Many people suffer from dizziness for many years. When the pathology begins to be accompanied by nausea, loss of consciousness and a headache, people go to the doctor. Meanwhile, headache and dizziness are a rather dangerous symptom, which most often indicates the development of diseases of the nervous and cardiovascular systems.
Types of Dizziness
Not everyone knows what dizziness is (vertigo - as this condition is called in Latin medical language). This symptom is divided into two types:
- systemic dizziness - caused by pathologies of the vestibular apparatus, it seems to a person that the room and objects around him are slowly spinning around their axis, there is a feeling that "the earth is leaving under your feet";
- unsystematic dizziness - more often in no way connected with the functioning of the vestibular apparatus; in this condition, nausea, vomiting, migraine, visual and hearing impairment occur in parallel.
A pre-syncope state, loss of consciousness are characteristic of unsystematic dizziness. This condition is often a symptom of a serious illness. While systemic dizziness may occur even if a person simply rotates on its axis and does not pose any threat to health.
Dizziness when getting up and when you go to bed are also manifestations of a non-systemic type. Most often, a fainting state immediately after waking up from sleep indicates problems with the vessels.
Symptoms that develop in parallel
What other signs of an unsystematic type of dizziness in men and women can be identified? There are a lot of them, here is a list of the most common:
- nausea vomiting;
- migraines of various kinds;
- darkening in the eyes, the appearance of black spots in the field of vision;
- loss of consciousness for a short or long (up to several minutes) time;
- noise and ringing in the ears;
- in rare cases, the development of visual and auditory hallucinations, palimpsests (memory lapses).
Which doctor should I contact with dizziness
Such conditions can not be ignored. Even if the patient's day is tightly packed and there is no way to find a couple of hours to visit a doctor, you should try to postpone some activities and get an appointment.
There are two types of treatment:
- free of charge - according to the medical policy, when the insurance company takes all the costs of the analysis and consultations of doctors;
- for a fee - when the patient himself chooses a private diagnostic center and goes for a consultation for money.
Free medicine is bad because in budgetary clinics and hospitals there is a great risk of getting into huge queues. This will take a lot of time - but for the wallet, significant savings.
Algorithm of action of the patient with dizziness
So, the algorithm is how to identify the causes of dizziness in women (after 30 years, this issue becomes especially relevant) and men:
- First, you need to take a coupon for an appointment with a local therapist, because at the request of the patient, you can’t get a direct appointment with a surgeon, orthopedist or neurologist;
- most likely, the reception will be held about a week after the fact of visiting the registry (by the way, now it is not necessary to go to the clinic for an appointment - you can register via the Internet on the public services portal);
- the therapist should detail the complaints of headache and dizziness, describe the accompanying problems with well-being;
- based on the anamnesis, the therapist will give a referral for a consultation with a neurologist, surgeon and orthopedist. In some cases - immediately to all three of these specialists, sometimes also to a psychiatrist to exclude the psychosomatic component of the problem;
- when visiting specialized specialists, the patient should also state his complaints as detailed as possible - this will allow the doctor to compile an extremely reliable clinical picture;
- after this, the patient will be sent for additional studies - this is an MRI of the brain and spine, CT scan, electroencephalogram;
- after receiving the results of the research, it will be possible to get a list of drugs and recommendations that are suitable for treatment to an individual person.
Which doctor should I go to for dizziness? When contacting paid diagnostic centers, you can go immediately to a neurologist, cardiologist or orthopedist, but when contacting budgetary medical organizations, you will first have to visit a therapist.
Dizziness provoked by problems of the cardiovascular system
Violation of blood flow, decreased vascular tone and heart rhythm disturbances often cause dizziness when standing up and when you go to bed. Diseases of the cardiovascular system affect almost every person over fifty years old. Alas, the age of heart disease is "getting younger" and more and more patients come to a cardiologist at the age of thirty to forty years.
- Hypertension affects mainly older people. This is due to the deposition of atherosclerotic plaques in the walls of blood vessels. Pressure rises above 150/90 mm Hg. Art. The patient experiences a painful condition: heaviness and pain in the head. If the numbers jump above 180/90 mmHg. Art., then there is nausea, pain in the eyes and vertigo.
- Orthostatic collapse often causes not only severe dizziness, but also fainting, loss of consciousness and darkening in the eyes. Due to a sharp rise from the bed, pressure can drop to 90/50 mm Hg. Art. This is not a very critical indicator, but for the elderly or for patients after illness or surgery, this is enough to lose consciousness.
