is? If you think it's just a headache, you're wrong. A migraine is accompanied by nausea, tinnitus, and also “makes” everything revolve around you!
Osteochondrosis of the cervical region, arising from an incorrect body position when walking or sitting, is a common cause of not only pain in the shoulders and neck, but also dizziness. It manifests itself during the rotation of the neck.
. Being a consequence of a traumatic brain injury, it is accompanied by a violation of cerebral circulation, and then a sharp dizziness, which may be followed by loss of consciousness.
Diseases of the cardiovascular system associated with the accumulation of cholesterol in the blood. This leads to blockage of blood vessels, which in turn provokes serious malfunctions in the brain. Dizziness is one of the first effects.
Neurosis. Often, many people withdraw into themselves, go into depression. Do you know that this is one of the most dangerous psychogenic factors? It can cause dizziness over a long period (weeks and months).
Hormonal adjustment that women often encounter. Critical days and pregnancy entail a weakening of the body. Decrease in pressure, hemoglobin, loss of strength - a direct path to dizziness.
Medical preparations. Dizziness may occur when taking medication. Each organism perceives different drugs in its own way. For example, antibiotics help one person without problems, while in another they cause side effects. In this case, you must consult a doctor.

What to do with dizziness

Sudden dizziness can be eliminated thanks to simple rules. What should be the main steps?

Position Rule. If your head is spinning, you need to lie down immediately. This position will help to quickly normalize the blood supply to the brain. Make sure your head and shoulders are at the same level.

eye fixation rule. When dizzy, it's hard to concentrate because everything revolves around. But try to look at some non-moving object for a long time.

Rule of Darkness. Help eliminate dizziness dark space. Therefore, it is better to turn off the lights in the room. If you feel uncomfortable during the daytime, close your eyes and cover them with a bandage.

cold rule. Ice or a cold towel applied to the forehead can improve the condition.

coffee rule. Strong coffee in the morning - a guarantee of cheerfulness for the whole day! But who would have thought that this particular drink could stop dizziness? Just drink it cold.

To help prevent dizziness:

Well organized daily routine.
Daily outdoor walks.
Complete rest.
Balanced diet.
Workout.
Pouring.
Regular medical checkups.

Remember that dizziness can be a sign of serious health problems. Therefore, do not delay for a long time, but immediately consult a doctor for advice!

Probably, everyone knows firsthand the feeling that the world has suddenly moved from its usual place and swam. Head spinning - we say when we jump up abruptly, dizzy when we go outside after an illness and inhale fresh air, dizzy when we look down from a height and when we ride rides. This is all physiological dizziness, a normal reaction of the nervous system to certain stimuli. But it also happens that attacks of dizziness occur for no apparent reason, when they should not be at all, and even regularly. They can have different intensity, from a fleeting but persistent sensation, to the appearance of discoordination of movements, disorientation in space, nausea and vomiting. Dizziness can be completely harmless, or it can signal a serious health disorder. When is dizziness dangerous and when is it not, and is it possible to take effective measures against it? We propose to talk about this in today's review.

True dizziness

Sometimes dizziness refers to any strange and unusual feeling that occurs in the head. I must say that there are many strange feelings in the head: a feeling of weightlessness, for example, a feeling of disorientation, a feeling of a “heavy head” and others. But true dizziness is a person's feeling of himself moving relative to static objects, or, on the contrary, the feeling of objects rotating around him. Dizziness is accompanied by a loss of orientation in space, which leads to confusion and anxiety associated with it, severe bouts of dizziness are often accompanied by symptoms of an autonomic nervous system disorder: nausea, vomiting, sweating, pallor of the skin. While not very pleasant, dizziness in and of itself is not dangerous, except when it occurs during a responsible and risky activity, such as driving a car. But it is necessary to find out the cause of its occurrence, since it can be a symptom of various, including quite dangerous, diseases.

Causes of dizziness

Depending on the cause that caused it, dizziness can be central and peripheral. Central vertigo occurs with disorders of the brain, and peripheral vertigo occurs with lesions of the vestibular nerve and diseases of the inner ear.

