feeling dizzy/faint

[~invisible~girl~]

So I've been feeling kind of light headed/faint/dizzy (if that's even the right way to describe it) kind of a lot recently, and I'd attributed it to not eating enough, but since eating more doesn't seem to make any difference I'm not so sure anymore. My blood pressure was normal as of a few months ago (and this has been happening longer than that, although it seems like more often now), and my heart rate is I think normal. So I'm kind of running out of possible causes to consider, and it seems like it's happening more often recently and it's sort of worrying me. I'd really appreciate any suggestions of why it might be happening or how to make it stop.

I know that probably I ought to go to a doctor, but that's really going to happen unless it's a matter of life or death and even then I'm not entirely confident I could do it, so...

[Aidee]

Low Blood Pressure
Low Blood Sugar/Diabetes
Low amounts of nutrients in your system (just becuase you are eating more doesn't mean you are getting balanced nutrients)
Dehydration
Anemia
Seizures
Migraines

Those are a few of the things that come to the top of my head when I think about causes of feeling dizzy.

Have you ever fainted or passed out?
Do you have any nausea or do you throw up when this happens?
Do you see spots or colors in front of your eyes?
Have you noticed any sort of pattern (like it happens after you eat something, right before bed, after working out etc)



AD

[~invisible~girl~]

I've never fainted, I don't get nauseous or see spots, and I haven't noticed a pattern (although I have been looking for one). Sorry that's not very helpful.

So from your list I think I can rule out seizures and migraines as they have other symptoms I'd have probably noticed. :-P I don't think my blood pressure's low as it's always been normal every time I've been to the doctor and this isn't a new thing. I also don't think that I'm anemic since I had blood tests done a few months ago that all came back normal, and this had already been happening before that point.

Low blood sugar and dehydration I would think would be fixed fairly quickly by eating or drinking something, wouldn't they? Low blood sugar would make sense since a lot of times I don't eat for most of the day, but eating something doesn't seem to help at all, and it still happens sometimes even when I've eaten normal meals that day. Drinking water also doesn't seem to help.

I didn't know that low nutrients could do that appart from hypoglycemia. I'm fairly sure I'm not getting proper nutrition considering my eating habits (and lack thereof). Do you know if there are like specific nutrient deficients or stuff that I should consider, or is it just sort of bad nutrition in general?

Thanks!

[Aidee]

Well, nutrients like calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium are the most important, but things like a lack of protein in your diet can make you feel ill also. A proper nutritionist would be able to explain better about how all the little nutrients in food work together. Do you happen to take any vitamins?

Also are you on any medications (you can PM me with this if you would like)


AD

[~invisible~girl~]

I take a multi-vitamin (when I remember), so I'm probably pretty much okay for most vitamins and minerals. Although when I actually look at the bottle it doesn't look like really has even all the ones you listed, or at least not enough of them, so that could probably be it. And I'm fairly sure I'm not getting enough protein or stuff, but I don't really see that changing any time soon :(

I've been taking Concerta (methylphendiate) for a while, but I think I remember this happening sometimes before I started taking it, and also I usually don't take it on weekends but it still happens sometimes on days I don't take it, so I doubt that has much to do with it.

[Stellata]

I get dizzy and feel faint with my anxiety and panic attacks. That could be another possible cause, if you are prone to anxiety.

[strange_err]

If I was experiencing dizziness like that, I would think first off that it might be the Concerta, since any medication that affects the central nervous system can cause dizziness. Also anxiety can do it, as can depression.

Dehydration and/or low blood pressure can definitely cause dizziness as well and would be a major suspect if you SI. Drinking something can help, although it isn't necessarily an instant fix, especially if the dehydration is severe or if you don't have adequate sodium. When I've had low blood pressure myself, I've had good luck drinking chicken broth - it has plenty of sodium which helps maintain fluid volume inside your blood vessels, as well as some other important nutrients like potassium, proteins, and fats. If I were feeling dizzy, that is probably the first thing I would try to address, since it is a relatively simple thing I could do at home. I'd probably also drink some plain water after my chicken broth, or maybe some orange juice if I thought I might have low blood sugar.

