Dizziness Disorders

Feeling light headed? A bit woozy or off-balance? If you’re traveling in a car, boat or plane, it’s probably motion sickness. But sometimes dizziness, also commonly called vertigo, becomes a lingering or recurrent problem.

The term ‘dizziness’ and ‘vertigo’ are often used interchangeably, but they are not synonymous. Dizziness simply refers to a feeling of unsteadiness or faintness, whereas vertigo usually involves a more serious disorientation, as if the world was spinning around you.

Ordinary motion sickness – the queasy, light headed feeling that comes while traveling – is by far the most common cause of dizziness. A number of medical conditions – including decreased blood flow to the brain or inner ear, ear infections, a head injury, high or low blood pressure can also bring on dizziness or vertigo.

For some people, unfortunately, dizziness can persist and become disabling.

Symptoms

• Unsteadiness or feeling of faintness.

• A sensation that the room is spinning or that you’re whirling in space, sometimes accompanied by ringing in the ears.

• Nausea.

What one can do:

For Motion sickness:

• Stop reading or staring at a television/ laptop screen if you begin to feel sick while in a moving car, train, or boat. Instead, face forward and focus on a fixed point, such as the distant scenery or the horizon, to keep your body and eyes simultaneously oriented to movement.

• Opt for the front seat while riding in a car; at sea, amidships; and when flying, try to get a seat allocation above the wing, where there is the least amount of motion.

For Vertigo:

• Steer clear the kind of amusement park rides or virtual reality games that can wreak havoc with your sense of balance.

• Avoid sudden changes in your position (especially going from lying down to standing up) and extremes of head motion (particularly looking up , turning or twisting.

• Try desensitization techniques. Move your head in a way that induces dizziness, repeating the exercise several times a day for several weeks.

• Cut down on nicotine, caffeine and salt, all of which impair blood flow to the brain.