Why do i feel like throwing up and dizzy

Concerned about your dizziness symptoms? Find a Parkridge ER near you. If your symptoms are less severe, find a doctor to get further care.

Table of Contents Show

Emergency Symptoms Are Good at Hiding
What is dizziness?
When to seek immediate help for a dizzy spell
What dizziness with other symptoms could mean
When to see a doctor
From Mayo Clinic to your inbox
Inner ear problems that cause dizziness (vertigo)
Circulation problems that cause dizziness
Other causes of dizziness
Risk factors
Complications
What causes dizziness and feeling like vomiting?
Why do I feel off balance dizzy and nauseous?
What to do when you're dizzy and feel like throwing up?

Emergency Symptoms Are Good at Hiding

At first, dizziness may not seem like a big deal. Maybe you got up too fast or haven’t had enough water to drink. But occasionally, dizzy spells can indicate a serious problem with your health—something that means you need to get to the emergency room, fast.

So, how do you tell the difference between a little dizziness and a warning sign of a dangerous medical issue? First, you should know the basics.

What is dizziness?

When you’re having a dizzy spell, you may feel woozy and lightheaded, and your vision or hearing may be a little off. Vertigo, a type of dizziness, happens when you feel a spinning, swaying or tilting—like you’re moving, or the room around you is moving. Both general dizziness and vertigo can cause you to feel off-balance and may make walking difficult.

Most dizzy spells are temporary and will go away when you sit, lie down or give them a few minutes to pass. Occasional dizziness or vertigo—not accompanied by other symptoms—shouldn’t be too worrisome. If you’re concerned, make an appointment with your doctor to get to the bottom of things. Dizziness can also be a side effect of medication; your doctor should be made aware of that, too.

When to seek immediate help for a dizzy spell

While isolated instances of minor dizziness are not usually cause for alarm, go to the emergency room if your dizzy spells are accompanied by one or more of the following symptoms.

Dizziness paired with one or more of the following? Go to the ER.

A new or severe headache
A stiff neck
A temperature over 100.4ºF
Chest pain
Constant vomiting
Fainting
Heart palpitations
Not being able to walk
Seizures
Speech and hearing difficulties
Tingling or numbness
Vision problems, including double vision
Weakness in one arm or one leg

For some people, vertigo without additional symptoms can indicate a big-time issue if they’re unable to regain your balance or the room keeps spinning. Seek immediate medical help at the ER if you’ve had vertigo for several minutes and:

You’ve previously had a stroke
You’re at high risk for having a stroke
You’re age 55 or older

Someone with severe dizziness who suspects a medical emergency shouldn’t drive. In these situations, it’s best to call 911.

What dizziness with other symptoms could mean

When dizziness is accompanied by additional symptoms, it could indicate the following serious health problems, and you should get to an ER as soon as you can:

Stroke

Dizziness plus confusion, vision problems, a severe headache, trouble walking and weakness on one side of the body could mean you’re having a stroke. Since blood flow to the brain is slowed or cut off during a stroke, the faster help arrives, the better chance a patient has at survival.

Heart Attack

Feeling lightheaded, weak and short of breath could be signs of a heart attack. You may also feel pain in one or more of the following areas:

Your chest
Your jaw, neck or back—especially for women
Your shoulders or arms

Unexplained fatigue, a cold sweat, nausea and vomiting are other clues. Dizziness happens more frequently for women having a heart attack than for men.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI)

If you experience dizziness following a blow or jolt to your head or body—especially if it comes with weakness, a worsening headache, vomiting, behavioral changes, slurred speech or seizure—seek medical help immediately. It may be a TBI. (Concussions are milder kinds of TBIs.)

Remember: while the majority of dizzy spells are nothing to worry about, knowing when they really do mean something can save your life—or the life of someone you love. So, call 911 right away if you suspect a stroke, heart attack, TBI or other emergency situation.

Are your dizziness symptoms emergent? Find a Parkridge ER near you.

Overview

Dizziness is a term used to describe a range of sensations, such as feeling faint, woozy, weak or unsteady. Dizziness that creates the false sense that you or your surroundings are spinning or moving is called vertigo.

Dizziness is one of the more common reasons adults visit their doctors. Frequent dizzy spells or constant dizziness can significantly affect your life. But dizziness rarely signals a life-threatening condition.

Treatment of dizziness depends on the cause and your symptoms. It's usually effective, but the problem may recur.

Symptoms

People experiencing dizziness may describe it as any of a number of sensations, such as:

A false sense of motion or spinning (vertigo)
Lightheadedness or feeling faint
Unsteadiness or a loss of balance
A feeling of floating, wooziness or heavy-headedness

These feelings may be triggered or worsened by walking, standing up or moving your head. Your dizziness may be accompanied by nausea or be so sudden or severe that you need to sit or lie down. The episode may last seconds or days and may recur.

When to see a doctor

Generally, see your doctor if you experience any recurrent, sudden, severe, or prolonged and unexplained dizziness or vertigo.