The mechanism of occurrence of dizziness is as follows: information about the position of the body in space, received by the peripheral nerve endings of the vestibular apparatus located in the inner ear, is transmitted to the brain, namely to its stem section, to the so-called vestibular nuclei. There, information is processed and enters the center of balance, located in the temporal lobes of the brain. A breakdown in any of the steps in this nerve impulse pathway can lead to dizziness. Thus, dizziness can occur due to trauma, tumors, vascular disorders, general diseases that affect the nervous and vascular component of the vestibular apparatus, such as diabetes mellitus, the use of potent drugs, and other similar reasons.

Diagnostics

Sometimes dizziness is a symptom of a disease. To determine which one, you can by some characteristic features:

Dizziness is persistent, accompanied by tinnitus, hearing loss, nausea, and even vomiting, then the cause is most likely in the disease of the inner ear - Meniere's disease;
Dizziness, accompanied by hearing loss on the one hand, noise in the ear on the side of the lesion, aggravated by a change in position, with an increase in symptoms and the addition of a persistent headache, is often a symptom of a brain tumor - neuroma;
Dizziness preceding attacks of intense headache, accompanied by nausea and vomiting, is characteristic of migraine;
Sudden intense dizziness, aggravated by a change in body position, accompanied by nausea, vomiting, tinnitus, persistent and lasting for several days, indicates inflammation of the vestibular nerve - vestibular neuritis;
Similar symptoms, accompanied by incoordination, weakness of the arms and/or legs on one or both sides of the body, may be signs of a stroke;
Attacks of dizziness of low and medium intensity, in the presence of movement restriction and pain in the neck, indicate cervical osteochondrosis;
Dizziness that followed after a head injury, accompanied by headache, nausea, vomiting, is characteristic of a concussion.

The described symptoms do not necessarily clearly indicate a particular disease, but are only characteristic of the standard clinical picture of some of them, and therefore you should not try to make a diagnosis yourself, and even more so prescribe treatment yourself. The reliability of the diagnosis on such grounds is low, and therefore, with intense, prolonged or regular dizziness, you should consult a doctor, describe complaints in detail and accurately, and undergo the proposed examination. Only on the basis of its results it will be possible to make a diagnosis.

What to do when dizzy

If you feel dizzy, you need to sit or lie down, close your eyes, try to provide fresh air. For a while, you need to avoid movements, especially sudden ones. If mild bouts of dizziness occur only from time to time, then you can limit yourself to this, you can also drink a cup of coffee or strong tea.

The dizziness that occurs when you have been sitting for a long time and then suddenly stood up is not difficult to “treat”: you need to wait until it subsides and do a few simple exercises: waving your arms, turning your head, squats, and later, if your work is connected with a long sitting, arrange active breaks for a little gymnastics.

Contrary to the advice often encountered, it is not worth taking any medications. If the dizziness bothers you so much that you think it is necessary to take medication, then you should consult a doctor who will prescribe what you need.

Everyone has experienced dizziness at least once in their life. There can be many reasons for its occurrence. Sometimes the head is spinning for a completely harmless reason, for example, due to hunger or against the background of overwork. Although in some cases this symptom may indicate a developing disease.

Dizziness- this is a feeling of movement of oneself or things that are around. Very often people, coming to see a doctor, complain of dizziness. The cause of dizziness can be various diseases - both benign and very dangerous for human life. Approximately 80 causes have been identified that can cause dizziness, of which 20% combine a number of causes.

In a healthy person, the state of balance occurs due to a combination of signals from the vestibular, visual and proprioceptive systems entering the human cerebral cortex. Impulses that come from the cerebral cortex reach the skeletal and eye muscles, thanks to this, a stable posture and the desired position of the eyeballs are achieved.

In the event that the flow of impulses from the vestibular sections to the cortex of the temporal and parietal lobes is disturbed, an illusory perception of the movement of surrounding things or one's own body occurs. Often patients misunderstand the concept of "dizziness". Sometimes a person, experiencing a state of faintness, approaching loss of consciousness, a feeling of emptiness, “lightness in the head” perceives it as dizziness, although these symptoms of an approaching faint are combined with vegetative disorders, such as pallor of the skin, palpitations, nausea, blurred vision, hyperhidrosis (sweating). ). A similar condition can be caused by cardiovascular pathology, orthostatic hypotension, hypoglycemia, high myopia.

Often, patients under dizziness have in mind an imbalance, i.e., instability, staggering when walking. Such disorders can be after an organic lesion of the nervous system and, of course, are not dizziness.

