Many people claim that they feel dizzy when they wake up in the morning, when they stand up, when they hear a loud noise, when they see blood, when they take a shower, when they come across a strange smell, whey do not eat their food at the right time. Sometimes these people faint and pass out.
There are many reasons as to why a person feel dizzy and faint. Some people claim that they feel dizziness all the time and pass out often like its nothing. But feeling dizziness frequently is not something you can take lightly. It could be a symptom of something serious.
So what the real reason for dizziness? how to find out the real reason and cure it?
Why Dizziness and Passing out?
When there is less blood flow, and when our brain doesn’t get enough oxygen supply for its proper functioning, we lose our consciousness temporarily. When a person faints, he will not have any memory of things that happened just before he lost his consciousness and things that happened while he was unconscious.
We can broadly categorize dizziness into three types. Heart-related dizziness, brain and nerves related dizziness, and dizziness due to mental problems.
Dizziness Due to Brain and Nerve Problems
Dizziness and fainting that happens due to epilepsy, when coming across a strange smell or due to the smell of a flower, stroke, cold, fever are caused due to swelling, blockage in the nerves and blood vessels present in the brain.
Fainting due to Epilepsy
When dizziness and fainting happen due to epilepsy, all the muscles in the body becomes stiff. It becomes so stiff that even people witnessing it cannot do anything about it. They will start to leak foamy white fluid through their mouth. Their eyes will remain open. But they will not have any memory of the event.
First Aid for Epilepsy
- Person witness should not try to control the movements of hands and legs of the person who is going through epilepsy
- Wait till the person faints and till his body movements come to a complete stop.
- Avoid huge gathering around the person who goes through epilepsy.
- Do not feed water or any food to the person.
- Once the person has passed out, make him/her lie down on his left side.
- Cleanup all the white fluid released from the mouth.
- If epilepsy lasts for over 5 minutes, then seek the help of a Doctor immediately.
Treatment
If the white fluid from the mouth has fully released, Doctors will try to expel it completely. After that, they will inject medications to stop epilepsy. If the person undergoes fainting due to epilepsy, he will be advised to go for MRI scan. Further treatment will be based on the MRI report.
Fainting Due to Mental Problems
Fainting and dizziness that occurs due to fear, anger, happiness, surprise, anxiety, depression, thinking and worrying about something continuously belongs to this category. This type of dizziness and fainting occurs mainly for women and children. Women get dizzy and faint due to loss of their loved ones, death, sadness, fear, and shock. Children usually faint due to fear of their teacher, depression, stress, and anxiety.
First Aid
- Make the fainted person lie down on a flat surface.
- Sprinkle some water over their face.
- Do not feed them anything while they are in passed out condition.
- If they are in the passed out state for over 10 minutes then seek the help of a Doctor immediately.
Treatment
Should seek the help of a professional psychiatrist or psychologist. The doctor will advise a treatment based on the patient condition.
how to Detect a Fake Fainting from the Real One?
Real fainting person’s eyes will hardly move when their eyelids start to roll up. But when a person fakes to faint his/her eyes will show movement. Additionally, they will not let their eyelids to roll up. They will hardly open their eyes. Eyes of a real fainting person will not roll. Eyeballs of a faking person will keep rolling when you lift up their eyelids.
Vertigo
Feeling of dizziness when standing up or while sitting down. They will feel as if everything around them is spinning. This feeling of dizziness, headache, feeling of heaviness in the head will last for few seconds. They will feel like passing out. Some people will lose their balance while walking. They will not hear anything. Tiredness will strike them all of a sudden. This condition is called as Vertigo.
Treatment
There is no real medication to cure vertigo. Regular physical exercise and yoga is the only option to get rid of it. Usually, these people are advised to maintain a healthy weight.
Dizziness Due to Heart Problem
Dizziness due to heart problems includes the feeling of dizziness due to changes in pulse rate, palpitation, irregular heartbeats, and blocks in arteries. Some of the reasons for this dizziness include low levels of oxygen in the heart, blocks in arteries, blocks in valves, and reduction in blood circulation.
First Aid
- Absorb the person’s action carefully. Watch if the person is keeping his hands in his chest area before passing out. If the person has his hands in his chest region, then do the following first aids.
- Make the person lie down on a flat surface and tilt the head sideways and let it rest well on the floor.
- Watch the pulse rate of the person carefully.
- Try to make the person to regain his consciousness by sprinkling a little water. If you can sprinkle some water with more force, it will activate the nerves in the facial area. It will help to make the person to regain consciousness.
- If the person fails to regain his consciousness after 5 mins and if you notice his pulse rate is getting dipped, then call for emergency help immediately.
- Treatment
The person will be immediately put to ECG and ECMO tests. Further treatment will be based on test results. Pacemaker instrument will be used to regulate pulse rate.
Dizziness due to irregular blood flow
A person might undergo dizziness due to loss of energy, excessive bleeding during periods, blood loss due to injury, severe fever, constipation, reduction in oxygen level in the brain.
First Aid
- Make the person lie down on a flat surface upside down.
- Do not feed any foodstuffs or water to a person who is unconscious
- Lift the person’s leg little high from the surface
- Sprinkle a little water to make the person to regain his consciousness. But, you should not make the person drink water.
- Feed the person only after he completely regained his consciousness.
- If the person hasn’t regained his consciousness after a few minutes. Call a Doctor immediately.
Treatment
First aid should be enough to treat dizziness of this type. Doctors might prescribe for energy supplements and glucose.
What to do in case of Frequent dizziness and fainting
People who go through frequent dizziness and fainting should undergo a master checkup and find out the real reason behind it. If a person feels dizzy due to psychological reasons, then they can take up meditation and yoga. Do not skip the food. If you are constantly exposed to sunlight, drink water regularly and keep yourself hydrated.
Dizziness mostly affects old age people
Old age people can get badly affected due to dizziness and fainting. If they fall down due to passing out, it can fracture their bones, create wounds, and it can lead to many other problems. Sometimes it can even turn fatal is the fact. So always take extra care for an older person in your family and ensure their safety.
Further Reading:
- What is Vertigo and How to Get Rid Of It?
- Top 8 Dangerous Problems that attacks Men Over Women