General information about dizziness
Dizziness is generally understood to be the perception of sham movements, which those affected associate with a feeling of insecurity and dizziness. Dizziness is caused by the interaction of three sensory systems: The organ of equilibrium of the inner ear, the eyes and the receptors for position and depth in the skin, joints and muscles. Gathering all this information creates the so-called sense of balance in our body.
- The organ of equilibrium located in the ear provides information about the direction in which the body is moving.
- The eye complements the orientation in space, i.e. where we are.
- The so-called propioceptors of the skin, joints and muscles, tell us something about the position of our body parts in relation to each other. The
If there is a disruption or contradiction in one or more of these systems, we are overcome by a feeling of uncertainty about our situation: the dizziness. There are several differences in the quality of vertigo.
There are roughly two major classes of vertigo.
- On the one hand the systematic directed vertigo. In this case the disturbance lies in the vestibular system itself. This includes, for example, the spinning or swaying vertigo, but also forms of vertigo in which one has the feeling of riding in a lift or falling down somewhere.
- On the other hand the unsystematic undirected vertigo, which can be described rather with the classical “blackening before the eyes”. The site of the damage lies here outside the organ of equilibrium.
Eyes as a cause for dizziness
If the cause lies in the area of the eyes, it is called ocular dizziness. The cause is usually a visual defect, paralysis of the eye muscles or a decrease in vision with increasing lens opacity, such as in cataracts. Dizziness can also occur during the familiarization phase of wearing new glasses or with incorrectly adjusted lenses.
Furthermore, an increase in intraocular pressure and eyeball anomalies can be considered as triggers. As a result of the defective vision and the consequently disturbed fixation of objects by our eyes, in interaction with the organ of equilibrium in the inner ear, nonsensical information is sent to the control center in the brain, which finally leads to dizziness. An increase in intraocular pressure is called glaucoma in medical terminology and is also known as “glaucoma”.
Glaucoma can occur suddenly and in attacks or chronically. While the triggers for chronic glaucoma are not yet known, there are a number of known risk factors for acute glaucoma. These include myopia, diabetes and circulatory problems, such as those caused by low blood pressure. An acute glaucoma attack is very painful for the affected person and is also associated with headaches, nausea and dizziness. Acute glaucoma is an ophthalmologic emergency and should be treated as soon as possible.
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