Common causes of dizziness

The most common causes of dizziness are outlined below.

  • Labyrinthitis an inner ear infection that affects your hearing and balance, and can lead to a severe form of dizziness called vertigo .
  • Migraine dizziness may come on before or after the headache, or even without the headache.
  • Stress or anxiety particularly if you tend to hyperventilate (breathe abnormally quickly when resting).
  • Low blood sugar level (hypoglycaemia) which is usually seen in people with diabetes .
  • Postural hypotension a sudden fall in blood pressure when you suddenly sit or stand up, which goes away after lying down. This is more common in older people.
  • Dehydration or heat exhaustion dehydration could bedue to not drinking enoughduring exercise, or illness that causesvomiting, diarrhoea or fever.
  • Vertebrobasilar insufficiency decreased blood flow in the back of the brain, which may be caused by the blood vessels that lead to the brain from the heart being blocked (known as atherosclerosis ).

Click on the above links for more information on these conditions.

Content supplied by the NHS Website

Medically Reviewed by a doctor on 21 Dec 2018