How much do you know about the causes of transient vertigo?

Dizziness is an extremely common phenomenon in life. It may be caused by heatstroke, insufficient blood supply to the brain, or it may be a sign of certain diseases. In short, there are many reasons for dizziness. So what is transient vertigo?

1. Transient hypotension

When sitting for a long time or squatting for a long time and then standing up, it is common to experience transient dizziness, black eyes, and even stars in front of the eyes. This is due to transient hypotension resulting in reduced blood supply to the retina and vertebral-basilar artery system. Because the pressor reflex reacts quickly and blood pressure rises to normal levels, the symptoms disappear within 3 to 5 seconds. The patient has no disturbance of consciousness or abnormalities in limb sensation and movement. People who usually have low blood pressure and anemia are particularly prone to this transient dizziness and black eyes.

2. Cervical vertigo

It is an extremely rare situation. Motor receptors in the paravertebral sympathetic trunks, cervical joints, and tendons transmit impulses to the vestibular nuclei, which may occasionally cause vertigo when the neck is stretched or injured. Of course, it is also possible that due to special lesions of the cervical spine, the vertebral artery passing through is directly compressed when the head is turned, causing ischemia of the vertebral-basilar artery. Or due to extracerebral steal syndrome, when the upper limbs are moved too much, blood in the vertebral artery flows back to the upper limbs and causes vertebral-basilar artery ischemia. Transient dizziness occurs, mostly with vertigo, black eyes, blurred vision, double vision, and sensory and movement disorders in the limbs. This type of situation is essentially a transient ischemic attack.

3. Fainting

In essence, it is also a transient cerebral ischemia. This is a symptom caused by transient insufficient blood supply to the whole brain due to various causes. Mild cases include dizziness, blurred vision, loose and weak muscles all over the body, nausea, sweating, and pale skin. Severe cases include unclear consciousness, but the duration is generally short. The patient wakes up quickly after lying down, and the symptoms rarely exceed 3 minutes. It may be accompanied by a slow heart rate, nausea, vomiting, sweating, etc. The essence of syncope is transient ischemia of the whole brain, which is often accompanied by impaired consciousness, but unlike transient ischemic attack, it often does not have focal symptoms and signs (such as diplopia, facial and tongue paralysis, hemisensory impairment and hemiplegia). Vertigo is rare during syncope but is common during transient ischemic attacks caused by the vertebral-basilar artery and is accompanied by nystagmus.

4. Autonomic dysfunction

Patients often feel dizzy and have black eyes. Some also describe themselves as feeling dazed and with blurred vision. They also have sleep disorders, frequent dreams, easy fright, memory loss, emotional instability, irritability, sighing, sweating hands and feet, fear of cold or heat, poor appetite, palpitations and shortness of breath, etc. Their blood pressure is usually low. This type of condition is not accompanied by true movement and sensory disturbances, vertigo, and diplopia. However, the symptoms often last for a long time, for several hours in a row, or may be mild in the morning and severe in the afternoon. The patient may also feel dizzy, confused, lightheaded, or have a swollen head all day long. The course of the disease may last for months or even years. This type of situation does not constitute a transient ischemic attack.