Lord Wang is over 60 years old this year. He is hale and hearty, and his children are filial. He has enjoyed his life. But in the past three months, there has been a worry. He fainted when he moved. Taking medicine, infusion and acupuncture have no effect. What is going on?
Things still have to go back to one night three months ago, when Wang Da-ye was sleeping, he accidentally turned over. Then he was dizzy, sick, vomiting and afraid to open his eyes. In a hurry, Wang Da-ye quickly turned back to his original posture and soon returned to normal.
Lord Wang found that as long as he turned his head or got up, he would feel dizzy. Since then, Lord Wang never dared to turn over at will when he slept at night. He also got up carefully in the morning and was very painful.
Later, Lord Wang went to the hospital. The doctor carefully examined Lord Wang and diagnosed him as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, also known as otolith, which is one of the common causes of vertigo in the elderly.
The deep part of our ears is called the inner ear, which has the function of maintaining body balance. Otolith is a part of the inner ear. When it falls off, it will roll in the ear with the movement of the body, destroying the balance of the body, thus causing vertigo.
Is what dizzy?
Vertigo is when we stand motionless and open our eyes or close our eyes, we feel that our bodies are rotating and shaking, just like riding in a car and a boat, and the surrounding objects are also rotating around us.
Vertigo is very common among the elderly. About 20% of the people over 60 years old in the United States have experienced vertigo.
Although most vertigo is temporary and will disappear soon. However, many elderly people are deeply distressed by vertigo, especially when changing body positions or the head and neck unconsciously rotate left and right, the vertigo feeling is more obvious.
Some people will feel heavy head, tinnitus, unstable walking or symptoms such as vision loss, memory loss, numbness of hands and feet when they are dizzy.
The general vertigo symptoms themselves will not cause serious adverse consequences, and the effect is better after treatment. However, for the elderly, vertigo will not only bring heavy mental pressure to them, but also often cause accidents such as falls, injuries, disability and even death.
Why do you feel dizzy?
1. The balance function of inner ear is affected.
The inner ear of the human body has the function of maintaining the balance of the body. When the balance function of the inner ear is destroyed due to infection, injury and other reasons, vertigo will occur. Such as otitis media, otolith, etc.
Motion sickness, also known as carsickness, is also caused by stimulation of the inner ear, which exceeds the limit that individuals can bear.
Some drugs may also cause dizziness by toxic effects on ears, such as streptomycin, gentamicin, quinine, etc. However, it does not mean that vertigo will definitely occur when using these drugs, but it is also related to the dosage of these drugs and the personal physical condition.
2. Brain insufficiency
The brain is the organ that consumes the most oxygen in the whole body. Vertigo symptoms will occur when some diseases cause poor blood flow, resulting in insufficient blood supply to the brain and lack of oxygen. Such diseases include arteriosclerosis, congenital heart disease in adults, orthostatic hypotension, etc.
3. Other
There are also some other reasons, such as concussion, anxiety, hypoglycemia, etc., which can also cause vertigo.
What should I do if I feel dizzy?
When vertigo occurs, especially for the first time, don’t worry or panic. When vertigo suddenly occurs, stay in bed, the room should be quiet and dim, and at the same time try to avoid head activities.
Go to the hospital in time. From the above, we know that vertigo itself is not a disease, it only occurs when problems occur in other parts of the body. Don’t go to the hospital after three months like Lord Wang, not only have to endure the pain brought by vertigo, but also bear a lot of psychological pressure.
Most vertigo has good results after treatment. Lord Wang recovered and was discharged from the hospital after only a few days of treatment.
How to prevent it?
Although many diseases that lead to vertigo do not have good prevention measures. However, we can still prevent or relieve the onset of vertigo to some extent through some measures:
One is always smiling. If you have nothing to do, you should be happy. You should be optimistic. If you have something to do, you should not be anxious or nervous.
The second is to increase exercise. Regular and appropriate participation in some physical exercises, such as walking, jogging, Taijiquan, etc., to improve blood circulation.
Third, reasonable diet. Eat more fresh vegetables and fruits rich in vitamins, do not eat greasy food, and pay special attention to quitting smoking and drinking.
Fourth, regular examination. For the elderly with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and hypertension, they should go to the hospital for examination and treatment as early as possible to maintain a healthy body so as to fundamentally prevent vertigo.