Is this your symptom?
- Feeling light-headed or faint
- Feeling like the room is spinning
Symptoms of Dizziness
- Feeling dizzy or light-headed
- Feeling unsteady with slight loss of balance
- Feeling "woozy" or not thinking clearly
- May also have brief blurring of vision
- Feeling like the room is spinning
Causes of Dizziness
- Main Cause is often due to reduced blood flow to the brain for a short time. It can be triggered by many normal events:
- Standing too long in one place. Reason: this causes pooling of blood in the legs.
- Standing up suddenly. Reason: this causes sudden drop in blood pressure.
- Dehydration. This can be from losing fluids and/or from not drinking enough fluid.
- Low Oxygen(such as when running and out of breath). Reason: lower than normal oxygen levels can't meet body's needs for a short time.
- Too Much Sun or Hot Tub Use. Reason: increased sweating causes fluid loss. The heat causes the blood vessels in your skin to open up to try to help your body cool down. As a result, blood pressure falls and you may feel dizzy or pass out.
- Sweating from Sports or Hard Work. Reason: sweating causes fluid loss.
- Fasting. Skipping a meal causes low blood sugar which can make you feel light-headed.
- Fever
- Motion Sickness. Main symptoms are dizziness and nausea.
- Viral Syndrome. Patients with viral illnesses (e.g., colds, flu) often say they are a bit dizzy. This is never the only symptom. It may relate to weakness from being sick.
- Vertigo (serious). In addition to dizziness, you may feel like the room is spinning. This is often caused by a middle ear problem. You may feel sick and have trouble walking across the room. You may also have some loss of hearing and a ringing sound in your ear(s).
- Medicines. Side effects of some medicines include dizziness. If your dizziness began after starting a new medicine, ask your doctor whether the medicine could be causing it.
- Sudden Stressful Feelings can cause dizziness and fainting. This is called vasovagal syncope. Seeing a badly injured person or pet can trigger fainting. Also, stressful events such as public speaking can cause similar symptoms.
- Sudden Physical Pain, such as getting a shot or a blood test, can cause dizziness and fainting. Getting stitches (or having them taken out) can also trigger fainting. The stress of the event may cause the dizziness rather than the pain itself.
- Feeling Dizzy and Faint in Pregnancy.
- Due to hormone changes, you may feel faint when you are pregnant. This may happen if you stand up quickly. Take your time getting up to your feet and sit back down again if you feel dizzy.
- You may also feel faint if you are lying on your back during the later stages of pregnancy. The weight of the baby can press on the main blood vessel that returns blood to your heart from the legs. This may cause you to feel faint. If that happens, or if when you sit back down the faint feeling does not pass, turn over and lie on your side. If it still does not pass quickly, call your doctor or midwife right away.
- In early pregnancy, if the embryo has implanted in a fallopian tube (the tube the egg passes down from the ovary to the uterus) there could be internal bleeding if the tube ruptures (bursts). This may feel like abdominal pain and/or include vaginal bleeding, but fainting could be the first sign that something is wrong. Seek help right away if you could be pregnant and suddenly feel faint and do not recover within a minute or two.
- Stroke or Mini-stroke (TIA)(serious). Dizziness with symptoms like hearing loss, double or blurred vision, or numbness in the face, arms or legs could be symptoms of a stroke. Call 911 for immediate help.
- Cardiac Syncope (heart causes).
Due to a heart problem along with symptoms such as:
- Chest pain prior to fainting
- Fast or uneven heartbeat
- Feeling of thumping heart (palpitations)
- Shortness of breath
- Fainting during exercise
- Other Serious Causes of Dizziness and/or Fainting:
- Epilepsy
- Blood loss: large amount or bleeding inside the body
- Concussion or head injury
- Sudden drop in blood sugar. Mainly happens in people with diabetes.
- Poisoning
- Drug or alcohol abuse
- Seizure
Dizziness Scale
- Mild: walks normal
- Moderate: interferes with normal activities such as work, school, activities or sports
- Severe: can't stand, needs support to walk, feels like passing out now
When to Call for Dizziness
Call 911 Now
Go to ER Now
Call Doctor or Seek Care Now
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Contact Doctor Within 24 Hours
Contact Doctor During Office Hours
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Self Care at Home
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Call 911 Now
- Chest Pain
- Severe trouble breathing (struggling for each breath, can barely speak)
- Severe allergic reaction
- Loss of movement or feeling of a limb (arm or leg) or side of the face
- Acts or talks confused or slurred speech
- You think you have a life-threatening emergency
Go to ER Now
- Severe dizziness (can't stand, need support to walk, feel like passing out now)
- Dizzy after bleeding (from a wound, vomiting or passing blood). Exception: small amount of blood and dizzy from sight of blood.
