Causes at the heart

Numerous cardiovascular diseases can also have dizziness as a symptom. Typically, there are other accompanying symptoms to the dizziness and the underlying disease, such as outbreaks of sweating, dizziness to fainting, palpitations or flickering/staring before the eyes. The underlying mechanism of dizziness is common to almost all cardiovascular diseases, namely a temporary reduced blood flow to the brain.

Possible heart diseases that can lead to dizziness are cardiac insufficiency, in which the heart eventually becomes too large and is no longer able to eject enough blood, cardiac arrhythmia, including atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter, congenital heart defects and coronary heart disease, which is now widespread in Germany and results in calcification of the arteries supplying the heart (coronary arteries) and, in the worst case, can lead to a heart attack. The latter disease leads to a reduced blood supply to the heart muscle, which thus no longer reaches its original contraction strength, which in turn leads to reduced blood ejection with the above-mentioned symptoms. Possible circulatory diseases are high blood pressure or the subclavian steel syndrome, in which there is also a temporary lack of blood supply to the brain as a result of the narrowing of the subclavian artery from which brain-supplying arteries originate.

Causes of dizziness while lying down

Dizziness usually improves when lying down and gets worse, especially when getting up and during movements. However, there is one important exception to this, namely the dizziness known in the technical terminology as benign paroxysmal positioning vertigo. Or in short, simply positional vertigo.

“Benign” stands for a benign cause and “paroxysmal” for sudden/ sudden. Positional vertigo typically occurs in people between 60 and 80 years of age. Women are more frequently affected than men.

In this type of positional vertigo, there are earstones within the semicircular canals of our organ of equilibrium, which are formed by deposits within our inner ear. Earstones then irritate the archways and cause dizziness. The dizziness usually occurs when lying down, especially when turning around in bed.In addition, it can also occur when sitting up from a lying position or during a rapid bending movement.

In contrast to other vertigo diseases, the attacks of vertigo are very short. Within seconds the attack is usually over again on its own. In some cases, the vertigo is accompanied by nausea and/or visual disturbances.

Once the positioning vertigo has been diagnosed by the attending physician and the affected ear has been identified, it can usually be easily treated. The treatment is free of medication and can be done by the patient himself. Through these exercises the ear stones are ultimately transported out of the archways.

There are two exercises that can be performed by the patient, the Sémont maneuver and the Epley maneuver. The Sémont maneuver is best performed with a second person as an assistant. In this method, the patient sits upright while the head is turned 45 degrees to the unaffected side.

The second person then quickly tilts the patient to the side so that the patient lies on a couch facing upwards. He then remains in this position for two to three minutes. Afterwards, the patient straightens up again and is abruptly positioned on the other side, with the head remaining in the old position so that this time the gaze is directed downwards towards the couch.

It is then raised again and remains in the upright position for about three minutes. Afterwards the exercise can be repeated. During the epley maneuver, the patient sits with his legs stretched out in front of him.

The head is again tilted 45 degrees to the side, but this time in the direction of the diseased ear. Then the patient is quickly transferred to a supine position, with the head protruding beyond the couch/bed so that the head hangs. This causes dizziness.

The patient should remain in this position until the dizziness subsides or the position is maintained for at least one minute. Then the head is turned 90 degrees to the healthy side and the patient waits again until the dizziness symptoms disappear. Finally, the patient turns to the healthy side of his body and remains in this position for about one minute.

Afterwards, the patient is put back in an upright position. In order to avoid nausea during this exercise, it is best to keep your eyes closed during the exercise. In addition to positional vertigo, dizziness can also be present when our vestibular nerves are inflamed while lying down.

Due to the inflammation, the vestibular nerve permanently sends signals to the brain, causing dizziness. However, the dizziness in this disease is also present in standing and sitting. This is not a short-term dizziness attack, but a permanent dizziness.

Pregnant women (dizziness during pregnancy) sometimes develop a dizzy vena cava syndrome. The vena cava is a vena cava that runs inside the right half of the body and transports our blood back to the heart. Due to the circumference of the abdomen during pregnancy, this vena cava may be compressed so that less blood is pumped back to the heart.

