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Dizziness: Brain
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Dizziness is a general term that describes sensations of imbalance and unsteadiness, such as vertigo, mild turning, imbalance, and near fainting or fainting. Feelings of dizziness stem from the vestibular system, which includes the brain and the parts of the inner ear that sense position and motion, coupled with sensory information from the eyes, skin, and muscle tension.
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Dizziness is a painless sensation of spatial disorientation which often includes a loss of balance. Your sense of balance is maintained by the interaction of several parts and systems of your body, which include your: inner ears, eyes, skin, muscles and joints, and central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).
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Dizziness and fainting can be related. People who faint lose consciousness or pass out. Fainting occurs when blood pressure is low and not enough blood can get to the brain. It may be a sign of problems with the heart or blood pressure, or it may simply be a reaction to a stressful event. Some people faint at the sight of blood. No matter what the cause, fainting can be dangerous, because it increases your risk of injury from falling.
Continuing with this analogy, the treatment of dizziness can ... be understood in very simple terms. If the disordered organ recovers from whatever is afflicting it, the brain will once again receive only good data, and the dizziness will soon resolve. If the disordered organ continues to send bad data, the brain must learn to ignore this data. The only way that the brain can accomplish this is to receive a great deal of "practice" distinguishing good data from bad. This explains why various forms of physical therapy (Cawthorne exercises and vestibular rehabilitation, both of which are discussed below) can be very effective in treating dizziness. If the disordered organ malfunctions intermittently, the brain may have a great deal of difficulty learning to ignore the bad data, and so physical therapy may be ineffective.
Some people who complain of dizziness feel like they are going to faint. This problem is usually due to a lack of blood flow to the brain. The most common cause is "orthostatic hypotension," in which blood pressure drops when someone stands up from a bed or chair (see ... Fainting). Near-fainting spells can also be caused by the straining associated with coughing or going to the bathroom. An older person who gets up to urinate in the middle of the night, who strains to have a bowel movement, or who has a respiratory problem may experience near fainting, or even fainting (see also Fainting). Probably the most serious causes of near-fainting spells are heart problems, including narrowed heart valves and problems with heart rhythm.
[One] example of visual dizziness is that occasionally produced if one is seated in a car, looking out the side window at passing objects. The eyes respond by sending a rapid series of impulses to the brain indicating that the body is rotating. On the other hand, the ears and muscle-joint systems send impulses to the brain indicating that the body is not rotating only moving forward. The brainstem, receiving these confused impulses (from the eyes indicating rotation, from the ears and muscle-joint systems indicating forward motion), sends out equally confused orders to the various muscles and glands that may result in sweating, nausea and vomiting. In this situation when one sits in the front seat looking forward, the eyes, ears and muscle-joint systems work more in uniform and one is less likely to develop car sickness.
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