What is dizziness?

Dizziness, medically referred to as vertigo, is a disruption of the sense of balance: The person affected loses the sense of certainty of their body in space and spatial awareness and has a swaying or turning sensation. Dizziness is medically defined as perceived apparent motion between the person themselves and their environment. Types of dizziness include rotary, vestibular, objective, movement and unsystematic dizziness. Other balance disturbances often occur. These include tendency to falling, nausea, vomiting or seeing black spots in front of the eyes. These symptoms occur because the various pieces of information from the various sense organs transmitted to the brain cannot be aligned.

Rather than a stand-alone condition, dizziness is a frequent symptom of many underlying illnesses. In many cases, it is neuro-otological in nature, i.e. affects the “senses” such as the balance organ, but may also be caused by heart and circulatory symptoms, disorders of the spine, brain, eye and psychological disturbances. Dizziness may occur in the form of recurring attacks or be chronically persistent. The proportion of people affected increases with age: The older the patent, the more often dizziness occurs.

The psychological strain on the person affected is often high. Due to the uncertainty of their movement, they seem drunk. The feelings of dizziness are often not taken seriously by outsiders at first. Dizziness patients also cannot drive, as sudden attacks of dizziness may occur at any time.