Also another issue with SI is anemia from blood or nutrient loss - even if you don't lose much with any one session, it can really add up over time. Anemia can have a number of different causes, which only a doctor can properly diagnose and treat.

Less common causes that I might think about would be heart rhythm disturbances (which Concerta can cause in rare cases), migraine without headache (not really as common as the with-headache variety but it definitely does occur), some other neurological disorders, and some types of infection. Only a doctor would be able to diagnose and treat these conditions.

If my dizziness was severe or if it didn't go away with drinking chicken broth and eating something, I probably would tell my doctor about it to make sure it wasn't anything too serious.

~mark

[~invisible~girl~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by strange_err

I would think first off that it might be the Concerta, since any medication that affects the central nervous system can cause dizziness.

I would think that too, and there's even a warning about it on the bottle, except for the part where it started before I started taking the Concerta. I don't think it causes dizziness retroactively...

Quote:

Originally Posted by strange_err

Dehydration and/or low blood pressure can definitely cause dizziness as well and would be a major suspect if you SI.

Quote:

Originally Posted by strange_err

Also another issue with SI is anemia from blood or nutrient loss - even if you don't lose much with any one session, it can really add up over time.

I don't think I lose enough blood to have much of an effect at all, but I also don't think there's any particular relation to whether I've cut recently or not. Plus my blood pressure and iron were both fine as of a few months ago, and I drink enough water that I doubt I'm dehydrated very often.

Quote:

Originally Posted by strange_err

I probably would tell my doctor about it to make sure it wasn't anything too serious.

Yes, that would be the sensible thing to do, I know, but not gonna happen. As a small child I used to lie awake worrying that I would get appendicitis and end up dying from it because my appendix would rupture before I worked up the nerve to tell anyone I was sick. Given that I consider it a real possibility that given a choice I might rather die, I don't think I'll be going to a doctor for this. Plus she'd ask about my eating habits, which I really don't want to describe to a doctor and would probably just end up lying about which would totally undermine the diagnosis anyway...

Thanks though. And while I won't be trying chicken broth as a I don't eat meat, I'll try vegitable broth which has most of the sodium and stuff that chicken broth has.

[Aidee]

Just because it was fine once at the doctors doesn't mean that it's fine every day.


Were you taking any medications before you were on the concerta?

[~invisible~girl~]

No other medications. I mean, I was on Ritalin for a little while before Concerta, but it's essentially the same thing, and I was counting that for when I started taking it.

By "it" did you mean blood pressure or iron? My blood pressure's always been fine when I've gone to the doctor, and I can't think of anything that would cause it to drop suddenly besides blood loss, and I'd probably notice if I were bleeding, and if I were bleeding internally I'd probably be dead by now. For iron, the vitamins I take have 100% of the daily value of iron so I should be getting enough of it, and if it were something more than simply not eating enough stuff with iron in it then I'd have thought it would always be down so the blood tests wouldn't have missed it, but I guess I don't really know.

[strange_err]

How severe is the dizziness? Does it prevent you from doing anything that you used to do before, or is it more like just a minor annoyance, or kind of somewhere in between? Do you have any other symptoms, like abnormal sweating, paleness, fevers, pain anywhere, shortness of breath, anything else?

I'd hazard the guess that AD was talking about both your BP and your iron as being possibly different now than they were when your doctor checked a few months ago. There's something called "white coat hypertension" that can happen to people where their blood pressure gets higher than it normally would be from the stress of going to a doctor, so if your pressure is normally really low it could appear normal at your doc's office cuz you're stressed.

Also, your iron may be low even if you're taking vitamins because daily intake must meet or exceed daily loss - the RDA is for normal people, i.e. for people that don't bleed very often and eat a balanced nutritious meal plan, so it's possible to still be short even with vitamin supplements. However, there are more things than just iron deficiency that can cause anemia, you could be low on certain vitamins or other minerals, it could be medication side effects, or it could be other things. Taking a lot of iron when you don't need it can be dangerous, though, so you definitely should NOT double up on your vitamins or anything like that without checking with a doctor.

~mark