Dizzy and nauseated in the morning
Causes, prevention, and when to see a doctor
Occasionally waking up dizzy is usually not a cause for concern. Possible causes of regular morning dizziness can include dehydration, ear infections, low blood pressure, and medication side effects.
Most people experience dizziness from time to time. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, approximately 15 percent of adults in the United States had a balance or dizziness problem in 2008.
Dizziness presents in different ways, but it can include:
- feeling faint or lightheaded
- feeling off-balance or disorientated
- a sensation of spinning
Dizziness is often short-lived and may not always have an obvious cause. However, regularly waking up dizzy may be a symptom of an underlying condition.
In this article, we discuss the possible causes of waking up dizzy, prevention tips, and when to see a doctor.
Share on PinterestBeing dehydrated during the night can sometimes lead to waking up feeling dizzy.People who are dehydrated during the night can sometimes wake up feeling dizzy. Other signs of dehydration can include:
- feeling thirsty
- fatigue
- headaches
- dry mouth and lips
Reasons for waking up dehydrated can include:
- not drinking enough fluids during the day
- sleeping in a hot environment
- excessive alcohol consumption
- illnesses that cause vomiting and diarrhea
- taking medications that cause a person to urinate more
- drinking too many caffeinated beverages, which make a person urinate more
Low blood pressure, or hypotension, can cause dizziness in some people.
Blood pressure can also suddenly fall when a person changes from a lying or sitting position to a standing position, for example, when they get out of bed in the morning. This sudden drop in blood pressure is called postural or orthostatic hypotension.
Symptoms of postural hypotension can include:
- dizziness
- feeling lightheaded
- blurred vision
- fainting
- falls
Low blood pressure can sometimes be a symptom of another condition, such as Parkinson’s disease or Addison’s disease. Prolonged bed rest and certain medications, such as beta-blockers, can also cause low blood pressure.
For people who experience postural hypotension, standing up or getting out of bed slowly and gradually can help prevent dizziness or fainting. Wearing compression stockings during the day may also help some people.
If a medication is causing low blood pressure, a doctor may recommend changing the dosage or switching to another drug. Treating any underlying conditions can also help prevent symptoms of low blood pressure.
Share on PinterestFor people with diabetes, taking too much insulin can cause low blood sugar and early morning dizziness.
Early morning dizziness can be a symptom of low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia. Low blood sugar is more common in people with diabetes, particularly those who take insulin, than in those without this condition.
In people with diabetes, causes of low blood sugar can include:
- taking too much insulin or other diabetes medications
- skipping meals or eating too little
- intense physical activity
- excessive alcohol consumption
Symptoms of low blood sugar can include:
- shakiness or trembling
- headaches
- fatigue
- blurred vision
- difficulty concentrating or confusion
- excessive sweating
However, anyone can experience low blood sugar, and there may not always be an obvious cause. People who regularly experience symptoms of low blood sugar should see a doctor.
Labyrinthitis is a viral or bacterial infection of the inner ear that can lead to dizziness. The infection causes inflammation of the delicate structures of the inner ear, or labyrinth, which play an important role in maintaining a person’s balance.
Labyrinthitis can sometimes make it difficult for a person to stand up or stay upright, particularly when getting out of bed.
Other symptoms of labyrinthitis can include:
- ear pain
- headaches
- a ringing or humming in the ear
- blurred or double vision
- nausea or vomiting
Labyrinthitis is most commonly due to a viral infection and often occurs following a cold or the flu. Treatment typically involves rest and drinking plenty of fluids.
For people with more severe symptoms, a doctor may recommend medications to reduce dizziness and nausea. They may also prescribe an antibiotic if the cause is a bacterial infection.
Some medications can cause dizziness as a side effect. These medications include certain:
- antibiotics
- diuretics
- opioid-based pain relievers
- anti-epileptics
- immunosuppressant drugs
- antidepressants
- antipsychotics
- antiretroviral medications
A person should speak to their doctor if they are taking a medication that they think is causing morning dizziness. The doctor may recommend changing the dosage or switching to a different treatment.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep disorder that can sometimes cause morning dizziness. OSA occurs when a person’s breathing becomes repeatedly interrupted or blocked during sleep. These interruptions disrupt sleep and can affect oxygen levels in the blood.
Other symptoms of OSA can include:
- loud snoring and gasping while sleeping
- needing to urinate more frequently during the night
- dry mouth and headaches in the morning
- concentration and memory difficulties
- excessive fatigue during the day
In the long term, OSA may increase a person’s risk of developing several chronic conditions, such as heart problems, diabetes, and asthma.
People with symptoms of OSA should see a doctor for an evaluation. Depending on the underlying cause of a person’s OSA, treatment options can include lifestyle interventions, wearing a breathing device at night, and surgery.