- Aortic aneurysm is accompanied not only by dizziness, but also by nausea, pain in the epigastric region, in the chest from the side of the heart, back (patients often confuse this condition with intercostal neuralgia).
- Myocardial infarction occurs most often due to poor nutrition of the heart muscle by coronary vessels. A sharp blockage of the cardiac arteries leads to tissue necrosis, a sharp pain syndrome and ECG changes. This condition often causes death. Before a heart attack, the patient may experience severe dizziness, shortness of breath, squeezing of the sternum.
Which doctor treats dizziness caused by disorders of the cardiovascular system? These are handled by a cardiologist. Most often, only he should be examined, neither a surgeon nor a neuropathologist need patients with cardiac pathologies.
Drug treatments for dizziness in cardiovascular diseases
The following drugs are effective:
- "Vestibo";
- Betaserk
- Tagista.
Cavinton is an effective remedy not only for dizziness caused by disturbances in the cardiovascular system, but also for various pathologies of the nervous system.
Dizziness under normal pressure in women and men requires the use of other medications. Most often it will be vasodilator drugs or nootropics.
Dizziness provoked by pathologies of the nervous system
There are areas in the brain that are responsible for orienting a person in space. If they begin to give the wrong commands to neurons, or for some reason these commands are distorted, then there is a violation of coordination, dizziness and migraines of various types.
Pathologies that occur when pinched by the vertebrae of the nerves also relate to the problems of the central nervous system. Such a problem can occur with osteochondrosis of the cervical and thoracic spine. Which doctor should I contact for dizziness if it is provoked by pathologies of the nervous system? Treatment may be prescribed by a neurologist or neurologist.
Such dizziness can be accompanied by panic attacks, anxiety, insomnia, headaches, and visual impairment.
Drug treatments for neurological diseases
Treatment of dizziness with osteochondrosis of the cervical spine is most often long and takes many months. This disease (osteochondrosis) cannot be completely cured - all that remains is to maintain the patient's condition, relieving him of pain and dizziness, as well as other symptoms of osteochondrosis.
There are three mandatory areas of therapy:
- physiotherapy;
- injections of B vitamins intramuscularly;
- taking nootropics, sedatives and vasodilators.
Treatment of dizziness with osteochondrosis of the cervical spine will not immediately bring results. Most often, for a noticeable result, you need to go through several courses of physiotherapy, constantly perform exercises of physiotherapy exercises.
Diseases of the ENT organs, in which dizziness may occur
Diseases of the ENT organs can also cause severe dizziness. Here is a list of the most common:
- Internal otitis media or labyrinthitis is an inflammatory lesion of the vestibular apparatus. Patients with this diagnosis hardly feel their position in space, experience dizziness and nausea, similar to feeling sick with seasickness. The gait is broken - a sick person is not able to walk exactly five meters. Noise and ringing in the ears, vomiting may follow the patient.
- Meniere's disease is a disease of the inner ear of a non-inflammatory nature. The main symptoms are dizziness, ringing in the ears. Meniere's disease is most common among men over fifty.
- Purulent processes in the middle ear can also become a source of dizziness, which will be accompanied by severe headaches and ear pains. It is difficult to confuse this symptomatology, since only it proceeds with pain.
Which doctor should I contact with dizziness, if there is a suspicion that the cause is an ENT organ disease? In this case, an otolaryngologist, a surgeon can help.
Other common causes of dizziness
Medicine distinguish the following common causes of dizziness:
- glaucoma - an eye disease in which intraocular pressure rises;
- menopause or menopause - a condition that occurs in women after forty years - becomes a common cause of dizziness, hot flashes, hyperhidrosis;
- traumatic brain injuries or concussions can have separate consequences and provoke dizziness even years after the fact of receipt.
Causes of dizziness in the morning after sleep
If you feel dizzy immediately after waking up, the reason may lie in a decrease in vascular tone. Another common cause is vegetative-vascular dystonia.
In this case, you should contact a neurologist. Most often, he prescribes vasodilator drugs:
- Cinnarizine
- Pantogam
- Fezam.
To alleviate the symptoms of vegetative-vascular dystonia, the patient should sleep and rest more, to avoid overwork and sun exposure.
In the treatment of dizziness caused by problems with blood vessels, it is very important to establish proper nutrition - it should contain a sufficient amount of protein and amino acids.