Equipping People To Make Sense Of What They Are Told
Dizziness Not Related to Multiple Sclerosis
It is important to realise that while dizziness is a common complaint with multiple
sclerosis, it may also be the result of other serious conditions. However, this does
not mean that feeling dizzy definitely indicates a serious illness; only that it
may.
Some Other Causes of Dizziness
Dizziness of the lightheadedness kind can happen as the result of becoming dehydrated
due to vomiting, diarrhoea, fever or other illness.
Dizziness is common with colds, flu, or allergies.
Profuse sweating may also cause dizziness due to the loss of fluid which in turn
leads to a lessening of blood volume reaching the brain. This is in effect, why becoming
dehydrated due to illness can also cause lightheadedness.
Dizziness - While dizziness is common in people with MS, vertigo is less so.
Dizziness and vertigo, although commonly used interchangeably, actually refer to
different symptoms.
Dizziness relates to feeling lightheaded, feeling like you might faint, being unsteady
or the loss of balance, while vertigo relates to feeling that you or the room is
spinning or moving.
Types of dizziness often associated with MS usually involve dysfunction of the eye
muscles.
Dizziness symptoms are caused by damage within the brain areas that coordinate perception
and response to visual and spatial information.
An exact reason for the cause of dizziness needs to be identified because some of
the drugs used to treat the specific symptoms of MS can cause or add to the condition,
such as drugs for:
Spasticity.
Neuropathic pain
Dizziness related to multiple sclerosis is not usually a permanent event and it tends
to pass over the course of several weeks. Occasionally, however, there may be left
a tendency towards dizziness where particular types of motion may provoke a dizzy-like
response where previously there was none.
Dizziness, when not related to other illnesses, conditions or inner ear problems
such as; Meniere's disease or Labyrinthitis, is commonly a sign of a neurological
condition.