Psychogenic dizziness: manifests itself after strong emotional experiences or because of severe fatigue. At the same time, a person feels a vague feeling of instability, ambiguity in the head, weakness. Pathological conditions that are accompanied by dizziness can be some mental syndromes - hysteria, depersonalization, anxiety with panic attacks.

Dizziness in brain disorders usually occurs due to pathologies of the cerebellum. It can be a tumor, displacement of the cerebellum with hydrocephalus, trauma to the skull or cervical spine, vascular disorders of the brain. Severe dizziness can signal a cerebellar infarction; this happens due to hemorrhage in the cerebellum if the patient is conscious. Damage to the autonomic nuclei, which are located under the cerebral hemispheres, is the second important cause of dizziness in cerebral disorders. This may be due to inflammatory or vascular lesions, or in case of poisoning with chemicals or drugs. These drugs include barbiturates and anticonvulsants, which cause drowsiness and lethargy, dizziness. Excessive intake of streptomycin leads to irreversible brain damage.

Vertigo of the eye occurs in healthy people due to unusual visual stimulation (for example, the rapid movement of objects or at a height). The cause may also be the pathology of the eye muscles, that is, paralysis, which leads to a violation of the projection of objects on the retina and the “drawing up” of an incorrect picture in the brain.

Dizziness with ear pathology possibly due to damage to various structures: the vestibular apparatus, nerves and blood vessels, or the Eustachian tube (connecting the ear cavity with the nasal cavity). Dizziness, combined with hearing loss, pain or, or the manifestation of dizziness with a certain position of the head may occur depending on the location of the lesion. The simplest cause of dizziness can be a sulfur plug in the external auditory canal.
Causes of dizziness

There are many causes of dizziness. It can appear due to damage to the inner ear or vestibular nerve. This kind of dizziness is called peripheral dizziness. Various diseases of the brain can also cause dizziness, then it is called central vertigo. According to the symptoms of dizziness and its nature, the frequency and duration of attacks, you can determine the real cause of dizziness: if there is any discharge from the ear, hearing impairment, this indicates inflammation of the inner ear and requires conservative treatment.

The main diseases in which dizziness appears are presented in the table:

Disease

Main manifestations

Head spinning during a sudden change in body position. The attack is short, after a while it passes on its own.

Diseases of the spine: its injuries, spondylosis or

The person loses orientation in space. The dizziness becomes especially intense during the movement of the neck. Pain occurs in the same place.

The patient has tinnitus, the quality of hearing is impaired.

Positional benign vertigo

At the same time, the head is spinning very strongly. The attack itself is short in time and develops when making a sharp movement of the head.

Insufficient blood supply to the inner ear or brain

At the same time, patients complain of pain in the neck. The attack develops after a long static load in a sitting position.

Psychogenic nature of dizziness

People with an unstable psyche are subject to such attacks. From time to time they experience confusion, they experience a strong fear of injury or fall.

Most often, dizziness with anemia develops in women. Other signs of anemia include increased fatigue and weakness, pale skin, and a tendency to faint.

Vertebrobasilar insufficiency

In addition to the fact that a person is dizzy, he is sick, vomiting may occur. Patients often complain of headaches. Seizures are chronic.

Neck injury

At the same time, the neck muscles become tense, as the person has spent a long time in the same position. Then his muscles begin to hurt, after which the pain rises higher. A person begins to have a headache, and to a greater extent its occipital part.

Inflammation of the inner ear and labyrinth

In addition to dizziness, the person will suffer from pain.

The patient has hearing loss and tinnitus.

Otolithiasis

The patient develops benign positional vertigo, but the attacks do not last too long. At the same time, they are characterized by high intensity.

With epileptic seizures, the patient often experiences dizziness.

In this case, the head is very dizzy, vomiting may occur, speech is disturbed, coordination suffers. A person cannot orient himself in space, his muscle weakness increases. Sometimes the patient loses consciousness.

Vestibular neuritis

Dizziness manifests itself with a sharp change in body position, or with a quick turn of the head.

Agoraphobia

This phobia is associated with the fear of open space. Sometimes a person's head is spinning even at the thought that he will have to go outside.

