There are many different types of medical complaints that doctors receive from their patients. However, the second most common of these include dizziness and imbalance. According to experts, there are as many as 40 percent of adults who suffer from these symptoms at one point in their lives. Causes vary widely, with the best management often involving different types of health care professionals including general physicians, neurologists, and cardiologists. Neuro-otologists and ENT surgeons are also often called upon for a more accurate diagnosis.
Fortunately, thanks to the sophisticated medical technology of today, a lot of the factors that can cause dizziness and imbalance can now be easily detected. Even the appropriate surgical or medical treatments have been proven to be very effective.
One thing to keep in mind is that the symptoms of dizziness and imbalance are subjective, which means that patients often tend to describe what they experience in different ways to their doctors. Read on to find what these common terms are.
- Dizziness – This term is used to describe a broad spectrum of various sensations ranging from ligtheadedness to imbalance or vertigo. In clinical terms, it is often used to non-specifically describe a particular kind of medical condition prior to a comprehensive evaluation being performed.
- Nausea – The feeling of being nauseated involves a sensation of unease emanating from the stomach. It is often associated with the urge to vomit involuntarily.
- Motion Sickness – Motion sickness, also commonly referred to as “travel sickness”, has a variety of other symptoms, including vomiting, sweating, pallor, and nausea. This occurs when a person is travelling in any kind of moving vehicle, usually an automobile. This is actually a psychological response of the body to a mismatch between visual and vestibular information due to the moving environment.
- Positional Dizziness – This is the term used for a variety of conditions wherein sudden changes in the head position, including looking upwards or lying down results in dizziness.
- Vertigo –This term is used to describe an illusion that a person’s body or the surrounding environment is tumbling or spinning. It is often an underlying indication of a vestibular problem.
- Lightheadedness – Also known as “faintness” or pre-syncopal dizziness, lightheadedness is a form of non-vestibular dizziness caused by temporary impairment of oxygenated blood that goes to the brain’s balance part. Patients often describe it as a sensation of being detached from their surroundings.
- Muzziness – Patients who are suffering from vestibular conditions often use the term “muzziness” to describe their feeling of having an “unclear”head. Some even go as far to saying that their heads are “full of cotton wool”.
- Imbalance –Referred to medically as “disequilibrium”, imbalance is the term used to refer to a person’s difficulty in maintaining his or her centre of gravity while in a set of position. Unlike dizziness, imbalance is a non-specific term which is associated with many different types of disorders. In addition, imbalance is not to be considered as a specific diagnosis but as a type of medical condition.
Other Types of Symptoms
Aside from those mentioned above, there are a variety of other symptoms associated with dizziness or imbalance. These include movement disequilibrium, Mal de debarquement syndrome, drop attacks, oscillopsia, trauma, whiplash injury, and nystagmus. For more information on dizziness, lightheadedness, and vertigo-related problems, please head to https://www.wellnessbin.com//www.webmd.com/brain/tc/dizziness-lightheadedness-and-vertigo-topic-overview. Another great place to learn more about such conditions is https://www.wellnessbin.com//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizziness.
