Health

Causes of Dizziness and Treatment Options

Published

2 years ago

November 13, 2021

Dizziness is a sensation of lightheadedness, faintness, or vertigo. The word dizziness can mean either “the feeling that you are about to faint” (orthostatic dizziness) or the room seems to be spinning around (vertigo). Dizziness can also cause feelings of weakness, fatigue, and decreased concentration, or even cause a loss of consciousness.

According to Alexandria dizziness specialists, it is the third most common symptom for seeking medical help. Dizziness is sometimes due to medication reactions, low blood pressure, neurological problems such as migraine headaches, brain tumors, pulsating arteries in the ear (pulsatile tinnitus), or cervical or thoracic spine problems. Dizziness is also associated with anxiety, depression, and panic disorders.

Dizziness can be associated with mental retardation or autism in children. Some young sufferers of dizziness may have developmental coordination disorder (dyspraxia).

Causes of Dizziness

The leading cause of chronic dizziness is benign positional vertigo (BPV).

Dizziness can be due to an ear infection, Ménière’s disease, or dental problems. Acoustic neuroma is another possible cause of chronic dizziness. Dizziness may also be due to stroke, transient ischemic attack (mini-stroke), multiple sclerosis, brain tumor, medication side -effects, low blood pressure (orthostatic hypotension), and aging. It can also be a manifestation of anxiety disorders such as panic attacks or social phobia. Chronic dizziness is frequently associated with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dizziness may occur when too much flow through the veins that drain blood from the brain, either when standing (orthostatic) or lying down. This type of dizziness can result from dehydration, low blood pressure, heart failure, hyperventilation, glaucoma, medication side effects, dietary supplements, and drugs. Cerebral hypoxia may also be a cause of chronic dizziness.

How is Dizziness Treated?

You may treat dizziness with counseling, physical therapy, or medications. When dizziness is associated with anxiety or panic disorder, counseling and medication are typically the most effective treatments.

Counseling can help if you have anxiety-related chronic dizziness to understand how to manage your fears of feeling dizzy. For example, you may benefit from therapy to show how you can keep your balance without clutching onto furniture.

Physical therapy may help you learn exercises to improve balance and coordination. Sometimes vestibular rehabilitation is helpful, which uses special exercises for dizziness caused by an inner ear disorder called BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo).

Medications may help treat the cause of dizziness, along with anxiety and other symptoms.

Antidepressants can be helpful if you suffer from chronic dizziness caused by depression or anxiety. Anticonvulsants are sometimes used to treat chronic dizziness due to seizures, migraines, or multiple sclerosis.

Other medications are also available to treat chronic dizziness. Suppose the cause of your vertigo is not known. In that case, common remedies for this disorder include meclizine or diazepam (Valium), anti-nausea medications, and scopolamine patches placed behind the ears.

Chronic dizziness is often treated with medication, counseling, or by identifying the cause of the dizziness (and treating it).

To summarize, dizziness is a sensation of lightheadedness, faintness, or vertigo. It is one of the most common symptoms that prompt people to seek help. Common causes of dizziness include positional vertigo, ear infection, and depression. Depending on the grounds of your dizziness, you may be treated through counseling, physical therapy, or medications.

Health

What Interferes with Successful Breastfeeding?

Published

3 weeks ago

September 5, 2023

Michelle Langton

While breastfeeding is ideal, it comes with many difficulties new parents might face.

After experiencing the intensity of labor and delivery, many new parents are left exhausted. Despite this fatigue and surviving pospartum, new parents soon learn the importance of managing the needs of an infant. Putting aside their own desires, parents learn to quickly adapt.

Exhaustion and recovery are not the only things that discourage parents from breastfeeding. There are a variety of other woes that can make it difficult for a lactating parent to continue to choose this option.

While 83 percent of women breastfeed at the beginning of postpartum, there is a drastic reduction by 6 months, resulting in only 56% of babies still being breastfed.

Engorged Breasts

When a lactating woman’s milk comes in, she may experience intense pain and discomfort. The breasts typically become overly filled with milk because they have not yet regulated their supply. This engorgement can continue throughout the breastfeeding journey for a variety of reasons.

If the baby’s schedule changes, a woman’s breasts can become overly full. If the parent misses a feeding, breasts can experience discomfor which can lead to breastfeeding infection. If a woman becomes preoccupied at work and does not make time to pump, she can experience discomfort.

If breast engorgement is not treated properly, milk ducts can become blocked, and if a woman does not work to move the milk through her breasts (via feeding her baby, pumping, or expressing the milk), this engorgement can lead to further problems and may cause clogged milk ducts.

Infection

One of the biggest concerns beyond the pain a woman experiences with engorgement is infection. This is known as mastitis, and leads to a woman experiencing not only breast pain and warm breast tissue, but also flu-like symptoms that come with fever, chills, headache, and further exhaustion.

In order to help prevent infection, regular feedings are essential. Often, the best mastitis treatment, at least for early symptoms, is to massage the breast in a warm shower and express the extra milk.

Furthermore, by working with an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), parents can have a great resource on how to best deal with, treat, and alleviate these problems.

Not only is an IBCLC a great resource in helping prevent breast infection, but a great source for your breastfeeding journey to encourage and educate you in best practices.

The best way to achieve breastfeeding success is to utilize the many tools that an IBCLC offers.

Burnout

To exclusively breastfeed your baby can be quite overwhelming and exhausting. Between nightly feedings, cluster feedings, and pumping sessions for working mothers, breastfeeding is difficult to maintain. Unless a woman is properly supported by her family, friends, and workplace, the chances that a woman will continue to breastfeed are significantly impacted.

Culture also impacts the likelihood of a baby being breastfed beyond 6 months. The CDC discovered that parents in the Southeast United States are less likely to breastfeed their children past six months. This was in contrast to the Northwest, where business policies and the culture is more breastfeeding-friendly and supportive.

Conclusion

Despite the nutritional benefits afforded to a breastfed baby, there are many obstacles that can be discouraging for parents on their breastfeeding journey. From exhaustion to pain to lack of supoort, parents have many reasons to give up.

To increase your chances of success, surround yourself with supportive individuals, reach out to an IBCLC, also known as lactation consultants, and gain the necessary tools required to provide your child with the healthiest option available – you!