Perilymphatic fistula

In addition to dizziness, a person experiences nausea and vomiting, hearing may deteriorate, and only from one ear. The attack happens unexpectedly for the patient.

Meniere's disease

In addition to dizziness, the patient feels sick, his hearing worsens, ringing in the ears worries.

Growing neuroma (benign tumor)

This violation can lead to hearing loss, the inability to maintain balance.

Taking medications

Antidepressants, NSAIDs, drugs for the treatment of malaria and cancer, antibacterial drugs, calcium channel blockers can provoke an attack of dizziness.

Video: Live great! Dizziness. When can you not go to the doctor?

The symptoms of dizziness are largely determined by the pathology that provoked the attack.

However, there are some common signs of this unpleasant phenomenon:

It seems to a person that she herself or the objects surrounding her move in space in a circle.

The patient often vomits. Nausea is an invariable companion of dizziness.

There are extraneous noises or ringing in the ears. Hearing may decrease.

The person's gait becomes shaky and unsteady.

It seems to a person that his heart began to beat faster.

Increases the activity of the sweat glands.

During dizziness, a person often feels weak.

After the attack of dizziness is over, the person may begin to feel sleepy.

Sometimes there are drops in blood pressure. It may rise or fall sharply.

There are several symptoms that accompany dizziness and require urgent medical attention:

If the head is spinning at the peak of the headache, and there is also muscle weakness in the limbs.

If the head is spinning for more than an hour.

If the head is very dizzy in a person suffering from hypertension or diabetes.

If during an attack of dizziness a person fell and lost consciousness.

If during an attack of dizziness the patient develops vomiting.

Against the background of dizziness in a person, the body temperature rises to high levels.

Video: broadcast about the most important thing - dizziness:

If a person often experiences bouts of dizziness, then he needs to consult a specialist. It can be either a therapist or a neurologist. The doctor will conduct a comprehensive examination of the patient. If necessary, he will be redirected to a narrow specialist: an ENT doctor, an endocrinologist, etc.

The neurologist will offer the patient to undergo several tests that will be aimed at assessing the functioning of the vestibular apparatus. This may be a caloric test or rotational tests. Another method for assessing the health status of a person complaining of dizziness is posturography. The study allows you to perform a comprehensive diagnosis of the work of the vestibular, visual and muscular systems.

In addition, the doctor may refer the patient to an MRI of the brain and dopplerography of the vessels of the brain and blood vessels (USDG). If a neurological examination did not allow to find the cause of dizziness, then it is necessary to visit an otolaryngologist. He will check the condition of the auditory nerve and inner ear. The patient is required to perform audiometry and acoustic impedancemetry.

To assess the state of the vascular system, the patient is sent for CT or ultrasound. It is also possible to perform an EEG.

Most often, complex diagnostics allows you to detect the cause of dizziness, if it was not provoked by medication.
Treatment for dizziness

Popular treatments for dizziness include:

One of the most effective drugs that can eliminate dizziness as a symptom is Betaserc. It must be taken into account that it does not affect the cause that led to the development of the problem. For long-term use, Betahistine is more suitable.

You can improve the blood supply to the brain by taking the drugs Cinnarizine and Preductal. They must be taken within 30 days.

Sometimes patients can cope with dizziness by taking sedatives, for example, Seduxen.

Surprisingly, antihistamines, such as Pipolfen and Diphenhydramine, can cope with dizziness.

You can also take a course of soft massage aimed at working out the cervical spine.

For some patients, a course of osteopathy helps to get rid of the problem, which is useful for displacement of the intervertebral joints.

Relaxing treatments such as bathing and floating are useful for bouts of dizziness. Floating allows you to calm the nervous system and relieve tension.

For the treatment of more serious causes of dizziness (aging or degradation of the brain, mood disorder, intellectual-mnestic disorder, disorientation, dementia, delirium, organic amnestic syndrome, the presence of traumatic brain injuries of any degree, impaired consciousness and coma, stroke, dyscirculatory encephalopathy, as well as mental overload), doctors use Gliatilin. Gliatilin is an original centrally acting nootropic drug based on choline alfoscerate, which improves the state of the central nervous system (CNS). Due to the phosphate form, it penetrates the brain faster and is better absorbed. Also, choline alfoscerate has a neuroprotective effect and accelerates the process of recovery of brain cells after damage. Gliatilin improves the transmission of nerve impulses, positively affects the plasticity of neuronal membranes, as well as the functions of receptors.

