Dizziness or lightheadedness is a feeling that is fairly common. The causes are many and range from those that are generally harmless to life threatening conditions. When this feeling is experienced once in a while, there is no cause for worry. However, one should seek medical attention immediately if the problem is recurrent or if it is associated with other symptoms such as headache, loss of consciousness, hearing loss, visual blurring and so on. You need to understand a number of important things when seeking dizziness treatment in Toronto.
Dizziness differs from a related condition known as vertigo. The former is a feeling of being lightheaded while the latter is spinning sensation when in actual sense the environment is still. Vertigo results from damage of semicircular canals located in the ear. The canals are responsible for maintaining body balance. The symptoms usually set in when one is assuming an upright posting from a lying position. One of the commonest forms of this condition is known as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.
Another common cause is what is referred to as Meniere disease. This disease interferes with the function of semicircular canals by causing fluid accumulation. The causes of real dizziness include, among others, tumors, migraines, abrupt changes in blood pressure, hypoglycemia, dehydration, heat stroke and motion sickness. The severity will depend on the exact cause.
Severity is assessed by keeping track of the episodes. You can achieve this by getting yourself a diary to record every the attacks. Apart from giving an insight about the frequency, such information will also be used to study related symptoms. After treatment has been initiated, response to therapy will be easy to monitor.
With such a long list of causes, there is a need for proper evaluation by the doctor to establish what exactly is happening. The doctor will take a detailed medical history and perform a physical to come up with probable causes. Some of the issues that will be addressed in the history include frequency of episodes, their severity and whether or not there are related signs and symptoms. The next thing to have some blood tests and possibly radiological images such as the CT scan and MRI.
There are many treatments that exist and this depend on the exact cause. The available modalities range from home therapies to lifestyle modification to pharmacotherapies. Migraines, for example, are managed with drugs and changing of lifestyles which may involve the identification and avoidance or trigger factors. Meniere disease may be treated with proper diet or ear surgery in cases where the conservative management fails to yield results.
Athletes are at a high risk of suffering from heat stroke, dehydration and hypoglycemia. All these are established causes of dizziness. Such athletes need to be well prepared with water and a source of glucose whenever they go out to train or to compete. The same risk exists in persons that engage in strenuous physical activities particularly in areas with high ambient temperatures.
Dizziness is a symptom that is fairly common and each one of use may have experienced it at one point in time. There usually no cause for worry in most cases. Worry should set in if there is recurrence and association with other symptoms. Due to its vague nature many people confuse many other things for dizziness and this makes diagnosis and treatment a big challenge.
Dizziness differs from a related condition known as vertigo. The former is a feeling of being lightheaded while the latter is spinning sensation when in actual sense the environment is still. Vertigo results from damage of semicircular canals located in the ear. The canals are responsible for maintaining body balance. The symptoms usually set in when one is assuming an upright posting from a lying position. One of the commonest forms of this condition is known as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.
Another common cause is what is referred to as Meniere disease. This disease interferes with the function of semicircular canals by causing fluid accumulation. The causes of real dizziness include, among others, tumors, migraines, abrupt changes in blood pressure, hypoglycemia, dehydration, heat stroke and motion sickness. The severity will depend on the exact cause.
Severity is assessed by keeping track of the episodes. You can achieve this by getting yourself a diary to record every the attacks. Apart from giving an insight about the frequency, such information will also be used to study related symptoms. After treatment has been initiated, response to therapy will be easy to monitor.
With such a long list of causes, there is a need for proper evaluation by the doctor to establish what exactly is happening. The doctor will take a detailed medical history and perform a physical to come up with probable causes. Some of the issues that will be addressed in the history include frequency of episodes, their severity and whether or not there are related signs and symptoms. The next thing to have some blood tests and possibly radiological images such as the CT scan and MRI.
There are many treatments that exist and this depend on the exact cause. The available modalities range from home therapies to lifestyle modification to pharmacotherapies. Migraines, for example, are managed with drugs and changing of lifestyles which may involve the identification and avoidance or trigger factors. Meniere disease may be treated with proper diet or ear surgery in cases where the conservative management fails to yield results.
Athletes are at a high risk of suffering from heat stroke, dehydration and hypoglycemia. All these are established causes of dizziness. Such athletes need to be well prepared with water and a source of glucose whenever they go out to train or to compete. The same risk exists in persons that engage in strenuous physical activities particularly in areas with high ambient temperatures.
Dizziness is a symptom that is fairly common and each one of use may have experienced it at one point in time. There usually no cause for worry in most cases. Worry should set in if there is recurrence and association with other symptoms. Due to its vague nature many people confuse many other things for dizziness and this makes diagnosis and treatment a big challenge.
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