Share on PinterestStaying hydrated, by drinking lots of fluids, can help prevent morning dizziness.
Some lifestyle interventions may help prevent or reduce morning dizziness. These include:
- drinking plenty of fluids to stay hydrated
- quitting smoking
- reducing alcohol intake
- eating a balanced and healthful diet
- avoiding caffeinated beverages in the evening
- getting enough sleep
- doing regular exercise
- reducing and managing stress
People who occasionally wake up dizzy are unlikely to need medical care. However, people who regularly experience dizziness in the mornings should see a doctor. It is also important to consult a doctor if other concerning symptoms accompany the dizziness.
A person should seek immediate medical attention if dizziness occurs along with chest pain, a rapid heart rate, or a severe headache.
Most people experience dizziness from time to time, and it is usually not a cause for concern. However, regularly waking up feeling dizzy may be a sign of an underlying condition. Possible causes of dizziness can include dehydration, ear infections, low blood pressure, and medication side effects.
People who regularly wake up feeling dizzy or experience other concerning symptoms alongside the dizziness should see a doctor.
9 Causes of Morning Dizziness Explained
What does waking up dizzy feel like?
Dizziness in the morning isn’t an illness or a condition in and of itself. It could be a symptom of an underlying condition or illness. The dizziness may feel like the room is spinning or moving around you. This condition is referred to as vertigo. Many people wake up dizzy at one point or another. Occasionally feeling dizzy when you stand up after waking or after sitting for a long time is normal.
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Experiencing morning dizziness on a regular basis isn’t normal, though, and could mean that you have a serious illness. People who experience chronic dizziness in the morning often describe their symptoms as feeling like one or more of the following:
- A sense of motion or spinning
- Feeling faint or light-headed
- Loss of balance
- Unsteadiness
- Feeling woozy or like you’re floating
These morning dizziness symptoms may be worse when you walk, stand up, or move your head around. When you wake up dizzy, you may also experience nausea. If this happens to you, be careful making your way to the bathroom. Morning dizziness episodes may last just a few seconds or most of the day. You might have dizzy episodes throughout your day, not just when you wake up.
Causes of waking up dizzy
Many factors can result in waking up dizzy, such as inner ear disturbances and side effects of diabetes or other illnesses.
- Sometimes the change in balance when you shift your body position from lying down to standing up can cause morning dizziness.
- Certain kinds of medications have a side effect of dizziness. Talk to your health care provider about what to expect from new prescriptions.
- Other conditions that can lead to feeling dizzy when waking up include sleep disturbances, especially insomnia. Chronic insomnia can lead to other physical and psychological problems and exacerbate mental illnesses. Dizziness and sleep disturbances are often linked. People who experience anxiety and depression often have trouble sleeping as a result of their illness.
- Sleep apnea is another reason you might feel dizzy in the morning. Sleep apnea is when you stop breathing in your sleep and then wake up gasping for breath. This might happen throughout the night, affecting the quality of your sleep. Sleep apnea is often a result of obesity, although some people are genetically predisposed to sleep apnea. If your health care provider suspects this is the case, they may refer you to a sleep study where technicians will monitor your breathing to diagnose the condition. People with sleep apnea often find relief by using a machine that helps them breathe normally while sleeping.
- Dehydration is another cause of morning dizziness. This can happen after a long night of drinking or as a result of a condition such as hyperglycemia (high blood sugar). You may also experience dehydration if you work in a hot environment, sweat a lot, or don’t get enough to drink throughout the day. To reduce morning dizziness due to dehydration, be sure to drink plenty of water, especially if you're drinking alcohol.
- Low blood sugar when you wake up can also lead to morning dizziness. If you’re diabetic or take certain medications that cause a drop in blood sugar, you could be dizzy in the morning before you eat. Diabetes-caused hypoglycemia can happen if your medication is out of balance or if you didn’t eat enough the night before. If this is why you’re waking up dizzy, it can usually be fixed by eating a meal that breaks down quickly to boost your blood sugar. You can be hypoglycemic without being diabetic. If you get light-headed between meals, talk to your health care provider and get tested for the condition.
- An inner ear infection called labyrinthitis can affect your balance and make you feel dizzy when waking up in the morning. Common symptoms include feeling unsteady or off-balance, making it difficult to stay upright or walk properly. You may experience hearing loss or ringing in your ears or feel sick or nauseous. A health care provider will be able to diagnose this condition and prescribe antibiotics.
- Changes in hormone levels during perimenopause and menopausal transition can also cause morning dizziness. Morning dizziness is a fairly common menopause symptom that usually goes away after menopause is complete. Many people feel discomfort and anxiety in addition to the dizziness and mood swings that accompany menopause.
