How To Help Your Doctor Help You With Your Dizziness

Dizziness is one of the most common reasons for visiting a Doctor, and because there are many possible causes, it can be a challenge for medical professionals to figure out what’s causing it. Adding to the challenge, dizziness can be a difficult symptom to describe, as people use this word to describe a whole host of different sensations.

How you describe your dizziness to your healthcare provider is crucial in helping them get to the bottom of it. Giving some thought to the characteristics below (and maybe write them down) before your appointment can be very useful in helping your healthcare provider narrow down the possible causes of your dizziness so that you can get onto the correct path for treatment.

Onset – When did your symptoms start? It can help to rule out certain possible causes by determining whether your dizziness built up gradually over time or whether it came on suddenly.  Can you attribute the onset with something in particular (eg. injury, illness, medication change, new activity, lifestyle change, stressful event)? Is this the first time you’ve experienced this or have you had similar episodes in the past?

Nature - While this can be challenging, take some time to come up with some words other than ‘dizziness’ to describe what you are experiencing. Is it an illusion of self-motion or motion of your surroundings that isn’t actually occurring (AKA. vertigo)? Perhaps a tilting or rocking sensation, a delay or ‘lag’ feeling after you move your head, lightheadedness (like you’re going to faint), unsteadiness on your feet, anxiousness, or just feeling a little ‘off’ or ‘foggy-headed’?

Accompanying symptoms – Do you get any other symptoms along with the dizziness, such as nausea/vomiting, hearing change, headache, visual disturbances, shortness of breath, sweating, heart pounding, numbness or ‘pins & needles’, neck discomfort, confusion, difficulty speaking or moving?  Be sure to mention these to your healthcare provider as well, as they are additional clues.

Duration – How long do your symptoms last? It is very useful in filtering certain possible causes of your dizziness by determining whether your dizziness lasts seconds, minutes, hours, days, or if it seems constant. People often feel like they have to be constantly on guard so that they don’t do something that triggers their dizziness, but avoid calling this ‘constant’ dizziness. The word ‘constant’ should only be used if the symptoms are there all the time, whether you are moving around or immobile.

Triggers – Do your best to identify what sorts of movements, position changes, activities or environments increase or bring on your symptoms, and what seems to help reduce or stop your symptoms. This also provides valuable clues and helps to make sure your treatment targets the specific challenges you’re running into in your daily life, particularly if your Doctor refers you to a Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapist for help.

Migraine or family history – Vestibular Migraine is becoming recognized as one of the more common causes of episodic dizziness that seems to come ‘out of the blue’. If you have a history of migraine, even if not previously accompanied by dizziness, that makes this diagnosis a possibility, as does a family history of migraine. Additionally, let your Doctor know if anyone else in your family has been diagnosed with a condition causing them dizziness or imbalance.

Getting Help – With the help you provide by giving a thorough description of your symptoms, your healthcare provider will have an easier time with the challenge of reaching a diagnosis and pointing you toward the best course of care.  If they think your dizziness is related to the vestibular system (the balance organs in your inner ears or their connections in the brain) or general imbalance, they will likely refer you for Vestibular Rehabilitation and Balance Training. 

Lifemark has over 125 Vestibular Therapists with highly specialized training at over 80 of our locations coast to coast, and you can directly access us for assessment and treatment of your dizziness or balance problems.

Visit https://www.lifemark.ca/services/dizziness-balance to find help near you today.