The cause of chronic lightheadedness

tank · Newbie Joined: 15 May 2005 Posts: 17

Hi, I'm 65 years old and I have a problem with constant lightheadedness that started happening about a half year ago. The dizziness episodes were rare at first and I thought that they were caused by tiredness and physical exhaustion that I was experiencing from time to time but as the time passed the lightheadedness episodes increased their frequency. I am a diabetic dependent on insulin for over 20 years now but this was not happening before. What could be the cause of all this and what should I do about it?

ayars · Silver Member Joined: 13 Nov 2000 Posts: 246

Chronic lightheadedness, dizziness, loss of conscience and other correlated symptoms aren’t unusual in people of your age. It is considered by some doctors to be a general geriatric syndrome that can have many different causes. You mentioned that you are an insulin dependent diabetic, so the first thing I would assume is that this dizziness you are feeling has something to do with insulin levels in your body. Lack of glucose in your body can be the trigger for the lightheadedness, when the brain loses its supply of glucose dizziness happens. Although brain is one of the tissues that does not require insulin for taking glucose from the bloodstream, excess of insulin can cause system wide hypoglycemia, reduce the amount of glucose that is present in the blood and limit the glucose supply to the brain causing dizziness. There can be a number of other causes of dizziness which can include heart disease and interactions with different kinds of medications that you are taking. It’s very important that you talk to your doctor about this problem so that this disease can be properly diagnosed and treated if treatment is necessary and possible. Good luck.

The cause of chronic lightheadedness

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