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Sudden dizziness
Getting up abruptly or head rapid movement might cause a flood of unpleasant sensation. It feels as if the surrounding world is spinning. In order to keep the balance, it is necessary to find a physical support. Is it a familiar situation? It’s dizziness. Almost all people regularly experience it. What is this phenomenon connected with?? What are the causes of dizziness in men and women?

When does dizziness occur?
Dizziness is a rather unpleasant condition, during which a person, being immobile, feels objects revolving around him. This condition reminds riding a carousel. In medicine, dizziness is called vertigo.

As a rule, occasional dizziness is not dangerous for humans. It might be the result of certain safety factors. When the effect of these factors is over, the unpleasant feelings disappear completely. However, sometimes vertigo might indicate serious pathologies that require due and proper treatment.

Vertigo developing mechanism
Considering the vertigo from the head anatomy point of view, the reasons for dizziness are quite obvious. The vestibular system, which is responsible for maintaining human balance and orientation in space, is located in the inner ear. Vision and muscle reflexes help a person to orientate himself in the environment. All the received information enters the brain, and the latter controls the work of the vestibular system.

Sometimes the connection between the inner ear and the brain is interrupted. A person cannot orientate in space and dizziness occurs. In order to restore the broken connection, the brain immediately runs several reactions. Some of them might involve adjacent centers, such as vomiting. It leads to accompanying unpleasant symptoms.

5 simple reasons for sudden dizziness

The connection between the brain and the vestibular system is rarely disrupted and does not last long.

Dizziness is not considered as a pathology in the following cases.

1. When riding a carousel.
   Such entertainment brings to overload of vestibular system. And if the vestibular system is weak and untrained its work might be disrupted. This type of dizziness is typical of women, since in addition to overload of vestibular system, emotional excitement also occurs.
2. Stress and emotional condition
   If dizziness occurs while speaking in front of a large audience or as a response to a supervisor’s remark then the cause of the vertigo is the production of large amounts of adrenaline. This hormone causes vascular spasm. And it leads to a temporary discontinuance of blood supply to the brain.
3. Climbing
   In this case, the unpleasant feelings are also considered physiologically normal. When climbing to a height, the human eye cannot quickly focus on distant and near objects. Abrupt changes in focusing on objects cause dizziness.
4. Hunger
   This problem is typical for all strict diet lovers. If a person is not taking enough nutrition, they will not get enough glucose. The lack of the essential metabolic fuel leads to brain function impairment and dizziness.
5. Active exercises
   Fans of training should remember about training limits. Excessive exercise can lead to low blood pressure. It causes dizziness and sometimes even fainting. An unpleasant condition can be caused by abrupt, unsuccessful movements of the head, which disrupt the blood supply to the brain.

Episodes of dizziness might occur as a response to certain medications. Often the source of unpleasant symptoms is side effect of antidepressants, antibiotics and anti-cancer drugs. When dizziness is caused by medication, be sure to consult a doctor to change it.

Sudden dizziness: 6 pathological causes

Causes of dizziness are not always harmless. Sometimes the condition can be caused by an illness. In this case, dizziness occurs quite often, it can last for more than few seconds. To fight against this phenomenon. it is necessary to consult a doctor. The symptoms can be reduced (and sometimes completely eliminated) only with proper treatment of the main disease.

Thus, the causes of dizziness can be the following pathologies.

1. Vegetative-vascular dystonia. Complex disorders during which a person has a number of deviations. All these symptoms are associated with function abnormalities in vegetative nervous system. Dizziness is one of the most common signs of vegetative-vascular dystonia. These seizures are usually caused by sudden movements, rapid change of position. The dizziness is not long lasting. It resolves on its own without any intervention.
2. Disorders in the cervical region. Various injuries, osteochondrosis and intervertebral hernias can be periodically reminded of themselves with sudden attacks of dizziness. They usually occur after active neck movements. The attack is accompanied by pain in the affected region and sometimes a squeak can be heard.
3. Anemia. Dizziness might occur in the background of iron deficiency. This pathology is often observed in women and children. In case of anemia, episodes of dizziness are accompanied by fatigue, pale skin and presyncope.
4. Psychogenic dizziness. The cause of this pathology is the patient’s anxiety state (common to people with unstable mental state) or the stress that the patient had experienced. These patients usually complain of sleep disturbances, fear to lose consciousness, shortness of breath that occurs regularly and increased heart beat rate.
5. Vertebrobasilar insufficiency. In this pathology, the blood supply to the spinal or basilar arteries decreases. These problems lead to brain dysfunction characterized by intermittent episodes of dizziness which might last up to an hour. In addition, patients complain of nausea and vomiting, as well as visual disturbances. Patients often suffer from headaches.
6. Hypotonia. The blood pressure fall is often accompanied by dizziness. Sometimes, presyncope might occur.

Headaches can be caused by alcohol intoxication, dehydration or overheating of the body. Visual problems or ear infections might bring to these unpleasant sensations.

6 dangerous reasons for severe dizziness

In some cases, vertigo is a result of serious conditions that require urgent medical care.

The causes of severe dizziness include:

1. Labyrinthitis (internal otitis). Viral infection of the inner ear might initially be asymptomatic. The only sign of otitis is dizziness which lasts for several minutes. Such attacks occur quite often. Later the viral process might affect the nervous system or the brain.
2. Brain concussion. Sometimes the only sign of head injury is dizziness. This symptom should not be ignored since it is a direct evidence of concussion. To rule out the risk of serious brain lesion or swelling, it is necessary to see a doctor immediately.
3. Stroke. If dizziness is accompanied by sudden fatigue, numbness of parts of the body, vision and speech disorders, it might indicate a high risk of stroke. This is a major pathology, during which the blood supply to the brain is disrupted.
4. Migraine. Dizziness accompanied by severe headache may indicate a migraine. Many people believe that this condition is not dangerous. However, doctors claim that migraines, especially when left untreated, can lead to serious illnesses (sometimes even heart attacks and strokes).
5. Cardiovascular diseases. These pathologies are characterized by dizziness every time you stand up. It is due to an abrupt fall of pressure. Such symptoms may indicate dehydration which results in high blood density. However, if the problem is not the lack of fluid it may be due to the development of arrhythmias or heart failure.
6. Tumors. Repeated attacks of vertigo accompanied by unilateral headaches usually in one half of the head, can signal the development of a tumor in the brain.

What to do?

It is almost impossible to determine the cause of frequent dizziness without specialist consultation. Therefore, patients with frequent vertigo are advised to see a therapist or neurologist. The specialist will thoroughly study the patient's complaints and suggest an appropriate diagnostic examination. If necessary, the doctor will refer the patient to an otolaryngologist, ophthalmologist, cardiologist or endocrinologist.

The following examination might be prescribed to the patient reveal the causes of vertigo.

1. Neurological tests
   Neurological tests help to assess the functionality of the vestibular apparatus.
2. MRI or CT scan
   These examinations detect various disorders, such as cerebral bleeding, tumors, vascular pathologies.
3. Ultrasound dopplerography
   The condition of the vessels of the head and neck is studied by ultrasound dopplerography.
4. Audiometry allows to assess the hearing function.
5. EEG. The doctor might administer an electroencephalography to check the activity of the cerebral cortex.

To stop the dizziness quickly (if it is not caused by dangerous reasons) you can sit on any surface, relax a little and perform 5-6 deep inhalation-exhalation. Make sure to open the window (when in the building) to provide fresh air in the room. If the causes of vertigo are not caused by a major condition, these actions are enough to make the dizziness disappear quickly.