Get emergency medical care if you experience new, severe dizziness or vertigo along with any of the following:

Sudden, severe headache
Chest pain
Difficulty breathing
Numbness or paralysis of arms or legs
Fainting
Double vision
Rapid or irregular heartbeat
Confusion or slurred speech
Stumbling or difficulty walking
Ongoing vomiting
Seizures
A sudden change in hearing
Facial numbness or weakness

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Causes

Dizziness has many possible causes, including inner ear disturbance, motion sickness and medication effects. Sometimes it's caused by an underlying health condition, such as poor circulation, infection or injury.

The way dizziness makes you feel and your triggers provide clues for possible causes. How long the dizziness lasts and any other symptoms you have also help pinpoint the cause.

Inner ear problems that cause dizziness (vertigo)

Your sense of balance depends on the combined input from the various parts of your sensory system. These include your:

Eyes, which help you determine where your body is in space and how it's moving
Sensory nerves, which send messages to your brain about body movements and positions
Inner ear, which houses sensors that help detect gravity and back-and-forth motion

Vertigo is the false sense that your surroundings are spinning or moving. With inner ear disorders, your brain receives signals from the inner ear that aren't consistent with what your eyes and sensory nerves are receiving. Vertigo is what results as your brain works to sort out the confusion.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). This condition causes an intense and brief but false sense that you're spinning or moving. These episodes are triggered by a rapid change in head movement, such as when you turn over in bed, sit up or experience a blow to the head. BPPV is the most common cause of vertigo.
Infection. A viral infection of the vestibular nerve, called vestibular neuritis, can cause intense, constant vertigo. If you also have sudden hearing loss, you may have labyrinthitis.
Meniere's disease. This disease involves the excessive buildup of fluid in your inner ear. It's characterized by sudden episodes of vertigo lasting as long as several hours. You may also experience fluctuating hearing loss, ringing in the ear and the feeling of a plugged ear.
Migraine. People who experience migraines may have episodes of vertigo or other types of dizziness even when they're not having a severe headache. Such vertigo episodes can last minutes to hours and may be associated with headache as well as light and noise sensitivity.

Circulation problems that cause dizziness

You may feel dizzy, faint or off balance if your heart isn't pumping enough blood to your brain. Causes include:

Drop in blood pressure. A dramatic drop in your systolic blood pressure — the higher number in your blood pressure reading — may result in brief lightheadedness or a feeling of faintness. It can occur after sitting up or standing too quickly. This condition is also called orthostatic hypotension.
Poor blood circulation. Conditions such as cardiomyopathy, heart attack, heart arrhythmia and transient ischemic attack could cause dizziness. And a decrease in blood volume may cause inadequate blood flow to your brain or inner ear.

Other causes of dizziness

Neurological conditions. Some neurological disorders — such as Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis — can lead to progressive loss of balance.
Medications. Dizziness can be a side effect of certain medications — such as anti-seizure drugs, antidepressants, sedatives and tranquilizers. In particular, blood pressure lowering medications may cause faintness if they lower your blood pressure too much.
Anxiety disorders. Certain anxiety disorders may cause lightheadedness or a woozy feeling often referred to as dizziness. These include panic attacks and a fear of leaving home or being in large, open spaces (agoraphobia).
Low iron levels (anemia). Other signs and symptoms that may occur along with dizziness if you have anemia include fatigue, weakness and pale skin.
Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). This condition generally occurs in people with diabetes who use insulin. Dizziness (lightheadedness) may be accompanied by sweating and anxiety.
Carbon monoxide poisoning. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are often described as "flu-like" and include headache, dizziness, weakness, upset stomach, vomiting, chest pain and confusion.
Overheating and dehydration. If you're active in hot weather or if you don't drink enough fluids, you may feel dizzy from overheating (hyperthermia) or from dehydration. This is especially true if you take certain heart medications.

Risk factors

Factors that may increase your risk of getting dizzy include:

Age. Older adults are more likely to have medical conditions that cause dizziness, especially a sense of imbalance. They're also more likely to take medications that can cause dizziness.
A past episode of dizziness. If you've experienced dizziness before, you're more likely to get dizzy in the future.

Complications

Dizziness can increase your risk of falling and injuring yourself. Experiencing dizziness while driving a car or operating heavy machinery can increase the likelihood of an accident. You may also experience long-term consequences if an existing health condition that may be causing your dizziness goes untreated.

Oct. 15, 2020

What causes dizziness and feeling like vomiting?

If you get nausea along with it, it could be due to problems like vertigo, migraine, or low blood pressure. Usually, dizziness with nausea isn't serious. But if you have these symptoms and you don't know what caused them, or they happen often, tell your doctor.

Why do I feel off balance dizzy and nauseous?

Inner ear and balance Dizziness has many possible causes, including inner ear disturbance, motion sickness and medication effects. Sometimes it's caused by an underlying health condition, such as poor circulation, infection or injury. The way dizziness makes you feel and your triggers provide clues for possible causes.