Synonyms in a broader sense
Medical: Vertigo forms: Positional vertigo, rotational vertigo, swaying vertigo,
Definition Vertigo
Dizziness (Vertigo) is the most common cause for which a doctor is consulted. The causes of vertigo are many and varied. In general, one can differentiate between vestibular vertigo originating from the vestibular organ in the inner ear. Non-vestibular vertigo does not originate in the organ of balance and can have many different triggers.
- Vestibular vertigo
- Non-vestibular vertigo
Causes of dizziness by sex
In young women, dizziness is often associated with low blood pressure. In combination with a too low fluid intake, especially when getting up too quickly, the eyes turn black and the unpleasant dizziness attacks occur, but they usually pass quickly. This phenomenon also occurs, though less frequently, in people with normal blood pressure.
Women of child-bearing age should think of a possible pregnancy when suffering from vertigo attacks accompanied by excessive fatigue. Sport can help reduce the attacks in both cases. Another very common cause of dizziness in women is provoked by stress and situations they are afraid of.
This form of vertigo is known as phobic vertigo and is one of the most common causes of vertigo in young people in general, although women tend to suffer from it more often than men. To put yourself in the situation better, here is a small example: “Imagine yourself standing on the roof of a house without security. Suddenly the roof begins to move and swings back and forth like a ship.”
This dizziness attack suffered by those affected usually has no disease value, but is a complex reaction of the body to the psychological stress to which the person concerned is exposed. In our example almost every person would react in this way. However, women who suffer from phobic dizziness suffer these attacks in everyday situations that they fear, such as exam situations or when driving a train in case of claustrophobia.
Furthermore, dizziness attacks occasionally occur in the context of migraines, which women suffer from statistically more frequently. Typical for this type of dizziness is that it is accompanied by the characteristic throbbing and unilateral migraine headache. For the affected women, it feels like a carousel ride too fast.
One speaks of rotational vertigo. If sudden attacks of rotary vertigo occur in combination with tinnitus and hearing loss, Menière’s disease should be considered in women between the ages of 40 and 60. Women suffer from inner ear disease slightly more frequently than men (see: Vertigo due to diseases of the ear).
It is assumed that an increase in fluid (endolymph) in the inner ear causes tearing of membranes that are important for balance and hearing. The brain receives erroneous information and believes that it is permanently in motion, which explains the symptoms described above. In very rare cases, the dizziness attacks occur in the context of multiple sclerosis.
Women suffer about twice as often from this disease, which leads to destruction of the nerve sheaths. The dizziness is often accompanied by impaired vision, pain in the area of the eye during movement and tingling or numbness in the arms and legs, and more rarely paralysis. Another very frequent dizziness is positional vertigo, which also affects mainly women.
The technical term for this form of vertigo is benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Paroxysmal means that the dizziness occurs suddenly when the head is displaced, such as when lying down, getting up and especially when turning the head, for example when turning around in bed. Typical of this form are violent attacks of vertigo, which, if the affected person lies still, disappear quickly, but reoccur with the next rotation of the head.
The cause is to be found in small stones in the inner ear, the otoliths, which have detached themselves from their place of origin and slip around in the inner ear archways with every movement. The movement of the otoliths upsets the organ of equilibrium and sends erroneous information to the brain, resulting in the symptom of dizziness. Men can basically suffer from dizziness because of the same diseases as women.However, they are usually inferior to women in percentage terms, i.e. women fall ill more often and thus suffer more often from dizziness and vertigo attacks.
Men suffer from frequent phobic vertigo, which occurs in very stressful and unpleasant situations, at a later age than women. Stress is one of the most common triggers of dizziness, especially in young people where pathological changes of the balance organ in the ear and brain are unlikely. The dizziness can sometimes be so severe that everyday tasks can no longer be performed.
Those affected do not imagine the dizziness at all. It is the reaction and response of the body and the brain to sometimes extremely psychologically stressful situations, such as the death of a loved one, but also in exam situations for people with exam nerves. The brain tries to use this reaction to distract from the bad feelings.
In addition, many people affected by vertigo attacks experience that they can “free themselves” from situations such as an unpleasant conversation thanks to the vertigo. Unconsciously, they benefit from their dizziness, which is why the brain reverts to this aid during the next unpleasant conversation, whereby the dizziness is not imaginary, but real. As a rule, the attack is perceived as swindling, as if you were standing on a ship in a heavy sea. Those affected often also suffer from anxiety disorders, panic attacks or depression. In spite of all this, diseases of the brain or the ear, in which part of the organ of equilibrium is located, should not be disregarded and should also be examined if suspected.
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