- Pregnancy can cause you to wake up dizzy, too, partly due to the changes in your hormone levels. Some people who are pregnant have a hard time eating due to nausea or morning sickness, which can lead to hypoglycemia. If you’re experiencing dizziness during your pregnancy, talk to your health care provider. Feeling unsteady on your feet when you’re carrying a baby can be dangerous for you both, especially if your morning dizziness makes it difficult to walk.
What can you do about waking up dizzy?
Health care providers recommend a few things to try to prevent waking up dizzy:
- Maintain a healthy lifestyle, including eating a balanced diet and drinking plenty of water (at least 64 ounces) per day.
- Exercise regularly. If you experience morning dizziness, you may not want to wake up and immediately hit the gym. Make sure to eat before you exercise to reduce the chances of becoming dizzy during your workout.
- Avoid skipping meals. If you have hypoglycemia, consider eating several small meals or snacks throughout the day instead of three larger ones. Talk with your health care provider first before changing your diet.
- Avoid abrupt changes in position, like standing up suddenly or remaining seated for too long. Get up throughout the day and walk around.
Other unhealthy habits can contribute to frequent dizziness, including excessive drinking, smoking, and using street drugs. This may include nicotine vaping as well.
When to see a health care provider about waking up dizzy
Waking up dizzy could be a harmless symptom or an indication of something serious, so it’s important to see a health care provider if you’re experiencing dizziness on a regular basis. If morning dizziness also comes with double vision, vomiting, and difficulty coordinating your arm and leg movements, seek immediate medical attention, especially if you’ve sustained a fall or head injury.
If your dizziness is accompanied by a rapid heart rate, chest pain, or a severe headache, seek immediate medical attention. Make sure you tell the health care provider about any medication you’re taking, including insulin.
Wrapping up on waking up dizzy
If you’ve been wondering why you’re waking up dizzy, there are several potential answers. It could be a side effect of medication or an indication that you have a serious medical condition. If you’re diabetic, you can reduce your morning dizziness by properly managing your medication and eating schedule. If you experience chronic light-headedness, it’s important to see a health care provider.
Dizziness in the morning | AngioLine
Dizziness after heavy loads or emotional overstrain is a normal reaction of the body.
Dizziness in the morning is not a disease in itself. This condition can be caused by pathologies of the cardiovascular system, auditory organs, and neurological diseases.
In any case, before finding out the causes of dizziness, it is necessary to alleviate this condition:
- do not get up abruptly, it is better to lie down for about fifteen minutes0012
- exclude oxygen starvation and take a deep breath
- put a cold compress on the forehead
- if you feel chills, you should cover yourself with a blanket or a warm blanket
- drink a glass of water
ailments like: heart attack; stroke; oncological diseases; atherosclerotic plaques; pathology of the nervous system, and can be easily eliminated.
The main provoking factors:
Osteochondrosis of the cervical region
The disease occurs as a result of deformation of the vertebrae and their incorrect location. This leads to the fact that they squeeze the artery that carries blood to the brain. At night, the sleeper unconsciously assumes a position in which the artery suffers even more. Therefore, after sleeping in the morning, the head is spinning and staggering.
Sugar
A sharp decrease in blood sugar occurs due to poor nutrition. Often this condition is experienced by women who are fond of diets or fasting.
Orthostatic hypotension
A pathological condition occurs when there is a sudden change in body position. This is due to the low tone of the vessels, they do not have time to quickly adapt to changing circumstances. Because of this, the level of blood pressure decreases. Therefore, when you get out of bed after sleep in the morning, you feel dizzy.
Malfunctions of the vestibular apparatus, in particular, the middle ear.
Not hazardous to health. The head can spin at any time, including after waking up. It is easy to correct with timely access to a specialist.
Intracranial hypertension
High pressure in the cranium puts a lot of strain on the body. In this condition, the head hurts a lot at any time of the day - at night, in the evening, in the morning after sleep. Pathology is quite dangerous.
Vegetovascular dystonia
The disease is associated with an insufficient response of blood vessels to signals supplied by the central or peripheral nervous system. As a result, they have a weakened tone. The disease is especially characteristic for adolescents.
Intestinal disorders, poisoning or simply toxicosis during pregnancy
After eating low-quality or expired food, toxins accumulate in the body. This is especially active at night. Then there are dizziness in the morning.
Diseases of the heart
If the heart muscle does not work properly, the activity and tone of the vessels are significantly reduced. This negatively affects the blood flow, it becomes slower, sluggish. As a result, all body cells receive less nutritional compounds, as well as the vital element oxygen. This leads to dizziness after sleep, it is difficult for the patient to get out of bed.