- Happens after a head injury
- Heart is beating differently (slower, faster or missing beats)
- Poisoning suspected (alcohol, drugs, other substances)
- Double vision, blurred vision or other vision changes
Call Doctor or Seek Care Now
- You feel dehydrated (dark urine, dry mouth)
- Dizziness not better after 2 hours of rest and fluids. May have been caused by heat exposure, standing a long time, or not drinking enough fluids.
- Severe headache
- May be caused by a medical problem such as diabetes, heart or lung disease, anemia, kidney disease, drug addiction, liver disease, inflammatory bowel disease (IBS) or cancer.
- Fever or chills; feeling hot or shivery
- You feel weak or very sick
- You think you need to be seen, and the problem is urgent
Contact Doctor Within 24 Hours
- Passed out (fainted) and caused by sudden or prolonged standing
- Moderate dizziness (gets in the way of normal activities; keeps you from work) present now
- Fever lasts more than 3 days
- Ear pain or congestion
- You have a ringing sound in your ear(s)
- Mild dizzy feeling lasts more than 3 days, but your walking is normal
- You think you need to be seen, but the problem is not urgent
Contact Doctor During Office Hours
- Dizziness when you turn your head or look up
- You are taking a new drug which may be the cause
- Dizziness happens often
- You have other questions or concerns
Self Care at Home
- Dizziness from standing up too fast
- Caused by not drinking enough fluids
- Mild dizziness from unknown cause, present less than 3 days
Care Advice for Stomach Pain
What You Should Know About Stomach Pain:
- Mild stomach pain can be caused by something simple. It could be from gas pains or eating too much.
- Sometimes, stomach pain signals the start of a viral infection. This will lead to vomiting or loose stools.
- Watching your child for 2 hours will help tell you the cause.
- Here is some care advice that should help.
Lie Down:
- Have your child lie down and rest until feeling better.
Clear Fluids:
- Offer clear fluids only (such as water, flat soft drinks or half-strength Gatorade).
- For mild pain, offer a regular diet.
Prepare for Vomiting:
- Keep a vomiting pan handy.
- Younger children often talk about stomach pain when they have nausea. Nausea is the sick stomach feeling that comes before they throw up.
Pass a Stool:
- Have your child sit on the toilet and try to pass a stool.
- This may help if the pain is from constipation or diarrhea.
- Note: for constipation, moving a warm wet cotton ball on the anus may help.
Do Not Give Medicines:
- Any drug (like ibuprofen) could upset the stomach and make the pain worse.
- Do not give any pain medicines or laxatives for stomach cramps.
- For fever higher than 102° F (39° C), acetaminophen (such as Tylenol) can be given.
What to Expect:
- With harmless causes, the pain is most often better or gone in 2 hours.
- With stomach flu, belly cramps may happen before each bout of vomiting or diarrhea. These cramps may come and go for a few days.
- With serious causes (such as appendicitis), the pain worsens and becomes constant.
Call Your Doctor If:
- Pain becomes severe
- Constant pain lasts more than 2 hours
- Mild pain that comes and goes lasts more than 24 hours
- You think your child needs to be seen
- Your child becomes worse
Extra Help - Worried Stomach:
- Help your child talk about events that trigger the stomach pain. Talk to your child about how to cope with these the next time around.
- Help your child worry less about things she can't control.
- To treat the pain, help your child get very relaxed. Lying down in a quiet place and taking slow deep breaths may help. Make the belly go up and down with each breath. Then try to relax all the muscles in the body. Think about something pleasant. Listening to audios that teach how to relax might also help.
- Make sure your child gets enough sleep.
- Make sure that your child doesn't miss any school because of stomach pains. Stressed children tend to want to stay home when the going gets rough.
- Caution: your child should see her doctor for an exam. Do this before concluding frequent stomach pains are from worrying too much.
