Has your dizziness leaving you feeling anxious for answers?
Are these symptoms serious?
Should I go to the hospital?
What if I need an MRI?
Is this all just anxiety?
What if there is something seriously wrong with me?
Should I be worried?....
Here we are going to help provide some guidance to help bring you some clarity.
It’s important to note that every person is different and what might be true for the majority may not be right for you. It’s important to be open and honest about your symptoms and discuss them with your physical therapist, physician or other provider who you feel you can trust.
Have you ever thought...
Well, I won’t bring this up, this isn’t that big of a deal, I don’t want to bother my doctor with this because they will just blow me off anyways...
That’s the wrong kind of thinking!
I’m here to help you to start being an advocate for yourself and put an end to your medical gaslighting.
Journaling and Tracking Your Symptoms
First, I would recommend starting to journal or track your symptoms. This can include the date, time of day, what activities you were doing when your symptoms started, how long they lasted, and what you tried that helped (or didn’t help).
So when will I know if my dizziness is serious?
Well, if you are ever in doubt, or if you are asking yourself this question, it’s best to get examined by a healthcare professional, especially someone who understands dizziness to help you understand if your dizziness is serious.
But here are few red flags that along with dizziness, would make you want to seek urgent medical attention:
Any recent history of blacking out or fainting
Any changes in your speech or difficulty swallowing
Sudden, severe, unrelenting headache
Chest pain, shortness of breath, or heart palpitations
Confusion or changes in memory
Unexplained weight loss or gain
Unexplained weakness in your arms or legs
Clumsier (than normal)
Rapid change in hearing
Blurred or double vision
Causes of Dizziness
There are many different causes of dizziness, this can include problems within your balance system. The balance system is composed of 3 systems: your eyes (vision), inner ear (vestibular system), and joint sense (proprioception).
It’s up to the brain to make sense of all this information and produce an action.
Dizziness can occur when one (or more) of these systems are weak, which causes an imbalance between what you are seeing versus what your inner ear and body are sensing.
Here are a few different conditions that can cause dizziness related to the balance system:
BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo)
Vestibular migraine
Concussion or post concussion syndrome
Vestibular hypofunction
Acoustic Neuroma
Other causes of dizziness that might be affecting you can also include:
Rapid changes to your blood pressure (like from laying down to standing up)
Dehydration
Medications
Allergies
Anemia (low iron)
Alcohol and tobacco use
How To Manage Your Dizziness
So what should I do?
If you’re not a doctor, no one is expecting you to know about whether or not your dizziness is serious. That’s why we go to school for years and years to help stand alongside you and make sense of your symptoms.
Your body is trying to say something, but you haven’t been taught its language. We went to school for a long time to become your translator to teach and empower you about what your body is saying, so you can take care of it and take control of your health.
Like I mentioned before, keep track of your symptoms and have an open conversation about them with your healthcare professional. If you feel like you aren't getting the care you need, or you don’t feel like you are being heard, it’s time to find a new provider.
You aren’t hurting anyone’s feelings by doing this, you need to be an advocate for yourself and you need a team of professionals behind you that will stand up for what you need.
It’s time to start putting yourself first.
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