Lightheadedness

[Martin]

So earlier today I was at this pizza place with my dad, sister and uncle. I ate the pizza and was sat there a while afterwards as we weren't in any kind of rush, and then when we got up to leave I stood up and about a second later my vision blurred and I lost my balance (not visibly enough for the people around me to notice, and I was back to normal a second or two later, but I explicitly remember my vision blurring and me not feeling stable on my feet). I know it wasn't due to lack of sleep (I had a solid 8 hours last night) and as such I'm unsure as to what may have caused it. Should I be worried about this or does anyone else get this from time to time?

 

[Tymano]

The only times I had experienced light-headedness like what you are describing is before I fainted or was about to faint. It's not a major problem, but I would recommend drinking more water throughout the day (and your meal I guess.)

 

[jumpluff]

you should only be worried if it happens to you regularly. if it happens to you regularly, try to keep track of any common things (low fluids, if it happens doing a certain movement, any other symptoms like dry mouth, nausea, clamminess, shortness of breath are the ones you want to look for etc.) and go to a doctor.

agreed with the advice to make sure your fluid intake is good. you just ate so i doubt it was that.

i hope you're well, and that it doesn't recur :)

edit: you say 'time to time', does this happen to you often? do you drink a lot of water? you might want your blood pressure checked if it's regular. also if you're on any medications check their side effect profile and see if it's been happening since you started the medication or increased a dose. i think that's my whole list really for 'something weird is happening in my body'

also when i say 'worried' you don't really need to be actually that worried, i just mean you should really not be worried if it is a one-off thing. just make sure you go to the doctor! it's a common symptom of a lot of things but they can be pretty all easily checked (except vertigo itself as a chronic condition, which sucks but you can take stuff for it as needed).

take care

 

[destinyunknown]

So earlier today I was at this pizza place with my dad, sister and uncle. I ate the pizza and was sat there a while afterwards as we weren't in any kind of rush, and then when we got up to leave I stood up and about a second later my vision blurred and I lost my balance (not visibly enough for the people around me to notice, and I was back to normal a second or two later, but I explicitly remember my vision blurring and me not feeling stable on my feet). I know it wasn't due to lack of sleep (I had a solid 8 hours last night) and as such I'm unsure as to what may have caused it. Should I be worried about this or does anyone else get this from time to time?

It's been happening to me since I was in primary school, not too often (once or twice a month, though in some few occasions it happened three times in the same day). It has never got to a point where I felt I had to go to the doctor, and from my experience, it usually happens when I haven't been sleeping well, when the weather is too hot, or when I was subjected to a lot of stress.

So I just assumed it was a side effect to being tired for one of the reasons cited above.

 

[Relados]

it's happened to me for as long as i can remember, but being very underweight does that to a person.

 

[Martin]

OK thank you everyone for clearing that up for me. Basically I shouldn't be too worried unless it becomes a regular thing and I should drink lots of water etc.

edit: you say 'time to time', does this happen to you often? do you drink a lot of water? you might want your blood pressure checked if it's regular. also if you're on any medications check their side effect profile and see if it's been happening since you started the medication or increased a dose. i think that's my whole list really for 'something weird is happening in my body'

By "from time to time" it was just another way of saying "is this normal" honestly. Like, I've had similar things to this happen on occasion (averaging to once maybe every 2 or 3 years if I take all the instances that I remember and average it out) so it's not a regular thing.

Anyway yeah thanks everyone. Greatly appreciate it.

 

[Phione]

This happens to me whenever I lie down (or more rarely sit down) for long enough and then get up. It's been happening to me for a couple years. There's been no big effects besides a bit of disorientation when walking right after getting up, so I haven't felt a need to talk to anyone about it. Is this a problem?

 

[faint]

So earlier today I was at this pizza place with my dad, sister and uncle. I ate the pizza and was sat there a while afterwards as we weren't in any kind of rush, and then when we got up to leave I stood up and about a second later my vision blurred and I lost my balance (not visibly enough for the people around me to notice, and I was back to normal a second or two later, but I explicitly remember my vision blurring and me not feeling stable on my feet). I know it wasn't due to lack of sleep (I had a solid 8 hours last night) and as such I'm unsure as to what may have caused it. Should I be worried about this or does anyone else get this from time to time?

This happens to me whenever I lie down (or more rarely sit down) for long enough and then get up. It's been happening to me for a couple years. There's been no big effects besides a bit of disorientation when walking right after getting up, so I haven't felt a need to talk to anyone about it. Is this a problem?

You are describing vasovagal near-syncope. It is common among tall people and those who have lost a lot of weight in a short period of time. I'm in both of those categories, but it effects others as well. I have never actually fainted from it, hence why it is near-syncope, but you should see a doctor if it happens again. It could be completely untreatable (for now) like it is in my case or related to things like low sodium levels. Effectively what is happening is that your blood pressure is dropping very quickly and upon movement (such as going from a sit-down position to an upright one), blood cannot flow to your head fast enough, hence the blurred vision and sometimes ringing of the ears / difficulty hearing during the episode.

 

[VuvuzelaBzz]

I've experienced this for a few years now during the summer. As someone who's fainted from it 3 times(slamming head-first into the floor the most recent time), I learned the hard way that you need to be weary of it and get up slowly, especially when lying down. I also find that it happens more often when your neck is tilted towards your chest(e.g. when you're looking at a phone/tablet while lying down or leaning back). Anecdotally, last summer when I had put on some weight it didn't happen once, which faint's post seems to lend some credence to.

If you start seeing blurry and feeling dizzy sit down if possible. Leaning on things can help, but won't stop you from fainting if you were going to. Keep in mind, however, that your decision-making can be impaired when you're lightheaded, so ideally you should try to avoid it happening by getting up in steps and not having to think about where to sit or what to lean on.

 

[Fluke]

For me drinking plenty of water solved basically everything. I had random moments during the day where I felt like my brain was emptying or something. It almost felt like I fell asleep or lost consciousness for a second or two. Rarely my vision got affected as well, indeed by blurriness. It didn't happen often, but only once a month or so.

 

[Shinryu]

It can be pretty much anything really, just getting up too fast is enough to disorient some people. Normally from what I remember it has to do with blood circulation and other things like that. Which is funny, as a kid I would often have some bad dizzying spells randomly like maybe once or twice every few years, but haven't really experienced that for many years. Just kinda weird.

 

[Ortheore]

hahaha it's funny this has been happening to me for sooooo long. It usually occurs a second or two after I stand up (pace doesn't seem to influence this). I wouldn't say my vision blurs though, more that it becomes obscured by colours. Also there's the loss of balance that everyone's described, but if it's real bad I'll start shaking as well. Scared the crap out of my family once when a really bad instance occurred in front of them. Also I once broke a toilet seat when I collapsed from one

 

[Pyritie]

Yeah like others have said, if this happens when standing up after sitting or laying down for a while, that's perfectly normal.