Video: Dr. Evdokimenko, Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the Russian Federation will tell you about the treatment of dizziness:

Exercise therapy for the neck muscles

Therapeutic and physical culture complex, which allows you to get rid of dizziness, provoked by overstrain of the cervical muscles:

You need to stand up straight with your back against the wall. First, the chin is pulled down, touching it to the neck. Then straighten the neck, trying to pull the back of the head up, touching the wall with it. You can hold this position for either 5 or 10 seconds.

The second exercise is performed in a sitting position. It is important that the back was a flat surface. In this case, the head should be slightly tilted back, pressing the back of the head against the wall or back of the chair. It is convenient to exercise in the car. You need to hold the voltage for 3 seconds.

The third exercise is similar to the previous two, but the head should be slightly turned to the right and then to the left during contact with the wall.

These simple exercises help to put the head and neck in the correct position, improve the blood supply to the brain and get rid of dizziness.

Video: exercise therapy exercises for the cervical muscles, questions are answered by a specialist in massage, manual therapy and kinesiology, Alekseev Anton:

If a person has dizziness, it is important to provide him with first aid correctly. First you need to calm down. Panic is no help in any emergency.

If the head is spinning very much, then you need to sit down. After that, you need to try to focus on some subject. It is important to keep your eyes open. If after a few minutes the head did not stop spinning and began to hurt, or the person’s hands began to go numb, then you need to call an ambulance. Until the time until the doctors arrived, it is necessary to lie down. In this case, you should refrain from sharp turns of the head.

If a person is indoors, then you need to open all the windows so that fresh air enters the room. The patient needs to lie down. His head and shoulders should rest on the pillow. This position of the body will prevent the clamping of the arteries.

To reduce discomfort, you can attach a towel to your forehead that has been soaked in cool water. You can apply a weak solution of vinegar on it. It is also allowed to take 8 drops of Atropine with a concentration of 0.1%.

Help to calm down drugs such as Andaksin - 0.2 g or Seduxen - 5 mg. These medicines are suitable for emergency care. Only a doctor can diagnose and prescribe treatment.
Safe folk remedies for dizziness

Sometimes folk remedies help to cope with dizziness no worse than drugs. They are safe for health and do not cause severe side effects. However, before practicing this or that method of alternative medicine, you need to get medical advice.

Safe folk remedies for the treatment of dizziness include:

The use of carrot and beet juice. Drink it on an empty stomach.

Reception of infusion of parsley seeds. A teaspoon of raw materials is ground and poured with a glass of water. The seeds are infused for 6 hours. Take the drink in small portions. The entire volume should be drunk during the day.

Reception of infusion of clover inflorescences. A tablespoon of plants should be poured with 0.2 liters of boiling water and taken after dinner or after a lunch break.

The use of pomegranate. This fruit allows you to cope with the symptoms of anemia, improve the quality of the blood and get rid of bouts of dizziness.

Dizziness, as a symptom, does not pose a threat to human life or health, but it can indicate serious illness. This is especially true in the case when a person not only feels dizzy, but also has a headache, speech is disturbed, weakness increases, and the sensitivity of the limbs worsens. In such a situation, you need to call an ambulance as soon as possible.
Prevention of dizziness

In order to minimize the likelihood of dizziness, you need to follow these tips:

To refuse from bad habits.

Eat less salt.

You should not drink a lot of coffee and drinks that contain caffeine.

If a person’s professional activity forces him to sit for a long time, then you need to do exercises.

It is important to minimize stress in your life.

You should try not to make sudden movements of the head or neck.

As much time as possible should be spent outdoors, in nature.

If a person is motion sick during long trips, then you can take special medicines.

For a quality night's rest, you need to take care of organizing your bed. To do this, you need to purchase an orthopedic mattress, which will allow you to maintain a normal body position during a night's rest.

Which doctor should I contact for dizziness?

If a person is haunted by bouts of dizziness, then he needs to contact a therapist or a neurologist.

About the doctor: From 2010 to 2016 practicing physician of the therapeutic hospital of the central medical unit No. 21, the city of Elektrostal. Since 2016, she has been working at the diagnostic center No. 3.