Headaches and dizziness

Both, headache and dizziness are not conditions per se but only two symptoms of many medical conditions. If they occur at the same time they may point to the presence of certain medical conditions. In some cases headache occurs first while in others the person first complains about dizziness and then headache develops. Still, there are even cases of the occurrence of these two symptoms at the same time. There is one more possibility. Headache may occur first and be an actual cause of subsequent dizziness.

Common Causes of Headache and Dizziness

Migraines are one of the most common causes of headache and dizziness. In this case dizziness is usually a characteristic of the aura, an introduction to the migraine attack. The very feeling may be in a form of dizziness or vertigo. Once the actual attack occurs the patients start feeling severe headache and dizziness subsides.

One more frequent cause of headache and dizziness is hypoglycemia. Low levels of blood sugar are almost always accompanied with headaches and dizziness. Initially the person feels slight lightheadedness and if hypoglycemia is not treated on time a person becomes dizzy and may eventually faint.

Patients suffering from blood pressure abnormalities (both, hypertension and hypotension) also report headache and dizziness once their blood pressure drops or becomes too high. Apart from these two characteristic symptoms alterations in blood pressure additionally cause nausea and blurred vision.

Certain infections, particularly the severe ones, may be responsible for headaches and dizziness. These two symptoms predominantly affect patients suffering from acute systemic infections and in case of certain localized infections such as meningitis, encephalitis ear infection etc.

Severe head trauma has major impact on the brain tissue and its functions. People with severe head trauma apart from many other symptoms and sings always suffer from headache and dizziness. Initial dizziness may progress and in rather extreme cases the person may faint and even develop a coma.

And finally, one of the common causes of headache and dizziness is intake of certain medications. Some medications may induce headache and dizziness at the same time and these symptoms are considered side effects of the taken medications. Other Causes of Headache and Dizziness

Apart from the previously mentioned there are many illnesses associated with simultaneous occurrence of headache and dizziness. Rupture of cerebral aneurysm, stroke and brain tumors are only some of them. These two symptoms may also occur in people suffering from many ear conditions such as Meniere's disease, labyrinthitis, ruptured ear drum, acoustic neuroma, motion sickness etc. Furthermore, psychological disorders (anxiety, panic attack etc.) are also possible culprits for headache and dizziness. Even pregnancy and premenstrual tension may be associated with these two symptoms. Medical conditions of the spine such as vertebral artery dissection, injury to the cervical spine and disc herniation may also feature with headache and dizziness. And there are several more conditions which may feature with headache and dizziness and they include anemia, heat stroke, poisoning, excess of narcotics and alcohol intoxication and dehydration.