Ultimately, this allows the heart to supply the body with less blood, so that less blood reaches the brain, which can cause dizziness. Vena cava syndrome is triggered when pregnant women lie on their right side or on their back. If they then turn to their left side, the dizziness disappears because the vena cava is not compressed any more.

Many people suffer from vertigo in old age. The causes are very varied and should always be considered. On the one hand, there is often a decrease in activity and muscle mass with age.

Older people forget to drink during the day. Both together lead to a drop in blood pressure, especially when getting up. The blood supply to the brain is temporarily reduced and those affected feel dizzy and often turn black before their eyes.

Such a low blood pressure as well as the symptom dizziness can also be a side effect of numerous medications that older people usually take too much of. These medications include drugs for depression, sleeping pills, tranquilizers, various medications for high blood pressure. A certain group of antibiotics can also have a short-term side effect on the organ of equilibrium in the inner ear.Various illnesses from which older people suffer more frequently in terms of numbers can also cause dizziness as one of their symptoms.

These include numerous diseases of the cardiovascular system, diabetes, anemia, and electrolyte and water balance disorders resulting from kidney disease. (Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo) Benign positional vertigo is a widespread form of vertigo that occurs twice as frequently in women as in men. The probability of suffering from this form of vertigo increases with age.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is characterized by visual disturbances that occur in the context of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, so-called oscillopsia. It seems to the affected person as if fixed objects are trembling. The image that the patient perceives is therefore similar to a blurred video recording.

Short, less than 30-second attacks of rotational vertigo triggered by a change in head position
Nausea (possible)
Visual disorders

In the course of a vestibular migraine, there are recurring attacks of dizziness that last from minutes to hours and can be associated with headaches. Sensitivity to light or noise and auras, as in classic migraines, can also be partially perceived. Despite the term “vestibular migraine“, it may be possible that only the rotary vertigo attacks occur without headaches.

This is a disease of the inner ear that occurs predominantly between the ages of 40 and 60. The cause of Menière’s disease is still not completely clear. It is assumed that there is an endolymph congestion (endolymph is a fluid rich in potassium), which causes an excess pressure in the cochlea.

Typically, patients suffer from the so-called Menière’s triad:

Rotational vertigo attacks
A unilateral hearing deterioration/hearing loss
“Ringing of the ears” (tinnitus aurium).

Vestibular neuritis is an acute unilateral functional impairment or even a functional failure of the vestibular organ. The reasons for this inflammatory process, which occurs mainly between the ages of 30 and 60, are unclear. One assumes a vestibular neuritis presents symptomatically with hearing disorders do not occur in vestibular neuritis.

An acoustic neuroma is a benign tumor of the Schwann cells of the vestibular nerve. Patients with an acoustic neuroma suffer from bilateral vestibulopathy, which means that the organ of equilibrium and/or the vestibular nerve have failed on both sides. Patients feel that the cause of vestibular paroxysm is a compression of the vestibular nerve on its way from the ear to the brain.

The reason for the compression is a tortuous or dilated artery. Acute and short-lasting torsional or vestibular vertigo can also be a cause of dizziness.

Virus infection
Virus reactivation of a virus dormant in the body or
Circulatory problem off.
Acute onset of permanent rotational vertigo, which can even last for several weeks
Visual disturbances (oscilloscope)
Nausea
Vomiting
Fall inclination to the diseased side
Horizontal rhythmic eye movements to the healthy side (spontaneous nystagmus)
A hearing loss on the affected side
Ear noises (tinnitus) and
Disturbances of balance up to dizzy spells
Schwank vertigo, which occurs depending on movement
Gang insecurity especially in poor light and ground conditions
Visual disturbances (oscillopsies)
Disorders of spatial memory
Circulatory disorders (e.g. due to atherosclerosis)
Brainstem and cerebellar damage
Multiple Sclerosis
Morbus Parkinson
Morbus Alzheimer
Skull and brain trauma