medical problem: i get dizzy

humble

let me say first off that i did go see a doctor and they ran some blood work and i had an ekg done.

they didnt find anything though

my problem is that when i go from sitting/laying to standing i get incredibly dizzy and i start to lose my vision and feel like im going to faint. it doesnt happen all the time but it happens once or twice everyday.

i know i can't really ask for medical expertise, i saw a doctor and i had some tests done and they didnt find anything.

so i am just wondering if anyone has suffered from similar circumstances or if you have heard anything like this.

also this has been happening since the spring

thanks

Shogun

I used to do this a lot. When you stand up like that force yourself to breath in very deeply. Your brain is for whatever reason lacking oxygen when you get up quickly. I don't do it anymore. It is quite odd because I also never figured out why it did that but I never do it anymore. It just stopped. But anyway, breath in deeply when you rise.

wmelon

My mother, who is a Nurse Practitioner, told me that sometimes this is caused by low blood pressure. My blood pressure has always been pretty low (90 over 70) and it happens to me fairly often. Hopefully they've checked that for you. But i thought i would share.

Lintilla

Are you describing a head rush, or something that feels like a headrush but lasts for a while? Regular headrushes are just a drop in blood pressure thanks to gravity that your body quickly resolves. Everybody gets them once in a while.
For the hypochondriac in you, google also tells me that there is something called "headrush disorder" which is like having one all the time. Supposedly a genetic disorder. There are also all sorts of balance disorders that have similar symptoms, and I think they are most commonly liked to inner ear infections and the like, but I imagine your doctor will figure it out.

Feral

It's called 'orthostatic hypotension' and it could be caused by something as simple as not drinking enough water, or it could be a side effect of various medications (including anti-depressants), or it could be caused by various diseases (including low blood pressure or diabetes). In some people it seems to be caused by a poorly-understood abnormal nervous system reaction. In some people no underlying cause is found and they just have to live with it. In some people it comes and goes unexpectedly.

There are drugs that can treat it. Making sure you have a good diet and drink adequate amounts of water can help. Daily cardio exercise can help, however keep in mind that many people with orthostatic hypotension also have exercise intolerance, which means you might need to ease yourself into a workout routine much more slowly than the average person.

Typically the way they diagnose it is with a tilt-table test, though a doctor might be able to diagnose it based on a description of your symptoms alone. That said, many doctors have not heard of it, or may not know that there are drugs that can treat it.

If your first doctor was unable to help you, then find a second doctor and ask for a second opinion. When you call around for a doctor, it can't hurt to ask the office if the doctor has any experience in treating orthostatic hypotension.

corcorigan

My mildly drunk view is you have low blood pressure.

Presumably your doctors would have picked up on that though.

If it keeps happening go back to your doctors and moan. You pay them for a reason, if they can't find what the cause is get them to refer you to someone who can.

(What the guy above said basically.)

NightDragon

Feral wrote: »

If your first doctor was unable to help you, then find a second doctor and ask for a second opinion.

I was going to say this same thing.

Also, maybe try standing up a bit slower. I'm not sure if you're popping right up or not, but it may help, though minimally.

Nakatomi2010

I've pretty much got the same issue... Always been explained to me as a result of blood taking its time to fight gravity to get back where it needs to be... I often like to go from sitting/crouching to standing is a single jump upwards, which can cause all kinds of "wobbliness" afterwards...

Convael

I had the same problem, doctor told me that I wasn't drinking enough water and I haven't had any problems since I started doing so.

alcoholic_engineer

Pretty much most of what I was going to say was stated above however:

How is your posture most of the time? I had horrible posture for years and every so often I would stand up, and nearly pass out. (sketchy spinal rugby injury didnt help)

Because my back was bothering me I went to a (GOOD) chiropractor who straightened out my back, and the problems went away.

Some people hate chiros, but if you are able to find a competent one (check the local university, mine has one that worked with an olympic hockey team so she was pretty good) and that can make all the difference.

I now go once or twice a year max but when I first started going my back got a whole lot better and the dizzyness went away.