Psychoneurological diseases
Daily psycho-emotional stress does not pass without a trace. Due to nervous shocks, the brain is constantly tense, working for wear and tear. This leads to a rapid exhaustion of reserve forces and overwork.
Anemia
Dizziness in the morning with anemia occurs due to low hemoglobin content in the blood and insufficient nutrition of the tissues of the vestibular apparatus. Common symptoms of anemia are mild dizziness, nausea, fainting, unsteady gait.
If severe dizziness continues regularly in the morning, you should consult a doctor and undergo a comprehensive examination.
In conclusion, I would like to say that the right way of life should be made the norm.
Have questions? Write to the doctor.
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Dizziness can be a prophet of various diseases.
2019.11.06
Vertigo is a condition that creates the illusion of the environment or body rotation. There are two forms of this: real dizziness and fake.
In terms of duration, vertigo can be described as either acute or chronic. Acute dizziness lasts from a few seconds to several hours and can last days or weeks. Chronic dizziness is diagnosed when you suffer from it for a month or more.
Dizziness may be accompanied by changes in nausea, vomiting, sweating, pulse rate and blood pressure. This is one of the most common and unpleasant symptoms for doctors, as it occurs with various conditions.
Since it can be a symptom of a number of serious illnesses, people suffering from this disorder are advised to seek treatment from a specialist who, after examining the patient and finding out the cause of the disorder, instead of waiting for the condition to pass.
General causes of dizziness.
Sometimes dizziness is misleading in terms of general weakness, distraction, fatigue, lack of sleep, or lack of regular exercise.
The causes of dizziness are varied. Often dizziness is also caused by diseases of the brain. These include conditions such as migraine, cerebrovascular disease, epilepsy, or multiple sclerosis.
Dizziness in the head can also be a warning of a serious medical condition such as a cerebrovascular accident, and although a cerebrovascular accident is not a common cause of dizziness, but it is very dangerous, you should contact your doctor immediately if you experience such medical conditions.
False dizziness can also be caused by a malfunction in other body systems: respiratory or heart failure, high blood pressure, or anemia can also be accompanied by dizziness. The head can spin, even if it is practically healthy, due to alcohol, drug poisoning, severe stress, instability, hesitation, or fear of falling. Anxiety dizziness often occurs in certain settings, such as in supermarkets or while driving.
Dizziness, nausea, sweating, hand tremors, rapid pulse, and changes in blood pressure are often associated with both true and false vertigo.
Significantly more frequent dizziness and imbalance in the elderly. They may also experience dizziness due to various medications used to treat other conditions such as prolonged sedation,
medicines that lower your blood pressure or increase your heart rate. As a result, when a person suddenly gets up from a standing or lying position, he becomes dizzy, goes blind and loses consciousness. Sometimes it is enough to give up unnecessary medications and dizziness decreases.
Diagnosis of the cause of dizziness
In the polyclinic, patients with vertigo are examined by the family doctor and then, according to the suspected cause of the vertigo, the patient consults with a specialist. Complaints about "dizziness" are very wide. Therefore, the patient's complaints should first be listened to and analyzed so that we can distinguish between dizziness when everything is spinning around, dizziness, instability, fainting, and the like. In explaining the possible causes of dizziness, patients are asked if it is difficult for them to get up, walk when they feel dizzy, or maybe they stand like a spinning room, feeling weak. The patient is also asked how often he gets dizzy, how long it lasts. During the examination, the movements of the eyeball, the patient's balance, and coordination are evaluated.
When investigating the cause of dizziness, neurologists or otoneurologists prescribe a video onistagmograph to patients. This is one of the most reliable ways to find out the cause of dizziness. This study evaluates involuntary movements of the eyeball. This helps to more accurately determine the cause of the disorder, find the lesion and the side of the labyrinth or the vestibular nerve of the inner ear.
To understand why a patient is dizzy, doctors always evaluate their balance or coordination.
Videoonistagography - how does it work?
The patient is placed, his head is raised 30 degrees, and special goggles with an infrared camera are put on his eyes. The patient's eye is then illuminated with infrared light in total darkness. The eye illuminated by the beam is filmed and the image is transmitted directly to the monitor. Color stimulation is used to test eye movements, i.e. y. a stream of warm or cold air blowing into the patient's ear canal for a period of time that causes nystagmus, i.e., y. causes eye movements. When the air stops blowing, eye movements are checked for a set period of time. Eye movements are converted into digital signals, processed by specialized computer programs and presented in the form of standardized graphs, which are then analyzed by a doctor.
Dr. Kilda's clinic conducts research using the latest generation VN415 video nystography camera, which uses an ultra-sensitive camera that records every movement of the eye's pupil, resulting in extremely accurate test results.
How is dizziness treated?
Drug vertigo, a vestibulosuppressant, should only be suppressed for very sudden and severe vertigo.