I was just reminded by Twitter that a lot of people say they’re dizzy when they really mean they have vertigo. In daily life I couldn’t care less. The only time it really matters is when you’re talking to your doctor or to other people about having a problem with your dizziness, which might actually be vertigo. In these specific cases, you want to be accurate because there are different causes and treatment of each condition.
Dizziness is what most people actually mean when they say they’re dizzy, so most of the time people use the term correctly. Yay! It’s the general feeling of unsteadiness. When I can’t walk a straight line and have to use a wall or inadvertently play “hallway pinball” bouncing back and forth between one side of the hall to the other as I go, that’s dizziness. The room is fine, the problem is me.
Vertigo is the sensation of movement. You’re still, but things around you are moving. When experience vertigo, I can fall out of a chair while attempting to stay in it because I perceive movement of the room that is not there. When the kids were little they thought this was hysterical. Actually, they’re adults now and they still think it’s hysterical. When walking with vertigo, I sometimes see the floor as moving on its own – wavy and in motion or tilting so I don’t know at what height my next step will land.
When you stand suddenly and get that momentary lightheadedness and dizziness is called orthostatic or postural hypotension and passes after just a few seconds or even minutes although if it lasts that long maybe you should sit and stand slower next time. It’s pretty common. Some people even faint, which is less common. It’s a drop in blood pressure if the term hypotension didn’t give it away, and for some people it brings on a headache so they tend to learn to be more careful about that whole standing up business.
Back to dizziness and vertigo.
Dizziness can be caused by a lot of things. Common causes include dehydration, low blood sugar, being tired, panic attack, medication, low blood pressure, anemia, medical conditions, and age. You treat the underlying condition to get rid of it. More on that in a bit.
Vertigo can be caused by medical conditions too, one common one is Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo when one of the crystals in your inner ear breaks free floats around – making the little hairs that sense the position your head is in believe you’re moving in ways you’re not. I had this, it’s annoying and trippy. Eventually the crystal will dissolve and everything will return to normal, but in the meantime your life is hell and treatment (Epley Maneuver) is super quick and easy, although also sort of trippy. (Before you try it at home, keep in mind you need to know which ear the crystal is loose in and mirror the movements if needed.)
Back in 2010 I had a curious habit of walking a (mostly) straight line then taking a sudden turn right into a wall. The kids thought it was awesome that their mom did tricks, although changed their minds when they were tasked with holding my hand and guiding me like a blind woman every time we went anywhere in public. I was permitted to walk into walls at home if I chose. If there wasn’t a wall nearby, the concept of a straight line was an abstract idea I couldn’t be bothered with.
My neurologist is pretty liberal with his thinking, but I was also falling out of chairs and bed and finally decided that this behavior needed to end. He sent me to balance therapy for vertigo and dizziness. I had both although the behavior I described was vertigo.
Balance therapy is a specialized physical therapy if you’re wondering. The guy who did mine was really fun. I didn’t have orthostatic hypotension, which surprised him so much he kept retesting me. I did have Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo which got him all excited and I had no idea why. The treatment involves laying down. Then roll this way, then that way, then this way, etc. Weird. Sit up. Walk. I did not walk into a wall. I also couldn’t lay down again for 24 hours or something which was fine because I didn’t walk into a wall! I was super excited by this, which in turn made my balance therapy guy super excited. The kids had mixed feelings.
Don’t get me wrong, I still had mild vertigo and dizziness, but it was nothing like before. It was also intermittent instead of constant. The super weird part is that I’d been walking into walls much longer than I should have for that diagnosis, the crystal should have dissolved. The theory was that I kept falling out of chairs and knocked another loose or something. They don’t know. I didn’t really care. It was fixed!
The point is: if vertigo is bad, there is a possible diagnosis and treatment that is really easy. And, of all the weirdness, for a long time I took motion sickness medication for the remaining vertigo and that helped. It depends on the reason for it, ask your doctor. This isn’t necessarily something you just have to learn to live with.
Now dizziness. Balance therapy did a lot. Seriously, I spent a few months doing that. There was some sort of disconnect between my inner ear and my eyes that needed to be realigned. A general vestibular balance disorder that explains why I start to fall over if I close my eyes while I’m standing. Kid you not. They test this biannually in my neurology checks. Anyway, there is help for chronic dizziness.
I still have little unexplained flare ups, but they don’t last too long. I manage dizziness now by managing my medication. I know what makes me dizzy, I take the minimum amount I can of those prescriptions and I take them at night when the side effects are less of a problem.
Now, I have a cat hinting that she’d like tummy pets until she doesn’t anymore and will bite me tell me to stop. I need to tend to that.
Tori Brooks 