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Dizziness: Symptoms
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Dizziness is an extremely common symptom occurring in people of all ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Balance disorders increase with age, and by age 75, dizziness is one of the most common reasons for visiting a doctor. In the general population, dizziness is the third most common reason that patients visit doctors. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), about 42% of the population of the United States will complain of dizziness at some point in their lives. In the United States, the cost of medical care for patients with symptoms of imbalance is estimated to be more than $1 billion per year.
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Dizziness is a common complaint of older persons. As a presenting problem in primary care, it increases in frequency with age, so that it is the fourth most common complaint of geriatric patients and the most common complaint of persons 85 years of age and older. For the physician, it is difficult to assess because it is a symptom that cannot be directly measured and it can arise from a wide variety of causes. Dizziness can result from abnormalities of any system related to postural control, including the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, brain stem, cerebellum, vestibular portion of the inner ear and eighth nerve, proprioceptive nerve endings in the neck or lower extremities and their associated peripheral nerves, skeletal muscle, autonomic nervous system, and the cardiovascular system. Several recent studies have verified that dizziness rarely represents a life-threatening condition, but that older persons with persistent dizziness often limit their activities because of fear of provoking the dizziness, fear of falling, physical deconditioning, or depression secondary to the dizziness.
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Dizziness due to aging -- Common symptoms of dizziness associated with aging include lightheadedness, a spinning sensation, giddiness, wooziness, or unsteadiness. Forty percent of patients over age 60 have experienced dizziness severe enough to affect their daily activities. Age-related dizziness can be minimized by making lifestyle changes such as:
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Dizziness usually gets better by itself or is easily treated. However, it can be a symptom of other disorders. Medicines may cause dizziness, or problems with your ear. Motion sickness can ... make you dizzy. There are many other causes.
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Dizziness is one of the most common reasons older adults visit their doctors. Aging increases the risk of developing any of several conditions that may cause dizziness. Although it may be disabling and incapacitating, dizziness rarely signals a serious, life-threatening condition. Treatment of dizziness depends on the cause and your symptoms.
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Dizziness is a symptom and not a diagnosis; it can be compared with pain in that respect. It is difficult to quantify because of its subjective nature. Dizziness is not exclusive to the vestibular system. Furthermore, it may be a component of a larger or more diffuse problem.
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