What Is Dizziness and Vertigo?

Dizziness and Vertigo is one of the most typical health issues that adults are dealing. In each person, occurrence of dizziness is up to 10 percent and it increases to 40 percent when we reach 40 years of age. The National Institutes of Health reported that 40 percent of Americans experienced these symptoms at least once during their lifetime. Risks are also higher in women and increases with age.

Dizziness is a broad term. It is usually used to express or describe the feeling of fainting or lose of balance. While it is used as a generic term to describe a condition, it is important for the patient to identify the symptoms or what kinds of dizziness is he or she experiencing. Identifying the symptoms properly will help medical professionals to determine what causes it and will help them on giving proper treatment.

There are four types of dizziness: Lose of Balance, Lightheadedness or Feeling of Fainting, Vertigo, and unknown reasons.

Lightheadedness
Lightheadedness is a very common condition. It is usually caused by motion sickness, like for example, while or after riding a bus or vehicles on a long ride; riding amusement rides especially in circular motion; or riding cruise or passenger ships in which the water motion or waves can cause sea sickness.

Some people experience this kind of dizziness after a quick get up from sitting or lying down.

Health care practitioners check for sudden drop in blood pressure, dehydration, decreased supply of oxygen and nutrient supply to the brain. Patients with lightheadedness also experience nausea or vomiting.

Lightheadedness is also a result of different conditions, illness and activities as well as anxiety and stress, allergies, use of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs, flu or colds (sickness), and medications.

Lightheadedness is usually not a serious condition and often goes away and improves easily by lying down.

Vertigo
Vertigo is a more serious condition than lightheadedness. It is dizziness with the feeling of spinning. It is like your surroundings are moving even though you're standing still or there's no actual movement. Patients with Vertigo experience nausea or vomiting and diarrhea, and have trouble walking and standing. It usually gets better when the patient lies down and prevented from moving.

Health care practitioners check vertigo patients for neurologic and inner ear problems.

Balance Problems (Disequilibrium)
Balance problem is a feeling of unsteadiness. You feel like falling over while walking or the floor is moving underneath your feet.

Lose of balance can be caused by different conditions. These are the following:

Ear problems - ear problems are the usual cause of balance problems. It can also cause various types of dizziness including lightheadedness and Vertigo.

Nerve or Sensory disorders - this problem occurs in the nerve in your legs. Nerve damage in your legs can cause balance problems and unsteadiness. Vision problems can also cause unsteadiness.

Brain condition - there are different neurologic condition and illness that can cause unsteadiness including brain tumor, Parkinson's disease, stroke, spinal cord disorders, cerebellar ataxia and normal pressure hydrocephalus.

Medications - some medications can cause unsteadiness due to their side effects. The following medications include sedatives, anti-seizure drugs, and tranquilizers.

Other Illness - other illness and conditions can cause lose of balance such as flu.

Illegal drugs and Alcohol - unsteadiness can occur when the patient is under the influence of alcohol and illegal drugs.

Unknown cause
There are some patients experiencing dizziness have unknown causes. There is a report stated that there is a rate of 1 unknown cause in ten cases of dizziness.