Common Causes of Vertigo

We’ve all had moments when we’ve found ourselves feeling a little lightheaded or dizzy. However, if it’s been a bit of a recurring experience for you, we definitely recommend that you make an appointment with your doctor. There could be a chance that you are suffering from what is known as vertigo—a health condition that is oftentimes associated with things like an ear infection or the result of some kind of trauma to the head.

If you’ve always been curious about vertigo and you’ve found yourself wondering what some of the common causes of it is, we have five of them for you below. That way, if you or a loved one does find themselves feeling dizzy, you can refer to this list in order to narrow down what may be the cause(s) of it.

Ear infection. Perhaps the most common cause of vertigo is an ear infection. That’s because when our body is trying to fight an infection in that area of the body, there tends to be fluid fluctuations that send a message to the brain that the body is moving even though the eyes may be relaying something different. When this happens, a sensation of dizziness tends to occur.

Dehydration. When our bodies are dehydrated, this means that we’re not getting as much liquid into our systems as we need. This also can also cause you to feel a bit lightheaded and dizzy. If you’re not drinking as much water as you should (at least eight hours per day) and you notice that when you stand up or when you’re laying down and changing positions, you feel dizzy, drink a few glasses over the course of the day. If that helps the situation, then there’s a pretty good chance that you can attribute your dizziness to dehydration.

Hyperventilation. Do you have moments when you find yourself breathing at a rapid place or feeling short of breath? That is usually an indication that you are hyperventilating, which can definitely lead to vertigo. That’s because all of us need an adequate and consistent amount of oxygen for our brains. If you cannot calm your hyperventilation on your own, your doctor can prescribe you something to remedy the situation.

Internal bleeding. If you spoke with a doctor or medical assistant about what one of the more serious causes of vertigo would be, they’d probably say that internal bleeding is on the top of the list. The real challenge with this particular issue is that you don’t always know how to detect it because it’s blessing that’s happening inside of your body. However, if you’ve been feeling extremely fatigued or lightheaded and you can’t accurately pinpoint the reason why, you should definitely set up an appointment with your doctor. Also, if you tend to have heavy menstrual cycles and you’ve been feeling dizzy following them, this is usually an indication of having low iron in the blood so make sure to get some iron supplements and to also get a check-up (just to be sure) too.

Misuse of medication. Another common cause of vertigo is actually a pretty simple one. We’ve all had moments in our lives when we’ve needed to either take prescription or over-the-counter medications. Medicine is meant to make you feel better, but if you don’t follow the instructions, your body’s reaction to being overmedicated, misusing the medication or mixing it with alcohol can make you feel dizzy and lightheaded as well. So, before taking any kind of drug, make sure that you’ve thoroughly read the instructions so that it can help to get you back on your feet rather than making you feel so dizzy that you want to sit (or lay) down instead.