• Information
• Publications
  • Brain and Spine Booklets
  • About our publications
  • Reader's Panel
  • Case studies
• Children's resources
• Neurological centres
• Spinal Injuries units
• Glossary
• Information Access toolkit
• Communication skills project

|

“Dizziness” is a broad term used to explain how we feel when our sense of balance is not quite right. Most people who experience dizziness actually find it quite difficult to explain exactly how it makes them feel. If you have this problem your doctor may find it helpful if you try to describe your dizziness by comparing what you feel with something that everyone may have had direct experience of. For example, some people who complain of feeling dizzy, giddy or offbalance say they feel as if everything is spinning around, or as if they are spinning around. Doctors use the term vertigo to describe this condition. Others feel as though they were walking on cotton wool or on a mattress, or as if they were drunk. Or they may feel “wobbly”, or as if they were on a merry-go-round or a boat.

It is important to realise that dizziness and vertigo are not diseases as such. They are symptoms - that is, sensations which indicate that something is wrong - like a cough, which as we know can have a number of different causes. Dizziness is a common symptom, and by the time we are old most of us will have experienced it. Just like a cough, it can be caused by lots of different things. Fortunately it is very rarely the symptom of a serious or life-threatening illness. To understand why you feel dizzy you need to know a bit about how the balance system works.