Many people think they have anemia just because they often get dizzy or having vertigo especially when standing up and sitting down.  According to Dr. Nguyen Canh Nam, specialist in Neurology, this suspicion is completely accurate, but it’s not enough to conclude the exact problem. Dizziness and vertigo are also symptoms of many dangerous diseases such as cardiovascular disease, neurological disease, psychological disorders...

Two symptoms - 10 pathologies and more

Medically, dizziness and vertigo are two completely separate symptoms. Dizziness is a feeling of stunning, darkening, occurring when you change your posture, such as changing your position from lying to getting up, or from sitting to standing up. This symptom may last from a few seconds to a few minutes.

Vertigo is described as when you feel the object spins around you in many directions or vice-versa. This symptom appears when changing positions or turning your head. It lasts for a few seconds or it can last for several hours continuously causing the patient stay still. In severe cases, patients will experience nausea and vomiting.

Each symptom will manifest different pathologies. Dizziness occurs due to a temporary decrease in blood flow to the brain - sudden or prolonged. This symptom is a recognizable sign of conditions such as anemia, pathologies of heart disease (heart failure, aortic valve stenosis, aortic stenosis, arrhythmia ...), blood vessels (vascular atherosclerosis or vasculitis that causes narrowing of the arteries in the inner carotid artery, vascular spinal column ...), hypertension, or hypotension. In addition, when you have a flu, nervous breakdown, stress, leading to a decrease in blood flow to the brain (when changing positions) also causes dizziness symptoms.

Dizziness is an abnormal manifestation of the vestibular system. This is the system that senses the body's balance, as well as recognizes the head position in space. When there is a dysfunction of the vestibular system, the brain will not recognize the posture of the head, leading to dizziness. This abnormality occurs in diseases such as vestibular dysfunction (benign paroxysmal postural vertigo, cochlear vestibular inflammation, Meniere's disease ....) perfusion of blood flow to the vestibular organ (inflammation or atherosclerosis of the brain's rear circulation system, stroke, and side effects of some drugs ....

Dizziness can occur at any age. For example, anemia can occur in adolescents as well as in the elderly, basal spinal stenosis occurs in middle-aged and elderly people...

If dizziness symptoms appear only transiently, sometimes with repeated but short appearances, it is usually benign. You only need to lengthen your rest time and have a proper diet. However, when these symptoms last for 30 minutes or more, they are often associated with important diseases, such as chronic anemia, severe atherosclerosis, etc.

Quick treatment for dizziness and vertigo

When dizziness or vertigo occurs, you should stop all your work, sit or lie down immediately. Keeping the surroundings cool and quiet is necessary. If the mentioned symptoms persist, and do not improve, you need to see a doctor quickly for advice and early treatment.

Dizziness or vertigo has been the very uncomfortable symptoms, sometimes causes terrify to affected ones. Special attention should be given to patients with preexisting conditions such as anemia, hypertension, stroke ... or accompanied symptoms such as headache, swallowing , weak numb limbs when dizziness or vertigo occur..

The way to prevent and treat this symptom depends on the specific pathology. However, maintaining a healthy lifestyle will contribute to reversing the appearance of symptoms. Exercise daily, avoid stress, take a proper and adequate rest to help us stay away from these disorders.

Having variety serves, taking a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits, drinking enough water are good ways to help contribute to repel diseases. Diet, living and working needs to be developed and adjusted based on each patient and underlying conditions causing dizziness. For example, patients with dizziness or vertigo due to hypertension need to reduce salty intake, and fat. Patients suffering from anemia, iron deficiency need to eat a lot of dark-colored foods (beef, water spinach, beetroot, ...)